Take Us North Creator Previously Promoted Game Where Player Crosses Texas Border to Terminate a Pregnancy

The debate surrounding the game “Take Us North,” which involves smuggling migrants illegally into the United States from Mexico, has gained even more attention. A recently resurfaced panel discussion at GDC featuring Karla Reyes, founder of Anima Interactive, suggests that prior to developing their illegal immigration game, she had previously promoted a different project about illegally crossing the Texas border with the intention of terminating a pregnancy.

The complete discussion, which is available on the YouTube channel Gothic Therapy, was shared by its hosts MasterofTheTDS and Writing Raven. You can watch the entire video at the top of this post.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Writing Raven is a writer for That Park Place under the name Raven Redgrave

The “Justice Jam” Revelation

At the Game Developers Conference, Reyes delivered a speech in a casual, impromptu manner discussing her strategy for game creation. Instead of centering on mechanics or design, she stressed the importance of “storytelling guided by values.” She encouraged the audience to consider games as means to stir emotions and foster change, positioning them as effective tools for advocacy.

In her presentation, slides were displayed which highlighted her affiliation with Wings Interactive, a key contributor to Sweet Baby Inc., the sponsor organization that primarily finances advocacy-focused video game projects.

At the presentation, Reyes showcased her studio’s role in arranging a Justice Jam – an event focused on game development, where participants were inspired to create projects dealing with justice-related matters. One of the games that emerged from this gathering, which Reyes commended, was titled “Crossing Lines“.

In simpler terms, the storyline of the game Crossing Lines centers around a character who smuggles a young girl across the Texas border clandestinely, as she seeks an abortion in another state due to restricted access in her current location.

As per Reyes’ perspective, the game delved into the “odyssey” of trying to escape Texas under fresh regulations limiting such actions. He portrayed the journey across borders as an engaging and story-driven road trip.

A Pattern of Border-Crossing Activism in Games

The recently re-emerged GDC discussion highlights an intriguing trend in Reyes’ subsequent projects, which has persisted up until ‘Take Us North’.

In Crossing Lines, the act of illegally crossing a border was reframed as an interactive “empathy” exercise about pregnancy termination.
In Take Us North, players once again take on the role of a guide (a guía, effectively a coyote) escorting migrants illegally across the U.S.–Mexico border.

In both instances, there’s a shared focus on using unlawful border crossings as platforms for conveying political messages.

This decision isn’t just a singular creative move. Instead, it reflects a consistent approach in Reyes’ activism within game development – transforming intense political topics into engaging narrative experiences designed to foster cultural transformation.

Gothic Therapy Connects the Dots

The Gothic Therapy watchdog channel emphasized that this GDC talk serves as additional evidence supporting the claim of an influencing pipeline by activists within the gaming industry.

Their breakdown emphasized:

Reyes’ alignment with Wings Interactive, whose co-founder Audrey Leprince publicly promoted Take Us North.
The involvement of Sweet Baby Inc. co-founder Kim Belair, who appeared as a juror and organizer for the Justice Jam, confirming SBI’s role in helping push these kinds of projects.
Reyes’ own admission that she seeks out “alternative sources of funding” to keep these games alive — rather than relying on traditional gaming investors.

At Gothic Therapy, it’s evident that a certain trend is emerging: Consultancies focused on activism, grant-providing organizations, and key institutional figures are increasingly promoting video games with political undertones, disregarding their commercial potential or the public interest in them.

From Panels to Propaganda

To several viewers, Reyes’ speech appeared to deviate from the typical technical delivery and felt more akin to a political rally with a persuasive tone.

Rather than outlining the gameplay mechanisms, Reyes’ presentation was filled with activist terminology, untidy narratives, and promotions for her studio’s socially aware initiatives. The most noticeable point wasn’t a groundbreaking design – it was the confirmation that the same thought process behind “Take Us North” had been previously applied in “Crossing Lines,” where border crossings remained the central gameplay element once more.

Anima Interactive’s Digital Disappearance

Following the examination of “Take Us North” and Anima Interactive, along with its associated institutions, a swift consequence has occurred. The recent revival of Reyes’ Justice Jam discussion, in addition to this scrutiny, seems to have led Anima Interactive to remove their online presence altogether.

The studio’s official X account was deleted.
Reyes’ personal account was removed.
The studio’s website was locked and set to private.
Instagram was switched to private as well.

Following Asmongold’s reaction video on their game concerning migrants and asylum seekers, the team responsible for “Take Us North” chose to disable their Twitter account.
— yeet (@Awk20000) August 26, 2025

Instead of responding to the criticism, Anima opted to disappear, creating more puzzles than solutions – much like Wings Interactive did when it briefly vanished from the web following its exposure by Gothic Therapy.

The Bottom Line

Initially, there was a game named “Crossing Lines,” which centered around the clandestine crossing of the Texas border to terminate a pregnancy. Now, we have “Take Us North,” a game that focuses on the covert journey across the U.S.-Mexico border, portraying the role of a migrant guide. Both games were presented as “empathy-building” experiences, and they align with the pattern previously unveiled by Gothic Therapy in their critique of the Wings/Sweet Baby pipeline.

And now, under the heat of exposure, the developer behind them has erased itself from the internet.

In my perspective as a film and game critic, this production isn’t merely an example of independent storytelling. Instead, it appears to form a recognizable pattern – a connection that binds activist developers, funding institutions, and international organizations, seemingly using video games as a platform to propagate political agendas.

And with each revelation, that pattern becomes harder to deny.

2025-09-04 15:59