Refugees fleeing the murderous war in Syria are at the mercy of people-smugglers, predators and the elements. In order to stay in touch with loved ones and to gain advice on the best routes, many make use of a vital tool: the cell phone.

The Syrian war has displaced more than 10 million people from their homes.

A new mobile game seeks to tell the story of a young woman called Nour who flees Syria and attempts to make the treacherous journey to Europe. Bury Me, My Love simulates phone chats between Nour and her husband Majd, who must stay in Syria to care for elderly relatives. You play as the husband, trying to make sense of your wife's journey. She will often try to hide the true hardships she is suffering

Refugees who have survived the journey speak of their reliance on services like WhatsApp, in order to stay in touch with family during extremely challenging times.

In the game, the player offers emotional support as well as practical advice, which may or may not be taken. It takes place in pseudo-realtime. You may go hours without hearing from your wife.

“Bury Me, My Love” is an Arabic phrase that means, roughly, 'I hope you live a long life' or simply 'be safe.' The game is being made as a co-production between French outfits The Pixel Hunt and Figs.

Nour's route is extremely dangerous. A report last September estimated that global refugee deaths for the year likely exceeded 10,000 people, with many of them Syrians drowned while attempting to cross the Mediterranean.

The Syrian war has displaced more than 10 million people from their homes. Around half have left the country. Most are still in the Middle East.

Majd's job is to try to advise Nour as she faces problems on the road, such as hostile border patrols and cheating smugglers. Her life is at stake, but so is her relationship with her husband. The game is inspired by many stories of refugees escaping Syria, including this article in Le Monde about a young refugee and how she made use of social media. The game-makers have taken advice from refugees who have made the journey.

"Games do not necessarily have to be fun and trivial," said The Pixel Hunt's Florent Maurin, in an email interview with Polygon. "On the contrary, I took examples such as documentaries and graphic novels to explain that, like every medium, games can tackle any topic. It's all about finding the good distance, with an honest methodology."

Maurin, a former journalist, said that he wants players to find some sense of what it's like to have to run away from your home, into the teeth of a highly dangerous journey. Here's his quote in full.

"We're not activists. We're not backed by an NGO or funded by an agency with an agenda. But we've heard lots of stories about Syrian migrants and refugees and we've been moved by them. It made us think about what it means to have to leave the people you love and everything you call yours behind, about how difficult it is to fit in a place where you're not welcome.

"As European citizens, what is our responsibility in all this? This is an important question, especially in the light of the current rise in xenophobia worldwide. As storytellers, we felt compelled to share and convey them.

"We'd love our players to realize that they've got a lot more in common with those two young Syrians than they might think. But we're not trying to brainwash people into thinking every single migrant is the nicest person they'll ever meet. It's a bit silly to admit, but the greatest epiphany I got from the documentation we gathered and the interviews we did is that 'migrant' is not a monolithic category. Contrary to what one may think looking at the images that are often being shown on TV, those are individual human beings: some are great, other less so, they all have qualities, flaws, hopes, dreams.

"We took inspiration from them to create our two fictional characters, but also all the other people they meet along the way. Making this game definitely changed the way I think about migrants. I hope it might have a similar effect on players."