---
title: 'No Game Has Ever Needed Early Access More Than 1666: Amsterdam - Preview'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=i6uIMLgVxRE'
video_id: 'i6uIMLgVxRE'
date: 2026-08-12
duration_sec: 585
---

# No Game Has Ever Needed Early Access More Than 1666: Amsterdam - Preview

> Source: [No Game Has Ever Needed Early Access More Than 1666: Amsterdam - Preview](https://youtube.com/watch?v=i6uIMLgVxRE)

## Summary

1666: Amsterdam, the highly anticipated game from developer Pasha, was previewed by the author, who played over an hour of the game across multiple timelines and characters. While the game's visual recreation of Amsterdam is stunning, the preview revealed significant structural issues, particularly in combat, traversal, and writing, leading the author to conclude that the game desperately needs its planned early access period for refinement.

### Key Points

- **Initial Anticipation** [00:02] — 1666 Amsterdam became the author's most anticipated game of 2026 due to promises of a dark tale with witchcraft and stunning visuals, and the involvement of a key developer from early Assassin's Creed titles.
- **Early Access Justification** [00:33] — The developer, Panache, plans to release the game in early access, which justifies the lack of polish, but the author is more concerned about structural issues that seem deeply embedded in the experience.
- **Preview Scope** [00:58] — The author played about 1 hour and 20 minutes, controlling main characters Noah and Aaron across two of three timelines (1999 and 1666), in both human and cat forms, and briefly as Aaron's daughter Cleo, who narrates the story.
- **Core Gameplay Loop** [01:37] — The game centers on Noah, a witch who must hunt corrupted souls by collecting their seals and learning their real names, then casting the 'nominum' spell during the full moon to unleash and defeat their demonic 'amalgam' forms.
- **Roguelike Elements** [02:59] — Defeating an amalgam unlocks a coffer with a Nox bracelet that grants new abilities. Coffers are largely randomized, incorporating roguelike elements, with each 'esbat' (moon cycle) offering random boons that dictate available abilities.
- **Combat Issues** [03:36] — Combat is rudimentary, devolving into dodging and swinging a broomstick without active Nox bracelets. Enemies get stuck in hit stun loops, and boss fights lack flow and sophistication, making encounters feel dull and tedious.
- **Puzzle Solving and Possession** [04:29] — Asymmetrical puzzles rely on cat form to unlock doors. The author unlocked the ability to hiss at and possess NPCs, which could add Dishonored-style freedom, but NPCs are unintelligent, making stealth uncompelling.
- **Bizarre Writing and Tone** [05:35] — During Aaron's 1999 segment, the song 'Free Bird' plays at full blast while he strolls through a hotel in boxers, with static NPCs blocking rooms. This, along with dated writing and text-to-speech dialogue, creates jarring tone shifts.
- **Onboarding and Controls** [07:10] — The game lacks proper tutorials and on-screen prompts, and controls are awkward, especially in cat form, which relies on a clunky target indicator instead of fluid free jumping, making it the author's least favorite part.
- **Artistry and Visuals** [08:05] — The game's standout feature is its stunning recreation of 1666 Amsterdam, with meticulous detail, scale, soundtrack, and atmosphere that ring true, showing the team's commitment to history and storytelling via architecture.
- **Overall Verdict** [09:13] — Despite the visual promise, the game is burdened by clunky traversal, jarring tone shifts, baffling writing, and unrefined combat, making the early access period absolutely vital for feedback and fine-tuning.

### Conclusion

1666: Amsterdam has a stunning visual world and a promising core concept, but its current execution is plagued by significant gameplay and narrative issues. The game's success hinges on a robust early access period where player feedback can help refine the experience into something as fun to play as it is to look at.

## Transcript

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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
that Noah has been tasked with figures with extraordinarily long lifespans and the ability to use Nox, a sort of dark magic. Paradoxically, Noah
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
considering it suffers from some significant issues, particularly when it significant issues, particularly when it comes to combat.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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,
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,
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
that's as fun as it is to play, as it is to look at.