Distributor provided a review copy.
Relooted is a heist game set in an Afrofuturist present where a group of thieves take it upon themselves to liberate their past from the clutches of colonialist thieves. It is, by design, brash and confrontational. It has to be.
It deals with topics of cultural identity, history, lineage, and what the rule of law means when entire countries can claim that theft means something completely different if done under the banner of conquest.
But Relooted isn't just a polemic. It is also a smartly designed and mostly hugely enjoyable game that has a clear love and understanding for this genre. For fans of side-scrolling action puzzlers it's an easy recommendation. Reminiscent of those great XBLA titles we used to get on the regular in the mid-2000s.
Relooted picks up inspiration and ideas from films like Black Panther, See You Yesterday, and Neptune Frost. The result is a glorious mosaic of consistently inventive touches that reward those paying attention. This is a game made with great love for history and the beauty and timelessness of an entire culture.
Every item you liberate goes into a database, where you can read up on its past. They information is truncated and just a snippet of large, complex parts, but by and large all of it remains fascinating. It gives the spark to go out and learn more, which is precisely what good art should accomplish. Relooted creates a dialog with the player that extends well past the end credits.
The gameplay starts off easy but proves challenging enough to maintain interest. Every level is a self-contained series of puzzles. Escaping and parkouring only forma a small part of the big picture. First, you have to case the joint, which involved flying a drone around the level to discover security flaws, potential targets, and the quickest way through once the alarms go off.
As the game progresses, you pick up new members to your team, each with skills of their own that change the way levels out play out. At times, I felt this was a better as a concept than it is in execution. One of your friends can use a tether to pull you up to higher elevations, extend grappling points, and so on. In theory, the idea is that you know where to place them and how to utilize their function for a fast escape. In practice, I found the controls for this fiddly and often getting in the way of the fun.
Sometimes your partners just don't do what they're supposed to, which amplifies the frustrations. At one point, I had placed a friend to open a door for me once the alarms go off, and sometimes he'd do as instructed and at others just sit there until I issued the command again. It's annoying to trip up on an otherwise perfect run because of a glitch like that, and it happens a little too often with Relooted.
But when things click, Relooted is more fun than anything else in a while. This is a game with a fantastic sense of scale, momentum, and style. It's so cool to leap across rooftops with a recently swiped statue in hand, only for everything to slow down and your character silhouette against an ocean of stars.
These moments, including the in-between sections where you wander around your base building rapport with friends, work so well because Relooted emphasizes the importance of a good plan. Every mission goes – for the most part – as well or as poorly as you put it together. Like with Gunpoint, another side-scrolling puzzle actioner that I love, Relooted plays as a series of mistakes that result in something magical.
As a happy surprise, the plot and characters aren't secondary to the mechanics. Instead, they add wonderful texture and nuance to a complex subject and help make even the weightiest parts feel like you're part of an exciting romp. Animations aren't quite on par with the terrific wordplay, but that's to be expected from a smaller indie project like this.
Relooted isn't a long game, but it doesn't need to be. It delivers pretty much what you'd expect for the price and gets away mostly clean. Which isn't to say it's perfect.
I was taken aback by some technical issues, like how much it struggles even with 32GB of RAM and an RTX 3080 until you mess around with the settings. There are also the aforementioned bugs and some of the mechanics feel overdesigned. Genuine issues that can get better over time or with a sequel, but nothing that sours the experience.
And yet, despite this, I kept coming back to it. I wanted to try out a few more puzzles, get a slightly faster escape time, and just chill with the amazing soundtrack. The fact that I learned something in the process is a bonus.
To paraphrase one of my favorite films: "A good heist is when everyone involved gets what they want." That's exactly the case here.
