Anima Interactive has launched a Kickstarter campaign for its game, Take Us North, about the experiences of migrants and asylum seekers on crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

Take Us North is an adventure/survival game that follows the journeys of migrants and asylum seekers on their way to cross the US-Mexico border. It’s about the human story behind the politics and headlines, and stories about what the actual crossing is like. The game has raised $12,000 to date and is targeting hitting $30,000 in the next 26 days.

Anima Interactive is a socially conscious indie games studio. With video games as the largest entertainment medium in the world, CEO Karla Reyes, a daughter of Guatemalan immigrants, believes in the immense untapped opportunity for interactive media to ignite positive cultural and social change.

Take Us North was inspired by real-world stories and follows poignant cross-border journeys.

“We recognize this is a heavy-hitting and emotionally-charged subject matter; however, we’re committed to humanizing the migrant and refugee experience and portraying it sensitively, respectfully, and authentically,” the company said in its campaign. “Our goal is to foster greater awareness and empathy around issues that are unfortunately often reduced in mainstream media to statistics or divisive rhetoric.”

This project is deeply personal to many of Anima’s team members, and the team is collaborating the portrayal is both respectful and authentic. Team members have interviewed migrants at Casa de la Misericordia in Nogales, Mexico, and creative director Reyes has retraced migrant trails in the Sonoran Desert.

“With rapidly evolving policies, migration and immigration stand as some of the most urgent and critical issues of our time,” Anima Interactive said. “Our goal with Take Us North extends beyond game development – we strive to contribute to a broader cultural conversation and shift hearts and minds around this crucial subject matter.”

The company also hopes to galvanize social movements that directly support humanitarian and activist communities alongside the game. For example, it is collaborating closely with Casa de la Miserocordia y de Todas Las Naciones, a shelter for migrants and asylum seekers in Nogales, Mexico, and Salvavision, an organization based in Tucson, Arizona that provides aid to asylum seekers.

Take Us North blends narrative depth, strategic traversal, resource management, and stealth mechanics to meaningfully connect players with the migrant experience.

Players assume the role of a migrant guide whose objective is to safely shepherd a group of migrants and asylum seekers across the US-Mexico border.

The game is primarily set in the Sonoran Desert, one of the deadliest migrant trails in the world. Thousands of migrants have lost their lives making this journey, and Anima Interactive aims to honor their stories with dignity and compassion.

Players must guide their fellow travelers through perilous terrain, circumventing obstacles like dangerous wildlife, managing limited food and water supplies, and evading Border Patrol. The stories balance tension with reprieve.

The migrant journey is a physically and emotionally arduous one, and the developers aim to reflect that in Take Us North. Moments of tension such as stealth gameplay will be balanced with moments of rest and reprieve. When players are able to rest, they can gather around a campfire with the group and exchange stories: nostalgia for what they’ve left behind, fears, hopes, and dreams.

In addition to the Sonoran desert, we are developing levels that represent other parts of the migrant trail, including La Bestia (The Beast), a perilous freight train that runs through Mexico that thousands of migrants ride on top of to travel across Mexico, and the Darien Gap, a jungle between Colombia and Panama.

The team is a collective of artists, writers, creative technologists, researchers, and activists dotted across the globe. Countries represented by project contributors include Argentina, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Italy, Mexico, The Netherlands, The UK, and the U.S.

Take Us North has garnered early-stage financial support from Microsoft Xbox, Cinereach, and Clever Endeavour Games.

The team’s efforts have been highlighted at the Games & SDGs Summit at the UN Headquarters and at GDC this year, and Take Us North was listed among the top indie games at GDC by GamesHub and NPR. The company has since showcased at other festivals around the world including London Games Festival, A MAZE, Gamescom LatAm, and Tribeca.

The company recognizes it has a responsibility that comes with telling these stories, and it doesn’t take that lightly. So it’s working closely with migration scholars, anthropologists, and people with lived experience to make sure the narrative is grounded, authentic, and respectful. It has support from partners at Xbox and Cinereach.

The development team behind Take Us North is dotted across the globe, representing over 15 countries.