Assassin's Creed Creator's 1666: Amsterdam Enters Early Access on 25th August
A game that Assassin's Creed creator Patrice Désilets has been trying to make since 2011 finally reaches players this month. 1666: Amsterdam launches in early access — a model where a game is sold and updated before its full release — on 25th August for PC, available through Steam and the Epic Games Store (Eurogamer).
The early access version features roughly 10 hours of gameplay, with console versions arriving later (IGN).
Désilets first revealed the project at Summer Game Fest in June 2026, where a 30-minute playable demo was also released (Game Informer). A separate free prologue — a roughly 30-minute narrative introduction to the game's world and characters — has been available on Steam since 5th June and also appears on the Epic Games Store.
The road to release was not straightforward. 1666: Amsterdam survived years of legal battles between Désilets and Ubisoft, the publisher he originally worked for on the Assassin's Creed series (Eurogamer). Désilets left Ubisoft in 2010, and the dispute over the rights to 1666 followed, eventually clearing the way for his independent studio, Panache Digital, to develop the game.
What players will find is a third-person, dark, story-led action-adventure set across three time periods. The player controls Noa, a witch known as the Collector, in 1666 Amsterdam; Aaron, a civilian, in 1999; and a descendant of Noa in the modern day. The hook is the link between characters across centuries: Aaron becomes Noa's cat familiar in 1666, and Noa becomes Aaron's cat familiar in 1999 — a mechanical and narrative connection that lets the story fold one timeline into another.
In the game's lore, something awakens every 333 years, and Noa wields witchcraft to uncover demonic entities hiding behind ordinary humans (Steam store page).
For Désilets, the 25th August early access launch closes a chapter that has run for fifteen years — from the first concept through a legal fight for ownership and, now, the first substantial build in players' hands.
