Relooted: the South African video game where players take back artefacts from western museums | Games

South African Video Game ‘Relooted’ Lets Players Reclaim African Artefacts in Thrilling Museum Heists

In a bold and creative response to the ongoing global debate over cultural repatriation, a new South African video game is offering players a chance to take justice into their own hands—digitally, at least. Developed by Cape Town-based studio Nyamakop, Relooted invites players to step into the shoes of Nomali, a South African sports scientist and parkour expert, as she embarks on a high-octane mission to recover 70 real African artefacts currently held in Western museums.

The game, which blends fast-paced action with a powerful socio-political message, allows players to leap, dive, and sneak through iconic institutions to reclaim treasures looted during the colonial era. Among the artefacts featured are an Asante gold mask, taken by British forces during the destruction of Kumasi, now housed in London’s Wallace Collection, and the skull of Tanzanian king Mangi Meli, which was taken to Germany after his execution by colonial authorities in 1900.

Relooted arrives at a time when the repatriation of African cultural heritage has become a global flashpoint. A 2018 report commissioned by French President Emmanuel Macron estimated that over 90% of Africa’s material cultural heritage is held outside the continent. While some institutions, like Berlin’s Ethnologisches Museum and Cambridge University, have begun returning Benin bronzes to Nigeria, others, including the British Museum, have resisted calls to repatriate looted objects.

Ben Myres, CEO of Nyamakop, described the game as a “hopeful, utopian” vision of what cultural repatriation could look like. “Real-life repatriation is enormously complicated and has been ongoing for decades, in some cases even a century or more,” he said. “We’re giving people this feeling of what it’s going to feel like when all these artefacts finally come home.”

The game’s narrative director, Mohale Mashigo, crafted an “Africanfuturist” vision of the continent at the end of the 21st century, where cities and countries “work for people.” In contrast, Europe and the United States are portrayed as generic, unnamed regions—“The Old World” and “The Shiny Place”—to parody the way the West often represents Africa.

The game’s development team included talent from over 10 African countries, and voice actors were hired from the countries of the characters that make up Nomali’s heist crew, ensuring authenticity and cultural representation.

For Sithe Ncube, the game’s producer, including the Kabwe Skull—a 300,000-year-old fossil discovered in Zambia and currently held in London’s Natural History Museum—was particularly meaningful. “Even before I started working at Nyamakop, I just felt like someone should get it back,” she said. “It would be cool for someone to do this in some form of media, in a game.”

Creating Relooted was an eye-opening experience for the team. “Learning about the scale of artefact looting in Africa, up to now I still can’t wrap my head around the numbers,” Ncube said. “It seems quite ridiculous and probably underestimated as well.”

Relooted is more than just a game—it’s a statement, a conversation starter, and a call to action. By blending entertainment with education, it challenges players to think critically about the legacy of colonialism and the importance of cultural heritage. As the debate over repatriation continues, Relooted offers a glimpse into a future where justice and restitution are not just ideals, but realities.

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