New Video Game 'Relooted' Lets Players Repatriate African Artefacts in Virtual Heists
A groundbreaking new video game titled Relooted empowers players to virtually 'repatriate' African artefacts currently housed in Western museums. In this Africanfuturist heist adventure, gamers take on the role of Nomali, a South African sports scientist and parkour expert, to plan and execute daring missions aimed at bringing cultural treasures back to Africa.
Gameplay and Vision
Players will engage in strategic heists to reclaim 70 real-world objects, such as an Asante gold mask from the Wallace Collection. According to video game website IGDB.com, the gameplay involves:
- Recruiting crew members
- Planning intricate escape routes
- Acquiring precious cargo
- Making swift exits from museum settings
Ben Myres, chief executive of Nyamakop, the studio behind Relooted, explained to The Guardian that the game aims to provide a hopeful, utopian feeling about artefact repatriation. Real-life repatriation is enormously complicated and it's been ongoing for decades, in some cases even a century or more, Myres noted. We're giving people this hopeful, utopian feeling… of what it's going to feel like when all these artefacts finally come home.
Inspiration and Cultural Commentary
The inspiration for Relooted stemmed from a personal experience. Myres revealed that his mother visited the British Museum in 2018 and was outraged upon seeing the Nereid Monument, a tomb from Turkey. Speaking to the Telegraph, he recounted her reaction: She was just shocked by the audacity of stealing a building and flippantly said: 'You should make a game about this.'
Myres further described how the game parodies Western perceptions of Africa. We wanted to parody the way the West often represents Africa as a country; it's homogeneous, it's all the same, it's mud huts, it's poverty, it's crying children, he said. In Relooted, Europe is generically portrayed as The Old World, while the United States is depicted as The Shiny Place, envisioned as a cross between Times Square and the Las Vegas strip.
Context of Real-World Repatriation Debates
The release of Relooted last week coincides with mounting pressure on Western museums to return artefacts to their countries of origin. Key developments include:
- A 2018 report commissioned by French President Emmanuel Macron found that over 90% of sub-Saharan Africa's material cultural legacy remains outside the continent.
- In December last year, the British Museum returned 80 objects from ancient Greece and Egypt to India's CSMVS museum in Mumbai, aiming to undo colonial misinterpretation.
- Ongoing disputes involve sacred tablets from Ethiopia, the Elgin Marbles, and the Benin Bronzes—the latter being returned by institutions like London's Horniman Museum following the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.
Dr. Nicholas Cullinan, director of the British Museum, hailed such moves as very beneficial, emphasizing that museums should engage in cultural diplomacy. Relooted targets young people of African heritage in the West, offering a playful yet poignant take on these complex issues, blending entertainment with social commentary in a unique gaming experience.
