ZODIAC
A downloadable game for Windows
It's the late 1960s.
San Francisco Bay Area.
After two Teenagers get killed the FBI starts investigating a mysterious killer leaving encrypted notes.
[About]
You play as Holden Tench, a young FBI Agent. In the late summer of 1969 a young couple is killed near a lakeside in the San Francisco Bay Area.
You start gathering evidence, connecting the dots and decoding the killers mysterious notes - and before you realise it, get caught up in a vicious cat and mouse game!
[Controls]
- W/A/S/D to Move
- Left Click to Interact
- Mouse to Look
- SPACE to get up (Chair)
Controls are explained in game!
Playtime: ≈ 15-20 mins
This game was created in 14 days for the Gunscreen Horror Jam 2026
Download
Install instructions
1. Download the latest "Zodiac" Game Build
2. Extract all files from the .zip archive
3. Run the Zodiac.exe
Hint:
As I am not a licensed Windows Developer, the Windows Defender may prevent you from playing my game. When the windows with this information pops up - just press "Run anyways"
Development log
- Zodiac - Release!52 days ago
Comments
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What a great illustration of the 1960's Zodiac serial killer. Good story telling. Great game! He definitely was a sadistic menace during that time. Did he ever get caught? Hope to see more, see my playthrough here:
Glad you liked the game and thanks for playing!
And no, the killer was never caught from I know.
Great game, loved it!!
Thanks for playing! :D
Typo aside this game was great. Took a lot of time solving that wordle puzzle.
Wasn’t scary though.. more like an adventure
Yeah I was aiming for the psychological horror here a bit, it was more story telling then jump scares :)
I understand. Also, i was lacking sleep when i played it so, the reaction are unreasonable
Really good game and good pusle!
Playthrough:
send HELP!
Really nice game. It's nice to see a game that's based on reality as well. Keep it up.
Here's my channel for other games I have played. https://www.youtube.com/@Levont
For being made for a gamejam. This was pretty damn awesome! I did notice grammar errors and I believe missing words but aside from that the story and the premise are absolutely superb! Made a video on it.
Thanks for playing my game! :D
Yeah some grammar errors were made due to me rushing trying to finish this project haha
Tho glad you liked it! :)
ITALIAN GAMEPLAY
Great experience!I really enjoyed this game. The research into the real facts and evidence is impressive and makes the experience feel anything but cliché. I especially appreciated the respectful tone: it honors the victims and the history without glorifying the killer.
The gameplay is smooth and bug-free, though I wish it were a bit longer! I have two small suggestions for improvement:
Overall, a solid title. I’d love to see this developed into a full-length project in the future. Well done!
The FBI guys plot was fully fictional though the setting of the prologue and the events that take place are real.
The "Missing Link" to the Zodiac Killer was also just a theory I created for the game, as the killer only ever had 7 confirmed murders.
Glad you like it though! :D
Thanks for playing
Amazing game based on real life serial killer. Good graphics and story. The word puzzle took some time, I had to search the web for help lol. I only wish there was an option for mouse sensitivity and head bob removal. Other than that, this is such a great game!
Yeah some settings had to be cut due to the game being made in only 14 days! :D
Glad you liked it tho! :)
wow this was amazing, really like the game. One thing though for constructive criticism, the action scenes was a bit underwhelming and not scary for me personally, but i know its hard to do good and is probably not the premise of this game. But i overall REALLY liked it especially the first part. And one question did you make the assets yourself?
Yeah all the assets are made from scratch with only an exception for like 2-3 (including the car etc. which were royalty free models from itch.io I think)
Glad you liked the game though :D
Some parts were kinda underwhelming, noticed it myself, the schedule was pretty tight. :)
good
Thanks for playing!
how the hell do you decrypt it lmfao
It's a basic game of wordle :D
Just type in 4 letter english words - they will be shown as Zodiac Code though.
So you need to remember what word you typed and what letter there is :D
Very well done! Keep up the good work :)
Thank you for playing my game! <3
that was absolutely fantastic!
Glad that you liked it! :D
it kept on saying this is a threat idk why
Press "more options" or so and then run anyways
<SPOILERS AHEAD!!>
The story felt short yet fun, felt the adrenaline rush while running away from the killer, but that's all, what took most of the time was the encoding part, I really couldn't understand it but figured it our eventually. Overall a fun experience.
Thank you! :D