tech
February 21, 2026
Relooted: the South African video game where players take back artefacts from western museums
Creators say they’re offering Africans a ‘hopeful, utopian feeling’ of retrieving objects looted by colonial armies
TL;DR
- Relooted is a South African video game where players perform heists to retrieve African artefacts from Western museums.
- The game features Nomali, a South African sports scientist and parkour expert, as the main character.
- Players can retrieve 70 real-life objects, including an Asante gold mask and the skull of Tanzanian king Mangi Meli.
- The game aims to evoke a 'hopeful, utopian feeling' of repatriation, a complex and long-standing issue.
- A 2018 report estimated that over 90% of Africa's material cultural heritage is held outside the continent.
- The game was created by a team from over 10 African countries, with voice actors hired from the countries of the characters.
- Relooted presents an 'Africanfuturist' vision of the continent, contrasting with generic portrayals of Europe and the US.
- Most museums in the game are fictional, except for the Museum of Black Civilisations in Dakar.
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