“Relooted,” a new video game developed by South African studio Nyamakop and released on February 10, offers a playful yet politically charged take on the global debate over the restitution of African artifacts.

Set in the late 21st century, the game imagines a future in which governments have formally agreed to return authentic African artifacts held in Western museums.

In response, those institutions secretly remove key objects from display to avoid repatriation, prompting a team of heroes from across Africa to undertake a covert “rescue mission” to reclaim 70 specific cultural treasures.

At the heart of the narrative is a provocative question: “But is it really theft if it was already stolen?” By framing players as restorers rather than criminals, the game challenges conventional ideas of ownership and justice.

Among the artifacts featured are a Yehoti mask from Burkina Faso, Congolese Ishango sticks, and a Ngadji drum from Kenya, items that mirror real-world cultural objects whose displacement remains the subject of international dispute.

Beyond its storyline, “Relooted” places strong emphasis on authentic African and Afro-descendant representation within a video game industry long dominated by Western perspectives.

Co-founder Ben Myres stressed that it was essential for the characters to be Black and African, reflecting the cultural heritage they seek to reclaim.

The development team carefully crafted characters from diverse regions, incorporating linguistic and ethnic specificity, including distinct African accents.

The soundtrack similarly rejects Western orchestral conventions, relying instead on traditional African instruments blended with modern synthesizers to foreground the continent’s cultural richness.

Producer Sithe Ncube describes the project itself as a form of activism, highlighting the broader struggle of African developers to compete with larger Western studios and to tell their own stories authentically.

While the game has drawn praise, it has also sparked controversy, with some critics arguing that portraying African protagonists as “thieves” risks reinforcing harmful stereotypes.

Nyamakop counters that the game invites deeper reflection on historical injustices and encourages players to explore the real histories of artifacts housed in institutions such as the British Museum in London and the Quai Branly Museum in Paris.

The debate surrounding “Relooted” unfolds against a wider political movement for cultural restitution. Globally, more than 85 percent of African heritage is held outside the continent, including an estimated 90,000 sub-Saharan African objects in French museums alone.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s 2017 pledge in Burkina Faso to return African heritage within five years helped catalyze similar initiatives in countries such as Belgium and Germany.

By engaging with these developments through interactive storytelling, “Relooted” situates itself at the intersection of gaming, politics, and the ongoing effort to address the legacy of colonial-era cultural dispossession.