Relooted promises to steal back historical artifacts

Semblance developer Nyamakop has revealed Relooted, a heisting game that has ties back to a very real issue facing cultures around the world. Relooted is in development for Xbox and PC.

Set in the near future where a treaty has been signed that is meant to force museums to repatriate artifacts to their home countries – most significantly for this game, to Africa – museums have found a loophole that only artifacts on display need to be repatriated, so shove everything back into storage.

In Retooled, you manage a team based in Johannesburg in South Africa, following leads and cooking up plans to break in to museums and private collections around the world and steal those artifacts back.

While the game is in a fictional future, the 70 artifacts from Western museums and private collections are real, each with history to learn about in-game. There’s been estimates that some 90% of sub-Saharan African artifacts, including human remains, are in museums and collections.

For the game itself, you’ll have to figure out a way to sneak into each level, before grabbing the artifact and then racing out as fast as you can, avoiding hazards, drones and traps as you go.

Here’s hoping that this raises awareness of this issue so that, next time Greece asks if they can have the Elgin Marbles back, maybe the UK gives it half a thought?