The Assassin's Creed creator is back with 1666: Amsterdam after a 14-year legal saga
Patrice Désilets — the designer behind the original Assassin's Creed — has finally announced 1666: Amsterdam, a dark historical-fantasy game that spent over a decade buried in legal limbo. The announcement came at Summer Game Fest 2026, and a free 30-minute prologue is available right now on Steam and Epic Games Store. If you ever wondered what happened to the person who invented parkour-stabbing as a genre, here's your answer.
The backstory
Désilets first conceived 1666: Amsterdam at THQ Montreal. When THQ collapsed in December 2012, the game's assets passed to Ubisoft. Désilets had already left Ubisoft in 2010, was briefly rehired in 2013, and was then escorted out by security after just a few months back. He spent years fighting to reclaim ownership of the project, finally settling with Ubisoft in April 2016 and walking away with the IP. He founded Panache Digital Games in Montreal in late 2014, and the studio — now around 70 people — has been building the game since.
What the game actually is
Set in 17th-century Amsterdam, 1666 follows Noa Brooklyn, a young woman called the Collector who can see supernatural beings known as the Originals hiding among the city's population. The pitch: explore a hand-crafted recreation of the city by day, hunt monsters by moonlight. There's a secondary layer set in a modern city, though details on that remain thin. The tone sits somewhere between historical drama and occult thriller — witches, black cats, and ritual combat under a full moon.
The prologue gives a taste of the narrative and movement mechanics, though early player impressions flag that some of the interactions feel dated. That's worth noting: this is a small indie team, not a AAA production, and the visuals reflect that budget. Désilets' track record for compelling world-building and story — Assassin's Creed, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time — is the real draw here.
PC first, consoles later
1666: Amsterdam is heading to Early Access on PC later in 2026. Console versions are planned but have no confirmed release window. There's no pricing announced for the full game yet, and no mention of Game Pass or any subscription platform. The free prologue on Steam is the lowest-friction way to decide whether the full release is worth watching.
