[00:02] earlier this year, 1666 Amsterdam quickly became my most anticipated game of 2026. I was ins snared by developer Pasha's promise of a dark tale full of witchcraft and stunningly rendered cobblestone streets. And its initial
[00:17] one of the key members behind the first few Assassin's Creed titles was working on the game, left me extremely eager to go hands-on with it. Fortunately, it extend the offer. Less fortunate, however, was my experience playing 1666
[00:33] Amsterdam. Though, it's important to note that Panache intends to release the game in early access, justifying its overall lack of polish. What I'm more concerned about are its glaring structural issues, issues that I hope
[00:45] can be addressed, but seem so embedded in the overall experience that I am admittedly a bit nervous. I see the vision, I think, and I'm hopeful that Pasha's commitment to player feedback might fix some of the game shortcomings.
[00:58] But as of right now, 1666 Amsterdam needs quite a bit of work before I can muster up the excitement I once had. During my preview, I played about an hour and 20 minutes of 1666 Amsterdam, starting shortly after the events of the
[01:11] played as both the game's main characters, Noah and Aaron, across two characters, Noah and Aaron, across two of its three timelines, 1999 and 1666, and in both human and union cat forms. I also played quite briefly as Aaron's
[01:24] daughter, Cleo, who resides in that affforementioned third timeline and essentially acts as the narrator of the story as she translates and reads from a tome referred to as the Nooxifer that details Aaron and Noah's adventure. If
[01:37] that sounds like a lot, it's because it is. And that's just the beginning. Despite featuring dual protagonists, my time spent playing 1666 Amsterdam leads me to believe that it largely centers around Noah, a Zindaris witch who has
[01:50] that Noah has been tasked with figures with extraordinarily long lifespans and the ability to use Nox, a sort of dark magic. Paradoxically, Noah
[02:03] relies on Knox as well. Knox and Lux, which manifest as glowing orbs primary magic sources. and fuel her various spells. To take down these corrupted souls, Noah must first collect their seal and discover their real name.
[02:17] as most of these individuals have led long lives and assumed various [clears throat] gathering these, Noah must cast the nominum spell on the night [clears throat] when her power is at its strongest. If the full moon passes, Noah
[02:32] is rendered completely powerless and must wait until the next full moon new target. Though this doesn't translate to any in-game time limit. Casting the nomin unleashes their demonic amalgam form which must be
[02:45] bested to continue the game. Defeating an amalgam unlocks a coffer containing a Nox bracelet which upgrades your heiron, a strange gauntlet on Noah's left arm with new abilities. After taking down my first amalgam, I received Erubilden, an
[02:59] ability that allowed me to reconstruct destroyed objects. But while this specific power felt scripted, Pache told me that the game's coffers are largely randomized and used as a means to incorporate roguelike elements into the
[03:11] game. Each moon cycle or ESBAT, Noah is tasked with taking down one of these demons. Typically, each esbat begins at Noah's home where a coffer and a contract are waiting for her. The coffer is filled with random boons that dictate
[03:24] which abilities you can use. One boon, for example, gives Noah the ability to create portals for easy traversal, while another gives her the ability to levitate enemies. These variations have the potential to inject some variety
[03:36] considering it suffers from some significant issues, particularly when it significant issues, particularly when it comes to combat.
[03:50] a bizarre Persona 5 like presentations. Enemies shake their fists and spout sound bites while stylized text reads things like nave justice and you will fall. All of this feels very out of place. You're then notified of the
[04:04] enemy's threat level. Though every level I encountered felt very similar due to the game's rudimentary combat. Without any active Nox bracelets, combat devolves into a combination of dodging and swinging a broomstick, making these
[04:16] encounters feel fairly dull. My enemies would often get stuck in hit stun loops, but this felt more tedious than empowering. Amalgam boss fights offered slightly more variety, requiring well-timed dodges and more patience. But
[04:29] all in all, 1666 Amsterdam's combat largely lacks flow and sophistication. The asymmetrical puzzle solving challenges are similarly underwhelming, with most of them relying on whoever is in cat form unlocking a door so the
[04:43] in the preview, I unlocked the ability to hiss at and possess NPCs who are afraid of cats, allowing me to assume control of a keel wielding janitor or lockpicking thieves, for example. This feature seems like it could be a lot of
[04:57] fun, and when paired with the abilities of your Nox bracelets, I imagine it shakes up combat, exploration, and puzzle solving significantly. I can imagine a world in which these foster dishonored style freedom in how you
[05:09] approach objectives, though that world does feel far off. Additionally, if 1666 Amsterdam is aiming to be a more stealth-driven game like Dishonored or perhaps more aptly Assassin's Creed, NPCs need significant improvements. As
[05:23] it stands, NPCs feel heinously unintelligent, making stealth and concealment lack the needed danger to feel compelling. They are also extremely dated in their writing and animations. Many of them feel as if they've come
[05:35] straight out of 2007. These flaws were highlighted during an utterly perplexing during one of Aaron's portions of the game. After traveling forward to 1999,
[05:47] Aaron is tasked with going to his hotel's courtyard to retrieve an ancient tome so that he can figure out a way to cure his possessed secret witch girlfriend. The moment Aaron opens his hotel room door to embark on this quest,
[06:00] Freeird, yes, Leonard Skinnard's [music] Freeird begins playing. Now, you would Freeird, it would be during some over-the-top hyperviolent spectacle, Secret Service. But in this case, the nearly 10-minute long song plays at full
[06:17] blast while Aaron, dawning only boxers, strolls through the hotel, and Noah, now a cat, unlocks doors for him. What makes things even stranger is that the hotel is lined with completely static NPCs blocking off rooms. It's clear they're
[06:31] meant to prevent you from taking detours and highlight which doors you need to unlock, but the sheer vacancy on display is both funny and unnerving. In general, 1666 Amsterdam's writing needs work. Noah's dialogue was fine and her arc
[06:45] compelling, but Aaron's constant tone of utter bewilderment was grading. It doesn't help that some portions of Aaron's dialogue were delivered via text to speech, replacing his voice actor with a fast-talking robot that took me
[06:57] out of the moment. Maybe I should have run. Ma Bell tried anything to get back playing tricks on me. >> Hopefully, this will be fixed prior to the game entering early access. I also hope that the game will feature far
[07:10] better tutorials and onboarding. I'm all for quiet games that emphasize unguided exploration. I am a Soulsorn Sicko, after all. But Amsterdam just felt lacked actual button inputs and on-screen prompts that didn't line up
[07:25] progress. And some of the controls, such as having to pull back on the analog stick to jump over things in the water, were both awkward and led to awful camera angles. Movement controls, particularly while in cat form, were a
[07:39] frequent source of frustration. Instead of free jumping and fluid traversal, feline movement relies on a target indicator. While intended to prevent misleeps and tumbles, the system feels very clunky and restrictive. Though
[07:52] playing as a sleuthy little black cat was one of the things that made 1666 Amsterdam so appealing to me, it quickly became my least favorite part of the game. However, I'd be remiss not to mention my favorite part of 1666
[08:05] Amsterdam, which is its artistry. A large part of the reason Pache flew Press to Amsterdam for this preview, I suspect, was so that we could see firsthand how meticulously the studio managed to recreate the canal lined
[08:17] city. The first day of the trip, Pache took us on a tour through the district 1666 Amsterdam is set in, which of course was lovely. But what blew me away was when I played the game the next day and realized how stunningly the studio
[08:30] had recreated the city. The details, the scale, the soundtrack, the atmosphere, everything seemed to ring true. Sure, the Amsterdam I saw was a good 360 years and I'm certainly not a local, so take this all with a grain of salt. But I was
[08:46] and writing might need a fair bit of work, 1666 Amsterdam shines in its visuals and commitment to history and storytelling via architecture. It was in this quality that I saw the throughine
[08:59] between Assassin's Creed and 1666 Amsterdam. And it's the part that stands out as the most promising. But while I was struck by 1666 Amsterdam's artistry, I remain concerned about its execution. The team at Pache has clearly poured a
[09:13] lot of passion into recreating Amsterdam and building a dark historical sandbox. But behind the cobblestone streets, narrow houses, and lush courtyards lies an experience burdened by clunky traversal, jarring tone shifts, baffling
[09:27] writing, and unrefined combat. In short, an early access period is absolutely vital for 1666 Amsterdam, as I feel like it's going to take a lot of feedback and fine-tuning to turn this into a game that's as fun as it is to play, as it is
[09:41] that's as fun as it is to play, as it is to look at.