A new game from one of the original Assassin's Creed co-creators just launched into early access on Steam, and the reception to it has been anything but positive. 1666: Amsterdam is only the second title developed by Panache Digital Games, an independent studio headed by Patrice Desilets, the longtime Ubisoft veteran who co-created the Assassin's Creed franchise and directed Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
1666: Amsterdam, a game featuring a witch and a talking cat as playable co-protagonists, spent more than a decade in development hell due to legal controversies and ownership disputes. Despite reclaiming ownership of 1666: Amsterdam in 2016, it would then take Patrice Desilets and Panache another 10 years to release this game. Unfortunately for them, 1666 has fallen short of even the most moderate of expectations.
The game released into early access on August 25th, and within hours, had a mostly negative rating on Steam. Most complaints seem to revolve around a lack of optimization, poor controls, bad combat mechanics, and a generally unenjoyable gameplay experience. Without delving too deeply into the game's story, feelings were certainly mixed: some praised the plot and characters, while others criticized the narrative choices.
Adding insult to injury is the seeming lack of interest in this title. Despite having a launch trailer at Opening Night Live for Gamescom 2026, it would appear that very few people were willing to part with $30 to try this early access game. Steam chart site SteamDB shows a 24 hour concurrent player peak of 2,081 players on the first day of 1666: Amsterdam's launch. It has since dipped down to 1,470 CCU on it's second day, a decline of more than 25% of its players: this could indicate that many of the people who tried 1666 out have already requested a refund from Steam.
While there have been other recent controversies such as the use of AI during early development, the biggest challenge facing 1666 lies in optimizing the game and establishing a single, cohesive vision for its future. As of right now, it's not looking promising.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Make sure to check out our loose leaf tea collection!