Video game lets you return African artifacts from Western museums

Nyamakop Nyamakop

“Is it stealing to take back what was stolen?” That’s the question asked in the trailer for “Relooted,” a video game in which players form a crew and plan a heist to reclaim real-life African artifacts held in Western museums.

Created by South African game developer Nyamakop, the game, to be released on PC and Xbox, is set in a futuristic Johannesburg, South Africa. The crew is composed of scientists, computer programmers and MMA fighters — rather than seasoned criminals — and guided by the fictitious Professor Grace, a retired South African art historian frustrated by the glacial rate of restitutions.

There are hundreds of thousands of African artifacts held in Western collections. As European countries colonized Africa, they took art and valuables. Some, such as th