One Foot In

You're dead. Sorry about that.

But hey, at least you get a ghostly front-row seat to watch your estranged twin stumble back into town and immediately start unraveling everything you sacrificed your life to build.

The Lebanese restaurant you bled for? They want no part of it. Those carefully buried family secrets? About to surface at the worst possible moment. And in a family where everyone's wearing masks, yours might be the first to crack.

At first, all you can do is hover and fume. Death, it turns out, comes with a strict no-strangling-your-sibling policy.

But here's the thing about being twins: that special connection doesn't give a damn about death. The boundary between the two of you starts to feel… negotiable. Suddenly, you have hands again. A voice. A chance to fix things... or make them infinitely worse.

With each possession, the boundaries between you blur. Who's driving this body? Whose memories are these? And when the time comes to let go, will you be able to?

Death sure isn't going to be the end for you.

Features

• Play as an actual ghost. Start powerless, floating around your own memorial like the world's most committed wallflower. Gradually discover that death comes with some interesting… abilities. Who knew being incorporeal could be so hands-on?
• Confront the truth that died with you: who you loved, or who you were. This is fundamentally a story about living—and dying—closeted. But your afterlife doesn't have to be that way. Your hidden identity transforms every possession, every family interaction, every chance at genuine connection.
• Explore love after death with a best friend who can't quite let you go, an investor whose interest goes beyond business, or a fellow ghost who gets what you're going through. Death complicates everything—but love finds a way. It's… complicated.
• Navigate the tight-knit Lebanese-American community that watched you grow up, where family reputation is everything, cultural traditions clash with American expectations, and everyone knows everyone's business.
• Your choices reshape how people see you, remember you, and whether they'll fight for you when things get messy. Which they will. Frequently.
• Save your family restaurant through community action, business partnership, or legal justice. Or give up on it entirely. Each approach transforms not just the building, but what your family becomes. Careful: some decisions can't be undone. You're a ghost. Not a time traveler.

Characters

◈ You - The Dead Twin

That's you. The dead one. The dutiful twin who stayed home to run the kitchen, perfected grandmother's recipes, and buried every authentic impulse under layers of family obligation. Congratulations—it only took dying to finally get your first real chance at honesty.

Choose your biological sex, your hidden gender identity/sexuality, your appearance, how you respond to and influence the world around you.

◈ Nour - The Living Twin

The one who left. Your mirror opposite who chose freedom over tradition. They're back for your funeral with all the enthusiasm of someone attending a botched root canal, and you can already see them mentally rehearsing excuses to leave early. Will you help them find their place in the family legacy, or give them the push they need to disappear for good?

Choose if you're fraternal (opposite-sex) or identical (same-sex) twins.

◈ Seydou/Safiatou - The Best Friend (Romance Option)

Your closest confidant who's been grieving you with suspicious intensity. There's something about the way they move through the kitchen now—like they're listening for your voice. Surely they can't actually perceive you… right?

Gender matches your biological sex.

◈ Adel/Adela - The Investor (Romance Option)

That smooth-talking customer who started showing up in your final months. Always orders the same dish, polite, tips well, and watches your family with calculating eyes. Now they're back with "investment opportunities" and know way too much about your family's situation. Their timing is awfully convenient.

Gender matches your biological sex.

◈ Finn/Fiona - The Ghost (Romance Option)

The only other dead person you've met, and they're about as welcoming as a health inspector. Bitter, dismissive, and makes it clear they're not running a supernatural support group. But they know things about this whole afterlife business that you desperately need to learn... if you can convince them to share.

Gender matches your biological sex.

◈ Georges - The Grandfather

The family patriarch who built this restaurant's reputation through decades of front-of-house charm and business savvy. Since you died, he's been deflecting questions about the future and avoiding the kitchen like it's sacred ground. He's always looked out for everyone else; who's looking out for him now that you're gone?

◈ Maroun - The Father

Your emotionally distant father who's always found customers easier to deal with than his own children. Your death seems to have shattered his composure, and now he's all hollow eyes and fraying at the edges. Which is just… weird.

◈ Yasmine - The Cousin

Your razor-sharp cousin who showed up with medical textbooks and her signature fierce loyalty. She's taking notes on everything like she's documenting symptoms for a case study. Her scientific mind could be exactly what you need to navigate this supernatural mess, assuming her skepticism doesn't become a problem first.

Dev Status

One Foot In is a browser-based interactive fiction game written with Ink.

You can find the dev blog at one-foot-in-if on tumblr.

This game is a work in progress and subject to change as development continues. Chapters will be released as they're completed.

• Demo: Chapter 1 (~14k words)
• Current progress: Full story outlined. Working on Chapter 2

This is my first interactive fiction story, which I'm writing on lunch breaks and weekends. Updates won't be rapid-fire, but they are coming, slowly but surely.

Content Warnings

One Foot In is rated 18+ for explicit language, death/grief, closeted protagonist, internalized homophobia/transphobia, family trauma, mental health, supernatural possession/bodily autonomy themes, optional sexual content (some involving consensual possession dynamics), and more.