Celebrating 100 Years of Black History Month With Games

Diversity is not a monolith. Diverse experiences of all kinds allow allow ourselves to be seen and heard through different lenses, and have our experiences related to. Diversity is accessibility. It is a panacea for the soul to see ourselves represented on screen through television, music, or even in an art gallery. Representation matters. It inspires hope. It fuels creativity. And it goes without saying: representation is good for mental health. To have our own experiences validated, shared, and celebrated as a cultural artifact is incredibly powerful.

2026 marks the 100th year anniversary of Black History Month in the United States. It is annually observed in February as a way to remember and celebrate African-American history; however, Black history is celebrated and remembered globally all year long – it's legacy shaped by centuries of resilience and storytelling.

We're spotlighting games we loved that feature Black protagonists and include inclusive accessibility features! For a more comprehensive look at games that feature Black characters, have Black developers, or relate to Black culture in some way, we highly recommend the Black Games Archive, a database developed by Samantha Blackmon and TreaAndrea M. Russworm.

SEASON: A letter to the future (2023) by Scavengers Studio is a multi-award winning narrative game where you follow Estelle, a young Black woman who bikes across gorgeous landscapes, documenting memories before the season ends.

The story opens with a letter to the future: a scientist opens the book of someone long gone, discovering her interior world and how she lived. As the scientist reads the story and learns about Estelle, you come to understand that a "season" is not necessarily a season as we know it, but the length of an era. It hearkens to works like The Lord of the Rings, where the Elves are forced to depart Middle-Earth at the end of the Third Age to usher in the Fourth, or The Wheel of Time where the Wheel must always turn – each age receding as another comes. Knowing the season is ending, Estelle sets out into the world to meet people, each awaiting the coming change in their own way. SEASON is about memory and change. Change is not to be feared. As the fantasy author Ursula Le Guin wrote, "What goes too long unchanged destroys itself. The forest is forever because it dies and dies and so lives."

Scavenger Studios created the game with love and care, hiring a Diversity Advisor to ensure the message behind the games themes resonated as a message of hope. The studio made it clear that accessibility and mental health were paramount in crafting the story that stays with you long after the credits roll.

If you love Estelle, we also recommend checking out Neva (2024) and South of Midnight (2025) which also have strong, meditative themes and atmospheric landscapes – each with outstanding Black protagonists and accessibility features that make them a joy to play.

If SEASON: A letter to the future is about welcoming change, then Tales of Kenzera™: ZAU (2024) is about grief, how change is inextricably tied to it. Tales of Kenzera is a tribute to the enduring spirit of those no longer with us, and to the idea that living well is the greatest way to honor the dead. As Zimbabwean novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga says, "To mourn is to touch the edge of the wound and still walk on."

In this metroidvania, rich with tributes to African lore and traditions from Tanzania, Kenya, and Mozambique, you follow an angry Zuberi as he grapples with the recent loss of his father. His mother gifts him a book left behind by his father, who explains what it means to be a shaman – a path of healing and guidance. The game unfolds as a story within a story: Zuberi follows the tale of Zau, the titular Black protagonist, written by his father. Zau mourns his own father and strikes a bargain with Kalunga, the God of Death, to bring back his departed soul. Throughout the journey, the story revisits the loss of parents. Zau meets characters such as Gagorib and Bomani, learning that rebellion and anger at Death for claiming loved ones is misguided. Death is not evil. It simply is. Grief means carrying forward the love that remains, without anger.

Zuberi's father dies before he can finish Zau's tale, but by the end, he is no longer consumed by rage. He remembers the things his father loved – to live is to carry forward the tale he left behind; a story is not finished when someone is gone, but passed forward.

Another game we enjoyed with a similar theme of wrestling with the gods is Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn (2024), a souls-like where you play as Nor Vanek, a member of the Coalition Army who seeks to take back the lands of Kian from the Gods.

While Tales of Kenzera stands as a powerful love letter to African traditions, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention the latest smash-hit game Relooted, by South African studio Nyamakop.

The premise is simple: Professor Grace, former restitution expert of the Transatlantic Returns Treaty, has hit a snag in securing reparations from Western museums to return looted artifacts to Africa – no artifact has been returned in the last 15 years. A loophole in the treaty allows museums to remove African artifacts from display, place them in storage, and say "We don't have the artifact!" because it is no longer publicly exhibited. This loophole enables institutions to keep the artifacts in private storage, out of sight and effectively out of reach. In response, Nomali and her brother, Trevor, recruit a team to get past the security systems and (re)loot the stolen artifacts.

Relooted is a masterclass in storytelling, unafraid to be blunt about Western imperialism's history of taking cultural, historical, and spiritual artifacts from the Global South in the name of preservation. Cultural artifacts belong to the countries they originated from because those communities best understand the context and significance of their existence. A game like Relooted is a vital game for folks looking to interrogate the ethics of museums such as the New York's Met, Paris's Louvre, the British Museum, and others that continue to hold important history hostage. And yes – the 70 artifacts in-game are based on real-world items that were stolen! Several of these museums still have not returned the items, intentionally delaying restitution through bureaucracy and thin defenses claiming the artifacts would be displayed or stored unsafely in their home countries.

Black Resources in Gaming

There are countless amazing games out there with Black protagonists and developers, but we also want to take the opportunity to highlight some awesome resources for developers, creators, and players out there!

• Black in Gaming (BIG) is a community focused on fostering, empowering, and amplifying Black professions in the games industry.
• Black Nerd Problems was created in 2014 that focuses on popular nerd culture from a Black perspective. They also have a book!
• Game Devs of Color is a nonprofit organization established in 2016 that focuses on amplifying developers of color in the gaming industry.
• Woke Gaming is a 2018 book by two Black professors that focuses on the daily lives of marginalized creators, and how gaming is entangled with mainstream social justice.
• Games Industry Africa was founded in 2019 and shines a spotlight on current events in the African games industry.
• Black Game Developer Fund was created in 2020 to support developers with funding, guidance, marketing assistance, and more!
• Black Voices in Gaming is a Black-led, nonprofit organization founded in 2020 that focuses on increasing Black representation and inclusion for game developers.
• Black Game Developers Database a database of Black game developers available for hire to work on your game! Check them out!
• Africa Games Week shines a spotlight on the African gaming industry and also focuses on amplifying developers and voices from across the continent.

Join us!

Looking to discover awesome Black creators – or be featured yourself? Check out AbleToPlay's Creator Discovery to find your next favorite creator! And come join us in our Discord server, chat about your favorite games, share recommendations, and celebrate accessibility wins together! When everyone plays, we all win.