Relooted: The South African Video Game Where Players Reclaim Stolen Artefacts
In a bold and innovative response to the ongoing campaign for repatriation, a new South African video game titled Relooted has been developed by the studio Nyamakop. This game immerses players in a series of heists to retrieve culturally and spiritually significant African artefacts from Western museums, offering a hopeful and utopian vision of their return to their homelands.
Gameplay and Historical Context
Players assume the role of Nomali, a South African sports scientist and parkour expert, who navigates through museum settings to reclaim 70 real objects that were looted during the colonial era. Among these artefacts are the Asante gold mask, taken by the British army during the destruction of the Asante empire's capital, Kumasi, and now housed in London's Wallace Collection, and the skull of Tanzanian king Mangi Meli, which was transported to Germany after his execution in 1900.
This initiative comes against the backdrop of a growing global movement to repatriate treasures looted by colonial armies. A 2018 report commissioned by French President Emmanuel Macron estimated that over 90% of Africa's material cultural heritage is held outside the continent, highlighting the scale of historical injustices.
Developer Insights and Creative Vision
Ben Myres, chief executive of Nyamakop, explained the motivation behind Relooted: "Real-life repatriation is enormously complicated and has been ongoing for decades, in some cases even a century or more. We're giving people this hopeful, utopian feeling of what it will be like when all these artefacts finally come home." Myres was inspired to create the game in 2018 after his mother expressed outrage upon seeing the Nereid Monument, a Lycian tomb from Turkey, at the British Museum.
The development team, comprising members from over 10 African countries, collaborated to ensure authenticity. Voice actors were hired from the countries represented by the characters in Nomali's heist crew. Narrative director Mohale Mashigo emphasized the importance of diverse voices: "If we were going to research real artefacts and create characters from Cameroon, DRC, Malawi, and more, I wanted to make sure it sounded like different voices from different places."
Artistic and Cultural Representation
Mashigo crafted an "Africanfuturist" vision of the continent at the end of the 21st century, depicting cities and countries that "work for people," in contrast to the more fantastical genre of Afrofuturism. Conversely, Europe and the United States are portrayed generically as "The Old World" and "The Shiny Place," respectively. Myres noted, "We wanted to parody the way the West represents Africa."
The museums in the game are fictional, except for the Museum of Black Civilisations in Dakar, where players return looted objects to a symbolically empty hall before their final journey home. This design choice underscores the game's focus on repatriation rather than glorifying theft.
Personal Connections and Broader Impact
For game producer Sithe Ncube, including the Kabwe Skull, a 300,000-year-old fossil from Zambia held in London's Natural History Museum, was particularly meaningful. She shared, "Even before I started working at Nyamakop, I felt someone should get it back, and it would be cool to do this in a game." Ncube also reflected on the eye-opening experience of learning about the scale of artefact looting in Africa, stating, "I still can't wrap my head around the numbers. It seems quite ridiculous and probably underestimated as well."
While institutions like Berlin's Ethnologisches Museum and Cambridge University have returned Benin bronzes to Nigeria, others, such as the British Museum, have resisted calls for repatriation. Relooted serves as a creative and engaging platform to raise awareness and foster dialogue about these complex issues, blending entertainment with social commentary.
Through its innovative gameplay and thoughtful narrative, Relooted not only offers players an exciting experience but also contributes to the broader conversation on cultural restitution, providing a hopeful glimpse into a future where stolen heritage is rightfully returned.
