Set in the year 2099, Relooted imagines a future where promises to return Africa’s stolen heritage are quietly being undone. A once-celebrated agreement — the Transatlantic Returns Treaty — is unravelling as Western museums exploit loopholes to keep hold of looted artefacts by hiding them from public view.
Disillusioned by the bad faith and endless legal manoeuvring, South African artefacts expert Professor Grace decides to stop waiting for justice. Instead, she recruits a small but skilled team: her grandchildren Nomali and Trevor, and Etienne, a former student with insider access to European institutions.
From a derelict warehouse in Johannesburg, the group plans a series of daring break-ins — not for profit, but to reclaim cultural objects taken during colonial rule. This premise forms the backbone of Relooted, a newly released “African-futurist heist game” developed by pan-African studio Nyamakop.
Unlike conventional heist stories, there is no final cash reward and no criminal past. The characters are driven instead by constantly shifting rules that make restitution ever harder. In the game’s world, a treaty amendment now limits returns to artefacts on display, prompting museums to pack objects away in storage to avoid handing them back.
Players step into the role of Nomali, a sports scientist and elite parkour athlete who becomes the operation’s reluctant leader. According to narrative director Mohale Mashigo, Nomali initially joins the mission to demonstrate how dangerous it is — and to protect her family from the risks involved. Her loyalty, rather than ideology, pulls her into the heists.
Nomali’s agility allows players to sprint, climb, vault and navigate secure environments as they recover 70 sacred and cultural objects. She is supported by a diverse crew: Trevor, a locksmith and surveillance expert; Etienne, a Belgian-British insider; Ndedi, an acrobat from Cameroon; Cryptic, a Kenyan hacker; and Fred, a Congolese driver and gadget specialist.
As the story unfolds, additional characters and perspectives emerge, reinforcing the game’s pan-African scope. Relooted is the latest project from Nyamakop, whose earlier title Semblance became the first African-developed game to launch on a Nintendo console in 2018. Developers, designers and voice actors from across the continent — including Nigeria, Angola, Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya — contributed to the project.
Nyamakop’s CEO Ben Myres hopes the game marks the beginning of a broader slate of African-inspired titles for global audiences. Built for PCs and consoles, Relooted is primarily aimed at the African diaspora, given that most gamers on the continent play on smartphones due to cost.
Project manager Sithe Ncube believes the theme has universal resonance. The desire to see stolen cultural heritage returned, she says, is something many people quietly imagine. The idea for the game came to Myres during a visit to London, after his mother reacted with outrage to seeing the Nereid Monument in the British Museum — a structure dismantled and transported from Turkey in the 19th century.
Rather than focusing on buildings, the game centres on artefacts, many of them real objects taken from Africa in the late 1800s and 1900s. These include the Asante Gold Mask looted during the British destruction of Kumasi’s royal palace, the Bangwa Queen sculpture removed from Cameroon in 1899, Kenya and Tanzania’s stolen vigango grave markers, and Kabwe 1 — one of the most important human fossils ever discovered, held in London since 1921.
Despite the violent histories behind many of these objects, Relooted contains no combat. Players succeed through puzzle-solving, teamwork, athletic movement and strategic thinking. Recovered artefacts are ultimately delivered to the Museum of Black Civilizations in Dakar, envisioned as a temporary home before their return to originating communities.
While Nyamakop is clear that the game is designed foremost as entertainment, its creators also see it as a powerful educational tool. Players can choose how deeply they engage, but learning is built into the experience — through mission briefings and optional exploration in a “Hideout Room” modelled on Johannesburg’s Northcliff Water Tower.
Ncube is confident the game will leave a lasting impression. Whether players come away with a deeper understanding of African history, ongoing restitution debates, or the realisation that African studios can produce world-class games, she says, Relooted offers a new perspective — one that blends play with memory, justice and imagination.