African video games: a player’s guide to games made in and set in Africa

Search for “African video games” and you get two different questions mixed together. One is about games made in Africa, by studios in Lagos, Yaoundé, Cape Town or Accra. The other is about games set in Africa, wherever they were made. Both are worth your time, and the best of them are both at once.

Here is our guide to each, with the facts that matter to a player: who made it, when, and where you can play it. These are our picks, not a ranking.

Games made in Africa

Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan (Cameroon)

Kiro’o Games, Yaoundé · Windows · 2016. A landmark: an action role-playing game from a Cameroonian studio, crowdfunded on Kickstarter and released on Steam in April 2016. It is set on Auriona, an invented world built from African cultures and myths, and follows the rulers of the kingdom of Zama. The real-time combat plays more like a brawler than a classic menu-driven RPG.

Broforce (South Africa)

Free Lives · Windows, Mac, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch · 2015. A loud, fast, very silly action platformer from a South African studio, playable alone or in multiplayer. It is at its best with friends: grab one and play it together.

Semblance (South Africa)

Nyamakop · Windows, Mac, Switch · 2018. A gentle puzzle-platformer in which you reshape the world itself, squashing and stretching the ground to get around. It is short, calm and clever, and a good choice if shooters are not your thing.

Leti Arts (Ghana)

Accra. Founded by Eyram Tawia, Leti Arts makes interactive comics and mobile games drawn from African folklore and history. If you want games that retell African stories for a phone screen, it is a studio worth following.

Nigeria’s mobile studios

Nigeria’s studios mostly make games for phones, and many of them are rooted in Lagos life. Maliyo Games made Disney Iwájú: Rising Chef (Android and iOS, 2024), tied to the Disney+ series set in a future Lagos, plus Whot King and Okada Rider. ChopUp made Danfo, a racer about Lagos commuter buses. Gamsole made Gidi Run, an endless runner through the streets of Lagos. Kucheza Gaming made The Wild Kingdoms (2022), an adventure built on Yoruba mythology. Our full list is in Nigerian video games.

Games set in Africa

Tales of Kenzera: Zau

Surgent Studios · Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox Series X/S · 2024. A 2.5D metroidvania published under EA Originals, created by Abubakar Salim, the actor best known to players as the voice of Bayek in Assassin’s Creed Origins. It is a story about grief, built on Bantu cultures and inspired by the death of his father. A good example of a game made outside the continent by someone with deep roots in it.

Assassin’s Creed Origins

Ubisoft Montreal · PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One · 2017. A huge open world set in Ptolemaic Egypt in 49 BC, under Cleopatra. You can roam deserts, oases and cities such as Alexandria and Memphis on foot, on horseback, by camel or by boat. If you want to see a piece of Africa’s ancient history at full scale, this is the one.

Far Cry 2

Ubisoft Montreal · Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 · 2008. An early open-world shooter set in an invented African country in the middle of a civil war. It is a big-budget Western take on a fictional place rather than a real one, and it plays like the 2008 game it is, but it was one of the early open worlds set on the continent.

AJ Cities

Free in the browser · phone and computer · 18+. Our own game, so read this entry with that in mind. AJ Cities is an open world set on the edge of Ajegunle, Lagos, the real neighbourhood people call AJ City, in a fictional estate where Navy Town meets Kirikiri. In the story you are AJ, deported from London, back on a street he barely remembers, owing the gate police ₦2,500,000. There is also a live estate where adults make their own characters and meet other players. It runs in the browser, so there is nothing to download. Before you play, you can read the story chapters online, starting with AJ’s.

Why African games are worth your time

• Stories you have not heard. Yoruba myth, Bantu cultures, Lagos street life. After decades of the same few settings, African games offer worlds most players have never seen.
• Made for the way Africa plays. In Nigeria about 84% of mobile web traffic is Android, and about three in four web visits come from a phone. African studios design for phones first, and that makes many of their games easy to pick up anywhere.
• A growing industry. BusinessDay, citing PwC, put Nigeria’s gaming market alone at about $176 million in revenue in 2024. The talent is there, and so is the audience.

Where to start

If you want one game made in Africa on PC, start with Aurion or Broforce. On a console, try Semblance on Switch. On a phone, try one of the Nigerian titles. If you want a big open world set in Africa, it is Assassin’s Creed Origins. And if you want Lagos, in your browser, tonight, for free, that is AJ Cities.

More from the series: Nigerian game developers and video games in Nigeria.

What are some well-known African video games?

Broforce and Semblance, from the South African studios Free Lives and Nyamakop, and Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan, from Cameroon’s Kiro’o Games, are among the best known. Nigeria’s best-known studios mostly make mobile games.

Are there open-world games set in Africa?

Yes. Assassin’s Creed Origins is set in ancient Egypt and Far Cry 2 in an invented African country. AJ Cities is a free open world in the browser set on the edge of Ajegunle, Lagos.

Is Tales of Kenzera: Zau an African game?

It was made by Surgent Studios, founded by the actor Abubakar Salim, and published by EA. It is built on Bantu cultures.

Are there free African games?

Many African mobile games are free to download. AJ Cities is free to play in the browser.