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Panache Digital Games, the studio led by OG Assassin's Creed director Patrice Desilets, has apologized for letting AI-generated assets slip into the prologue demo for its upcoming action-adventure game, 1666: Amsterdam.
When 1666: Amsterdam resurfaced at this year's Summer Game Fest with a horror-tinged trailer full of witchy themes and black cats, I'll freely admit I was transfixed in the best way. I'm a simple man: give me an alternative take on a historical city, throw in some black magic and ritualistic sacrifice, and I'm all yours. Well, I suppose that's actually incredibly niche, but that's not the point. Point is, I was really excited about 1666: Amsterdam for all of one week, and I still am to a degree, but unfortunately the demo released for SGF hasn't been received well at all, partly due to suspicions of AI-generated content which have now been confirmed by Panache itself.
"A number of people have raised questions or concerns to us about whether assets in our marketing and game use generative AI," the studio says in a social media statement. "We have a dedicated team of over a dozen talented and experienced artists. With them, we looked into the assets in question and found that there were indeed some early versions of assets that made their way into the the prologue. This includes some in-game portraits and external marketing assets."
A number of people have raised questions or concerns to us about whether assets in our marketing and game use generative AI.We have a dedicated team of over a dozen talented and experienced artists. With them, we looked into the assets in question and found that there were…June 9, 2026
Watching a big games showcase in 2026, especially as a journalist or anyone who doesn't like AI in games, now carries a burden of responsibility in spotting anything that looks like it might hail from AI's very distinct uncanny valley. Over the course of last week's big event, highly anticipated games like Crazy Taxi: World Tour and Kingdom Hearts 4 swiftly became clouded in controversy due to blatant use of gen-AI, all thanks to vigilant onlookers. In Panache's case, the studio says it was a simple mistake and vows to update the demo "soon" with "human made versions," adding that "the Early Access and full game will not inlcude any assets generated by AI."
"We own up to this oversight and apologize for any upset caused," it says.
Unfortunately, the damage is done for some fans, with many commenters refusing to accept the studio's apology and claiming it knew full well the demo had AI-generated assets and is only apologizing because it got called out.
Until there's proof of that, I'm inclined to give Panache the benefit of the doubt, even though I'll inevitably watch everything that comes from the studio with a heightened alertness for the sort of garbage that ended up in the 1666: Amsterdam demo. After all, Larian freely admitted to using gen-AI for concept art in the new Divinity game before pulling a 360 and pledging not to do that at all, and I'm still plenty excited for that project in large part because the studio was willing to fess up and reverse course on AI. That said, everyone has a different threshold for forgiveness, and it's valid to feel soured on an entire project when it involves generative AI to any degree.
Now that the dust has settled, here are the best Summer Game Fest trailers we saw all week.
