In Their Shoes

From the first day of spring, to the last day of winter, wear seven shoes of seven characters and live their most intimate moments. Explore their thoughts, choose their steps and shape their paths in a mumblecore narrative game where the most extraordinary setting is ordinary life itself.

THE STORIES

In Their Shoes is a collection of slice-of-life, stereotype-breaking short stories set in a city of contrasts like present-day Milan. 7 shoes for 7 characters equals 49 everyday, hyper-realistic, choice-based “Moments”, each lasting about 5 minutes, challenging our perceptions of gender, culture, and lifestyle by (literally) stepping into someone else’s shoes.

While viewing an apartment, talking on the phone with your partner, standing at a bar counter, chatting with a former best friend, or participating in a street protest, In Their Shoes invites you to navigate subtle yet meaningful choices amid everyday doubts, joys, or tensions. It also reimagines classic visual novel mechanics by allowing you to enter into the tangled and intricate thoughts of each protagonist.

THE CHARACTERS

• For Nico, being taller than your average bookcase hasn’t always been an advantage.
• Vale has spent 3/4 of their 30 years playing video games, but wastes 1/6 of their day stuck in traffic on the Beltway.
• At 18, Pier is questioning whether there's more to life than sleeping with girls.
• Nina has a tacky tattoo on her left thigh that says "Ms. Independent”.
• Lara only has a few absolute certainties, one of them is the pleasure of a good book.
• Emma sometimes misses the Spanish seaside so much that she can almost smell it.
• Alex started losing his hair when he was 21, maybe now, two decades later, it’ll start growing back.

THE GAME

• Short stories that add up: if 5 minutes feels too short, multiply that by 49, and you’ll have hours of narrative content to go through, not counting dozens of unique endings and interconnections between different Moments.

• Get to know the protagonists from A to Z: each character has their own 26 biographical bits to collect, unlocked through specific choices and thoughts.

• Play (not only) at your own pace: at least 2 Moments per character feature timed choices or real-time events, from a meeting with a condescending boss to a goodbye as the doors of a departing train come to close.

• Solve the Timeline puzzle: rearrange Moments in chronological order across four seasons in Milan thanks to narrative clues hidden in the dialogues (yes, you should take notes!).

• Experiment with a unique, combinatory original soundtrack by Nicolò Sala (Wheels of Aurelia, Saturnalia).

• Enjoy original stories and visuals from the award-winning studio We Are Muesli, author of the narrative games Cadentia Farnese, Venti Mesi, The Great Palermo and Madeleines. 

CONTENT WARNING

This game explores a range of sensitive topics using explicit language as part of its narrative approach to contemporary urban life.

Some stories include references to neurodivergence, disability, body image, social pressure, anxiety, death, sexual acts, and substance use. A few illustrations may contain occasional, non-explicit depictions of sexual acts. Certain characters may express discriminatory views, which are portrayed critically within the narrative.

These themes are handled sensitively and are integral to the narrative of the game.

Player discretion is advised.