The Plight of Migrants Is Deeply Misunderstood. Can a Video Game Help?
WiredOver the past year, Karla Reyes and her team at Anima Interactive have visited the US-Mexico border twice to interview migrants and humanitarians. In January, hours after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, thousands of migrants suddenly received notice that their appointments with US Customs and Border Protection—the agency that would help them gain asylum—had been canceled. “These are people who have been waiting as long as years.” For Reyes, it only reinforced the sense of urgency around her team’s current project: a crowdfunded game called Take Us North about migrants making the journey across the border. According to a recent Washington Post report, more than 1 million migrants admitted to the US during President Joe Biden’s tenure could face an expedited removal. Take Us North—a narrative-driven, adventure-survival game about migrants traveling through the Sonoran desert—is attempting to both foster empathy and raise awareness about “issues that are unfortunately often reduced in mainstream media to statistics or divisive rhetoric,” Reyes says.
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