I originally was going to write a preview for Relooted but saw our lead editor David Burdette accomplished that during Summer Games Fest. I'm glad he did as this game deserves coverage. But now, after I discovered Relooted—a 2D puzzle/runner game about reclaiming factual stolen artifacts—I had to write my two cents on it. It's not just that Relooted is an interesting game with an interesting premise; it's one of the best examples of why we need diversity in video games. And I don't mean the Grand Theft Auto kind of diversity where you have to do research in order to understand a culture. I mean the games made by people who already—instinctively—understand it because they live it.
There's an increasing awareness of European and American museums stealing artifacts from around the world to place into their museums. It robs the countries of their stories and history, and many countries are doing what they can to repatriate those artifacts. Relooted asks "What if we made a game about taking back those artifacts?" In this case, yes, stealing. The characters in the game recognize the absurdity and optics, but they also recognize the urgency. Every year a museum keeps those artifacts, it's another year the rightful country and culture doesn't benefit. It is absolutely a politics, economics, and power equation. Nyamakop, the developers, say let's just paint a world where we steal them back.
Who else would come up with a heist game and base it on repatriating stolen artifacts? Good luck finding that in EA's indie label. The idea of Africans stealing back stolen artifacts is, I'm sure to some, controversial. It raises the moral quandary: Is it considered stealing to reclaim what was stolen? But a reminder—just to get out in front of the possible sensitivity around this idea—it's still a game. Y'know, just like Grand Theft Auto is still a game.
Relooted represents the dream; no different than the combat power fantasies of Call of Duty, Battlefield, or ARMA. Except this dream has a higher purpose: imagining a world where artifacts are returned to their rightful people for the benefit of those people. It's the same kind of dreaming civil rights leaders did during the heights of Jim Crow. These are the apexes video games can reach when placed in the creative hands of diverse people who know their culture and history from experience.
Now, of course, Relooted still has to deliver excellent gameplay. This can be the dream of our people all I want, but if it doesn't play well, I'm going to have a hard time recommending it. But I like what I see so far.
Heists begin very methodically with extensive planning, placing teammates in the right places to use their particular skills, and an execution phase that's full of tension and explosive excitement. Failures are met with generous do-overs, and the game gives you bragging rights for stealing every object with the most optimal route. Controls respond as they should, making split-second decisions easy to execute. I can imagine how complex puzzles can get with the current system demonstrated in the demo (I don't know how old the demo is), but I have my concerns, too: potentially repetitive mechanics, historical context that leans too far towards edutainment, and unnecessary or inconsequential dialog choices.
But the bones are there. The skeleton's being refined in development. Relooted has a lot going for it. I'm hoping Nyamakop can deliver. But whether they do or not, Relooted's existence is another win for more diversity in games.
Relooted launches February 10 on PC and Xbox.
