Back in the 21st century, the Museum of Black Civilisations in Senegal opened an exhibition comprised entirely of vacant plinths. The idea was that, after the return of key African artefacts looted during the colonial era had been successfully negotiated, the gallery would gradually fill up. But the year is now 2100, and the room is still all but empty. It’s time to take matters into your own hands.
This is the world of Relooted, the new African-futurist heist caper for PC by Johannesburg-based developers Nyamakop. A puckish entry into the real-world restitution debate, the game has not surprisingly garnered a lot of hype and got up more than a few noses. Happily, though, Relooted is both substantial and light-footed enough to realise the promise of its premise.
You play as Nomali, a Tanzanian parkours runner who initially gets roped into saving younger brother Trevor, a security-systems expert and all-round dweeb, from dodgy dealings with shady locals. It turns out Trevor and your aunt, the distinguished art historian Professor Grace, could use your acrobatic skills for something more serious; they’re putting together a band of thieves to reclaim Africa’s material heritage from museums and private collections in the Old World (Europe) and the Shiny Place (New York). You are reluctant at first. But then, ‘is it stealing, to take back what was stolen?’
Each mission begins with a briefing on the objects you’ll be seizing – there are 45 in total across the game’s eight chapters, all based on real artefacts – before you scope out the joint with the help of your drone sidekick, identifying any security hazards and plotting your escape route. Then it’s time for the heist itself, which takes the form of a classic 2D platform game; once you’ve grabbed the artefact and the alarms go off, it’s an exhilarating parkours sprint to the getaway van. Perhaps forgivably for a game that costs £14.99 on release, there’s some jankiness in the mechanics, but in general the gameplay itself is fun enough to sustain interest, its essentially repetitive nature alleviated by an ever-expanding cast of teammates to help you over new kinds of obstacle. The visual renderings of African-futurist costumes and architecture are enjoyable throughout – as is a soundtrack that spans Afrobeat-inspired rhythms and ominous synths that wouldn’t be out of place in a John Carpenter film.
I was initially a little disappointed that the museums, collectors’ homes and auction houses you raid bear no resemblance to the real thing – who hasn’t wanted to roam around the Met or the British Museum after dark? – but I came to realise that this is in fact crucial to the game’s success. Not just because, if recent events are anything to go by, the game might be a little too easy if it were modelled on the real-life security systems of Western museums, but also because Relooted cleverly refracts the restitution debate through its own essentially good-natured, projective fiction. In the world of the game, an agreement with Western museums to return objects to Africa was struck in the 21st century – but it applied only to works currently on display, a legal nicety that museums have since been exploiting by ‘disappearing’ works into storage or the hands of nefarious private collectors. The game’s ultimate baddie is a caricature of an English aristocrat, who ‘conserves artworks in the same way that hunters conserve their prey’. This isn’t to say it’s toothless in its overarching critique of colonial legacies but, by purposefully setting up bogeymen, the game avoids targeting any blame at identifiable actors. It thereby frees itself up to focus on its own plot, fleshing out the relationships between its characters as they navigate a sequence of double-crossings. More especially – and unlike so much commentary on restitution – it means the focus always remains on the objects themselves.
In this aspect the game really does shine; as a history of Africa in 45 objects, it would be hard to top the developer’s selection here. They include the Kabwe Skull – the first significant hominid fossil to be found in Africa when it was excavated in Zambia in 1921 – as well as a handmade rifle made in Kenya after the British cut off supply lines of firearms during the Mau Mau Rebellion. Wooden masks and statues, jewellery and musical instruments, mostly dating from the 19th century, give a wide overview of cultural practices throughout Africa, while there are also works made by civilisations across the continent that far predate the colonial encounter – from Nigeria, two Benin Bronzes, a Nok terracotta (c. 2000 BC) and a copper-alloy head from Ife (c. 1350); from the Sahel, one of the remarkable Bura-Asinda terracotta figures made to guard reliquary pots (c. 600); from the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, one of the magnificent soapstone birds (c. 1350) that have become the modern nation’s symbol.
Each is given a brief but informative introduction during the missions – I especially enjoyed learning that Andy Warhol owned three vigango burial statues from Kenya. And when the button-bashing gets too much, you can take a bit of time out to visit them all in the ‘Artifacts Room’ of your high-tech Johannesburg hideout. It’s a museum I would happily keep coming back to.
Relooted is available to buy on Steam and can be played on Windows PC or Xbox Series X|S.
