Take Us North Is a Narrative Adventure Based on Real-Life Migrant Experiences

Take Us North is a narrative adventure inspired by the real-world stories of migrants and asylum seekers, and a Kickstarter campaign is now live.

Developed by Anima Interactive, Take Us North looks at those stories to follow the journeys of migrants and asylum seekers heading for the US-Mexico border. Primarily set in the Sonoran Desert, you play as a guide trying to shepherd a group safely across this trail, a treacherous journey where thousands of migrants have lost their lives in real life.

"We aim to honor their stories with dignity and compassion," states Anima.

Finding safe passage involves navigating perilous terrain and avoiding dangerous wildlife, carefully managing limited food and water supplies, and evading the Border Patrol in stealth gameplay. Through playable flashbacks, further parts of the migrant trail being represented include La Bestia (The Beast) in Mexico and the Darien Gap jungle between Colombia and Panama. 

Take Us North was previously announced last year, but it couldn't have arrived on Kickstarter at a more crucial moment. Anima Interactive seems to understand this, calling this project "deeply personal" to many of its team members and acknowledging that the subject matter "is more urgent and relevant than ever."

"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. Our goal is to foster greater awareness and empathy around issues that are unfortunately often reduced in mainstream media to statistics or divisive rhetoric."

It's difficult to understate the utterly vicious assault we're currently witnessing from the US government against human rights, democracy, basic decency and so much more. Put briefly, the Trump administration has continued its horrifying fascist agenda targeting those in the LGBTQIA+ community, immigrants, US born citizens and seemingly anyone left of Reagan. It's never stopped being important to stand up for what's right, our freedoms weren't given to us charitably, and we must keep fighting on.

Take Us North's Kickstarter campaign is now live until July 13 and has currently raised nearly $5.5k out of its targeted $30k goal. Like any crowdfunding campaign, Kickstarter shouldn't be treated like a pre-order system, as there's no guarantee the project will launch. A successful campaign will hopefully see it arrive with a targeted release window of December 2026 on Steam.