I wield my broom with near balletic grace in 1666 Amsterdam. My bristled companion functions as protagonist Noa's melee weapon here instead of her vehicle-of-choice, and I can wipe out up to three foes at a time with a single sweep.
Bringing my broomstick down upon a Knave's head with RT, a knock a chunk off his health bar before landing a devastating takedown finisher. One thing though: there's no parry mechanic. I can only dash out of the way of an incoming attack. Panache studio lead and Assassin's Creed creator Patrice Désilets wanted Noa's combat to feel "like dancing", he says, and as a parry diehard, I'm admittedly a little crestfallen at first.
Only when I get to grips with the unusual controls – dodging with A instead of B, resisting the urge to attempt a nonexistant parry with a shoulder button – and rhythmically weave my way through foes, timing my own hits while smartly skirting blows for a spot of Soulsy action, does Désilets' vision start to make sense.
There's something otherworldly about 1666 Amsterdam that strikes me as both familiar and unique. Perhaps it's the text boxes that pop up as I enter dialogue, reminding me of the storybook quality of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. It could also be the twice-framed narrative reminding me of Désilets' early Assassin's Creed games, as a modern day protagonist named Clio reads through her late father's writings to learn about the strange connection between the night of her conception in 1999 and 15th century Dutch Witch Trials.
But 1666 Amsterdam's lusciously dark tone stands all on its own. If the brooding, medieval-gothic drama saturating each pixel didn't have me fully invested in Panache Digital's fantasy already, its novel level design, impressively executed facial animations, and cleverly themed mechanics would have had me selling my own soul to play it in Early Access on August 25.
When in Amsterdam
My hands-on picks up right where the free Steam demo leaves off: Noa has just chosen her Bateratze – a feline familiar – and this one happens to be possessed by the disembodied spirit of a man called Aaron from 300 years in the future, whose last memory is of sleeping with his new wife in a swanky Amsterdam hotel despite said wife having clearly set up their suite to look kind-of-definitely occultish.
Noa barely has time to introduce herself, let alone explain the coven to Aaron, before witch hunters attack. After the quick scuffle, which feels lithe and acrobatic even in this fairly recent work-in-progress build, I enchant one of the glittering canals dead ahead and glide over its surface into the night. Emerging at a low-slung pier beneath a bridge, I spot a lively tavern up ahead and climb a ladder up to it.
Flowing red robes give way to humble peasant garb as Noa, now appearing a respectable bonnet-clad village maiden (with a black cat on her shoulder), swaps to her "hidden" form to scan the area for clues.
With witch trials sweeping the Netherlands in 1666, Noa needs to stay smart. Changing strategically between revealed and hidden forms is vital for passing through Amsterdam undetected. It serves a more obvious yet functionally similar purpose to donning or removing your hood in Assassin's Creed. Stay hidden to learn more from your surroundings and pass as one of the everyman. Let Noa's suspicion meter fill completely after being revealed in public, and you'll have witch hunters to fight off.
Choosing your battles is key. Narrow cobbled streets, tightly-packed houses, and a glittering tracery of canals mean it's easier for Noa to anonymously go about her task as a Collector, a witch tasked with reclaiming dark magic from devil-pacted humans called Originals. Only able to channel her full power during a full moon (an Esbat), Noa must prepare for these moments by tracking down each Original's location, real name, and their signed diabolical deal with the devil. It's like getting ready for a witchy heist, or, indeed, a magical assassination.
Whether fighting with a mighty broom or igniting torches, every spell Noa casts uses one of two forms of magical essence. Blood red Lux essence is used to enchant elements in the game world, while murky black and white Nux essence is used in combat.
Perform a quick time event perfectly, and "you're gonna get back your bullet," explains Désilets, comparing Nux in combat to a ranged weapon – it's s even represented on the HUD as sharp little bullets on the HUD, each charge replenished upon a successful QTE. "Otherwise, you need to find a different source." That can be tricky. Nux, as dark magic energy, is much rarer to come across organically in the world.
Meanwhile, Lux is everywhere. Life and death are intertwined in the world of 1666 Amsterdam, meaning every corpse I come across, whether human or animal, leaves its Lux essence behind. Luckily, Aaron can transmute Lux into Nux and vice versa, ready for Noa to absorb.
Moonlight guide you
It's not just the magic system that feels so attuned to the game's theme. Every detail is precise and intentional. The vibrant red of Noa's witchy getup, paired with the dramatic veiled headdress, is in stark contrast to her more understated (but still gorgeous) villager disguise. Delicate lace hems the starched white collar and cuffs, brown leather straps crossing over her shoulders the only indication of her witchy botanical herb-and-potions gathering as she moves through the city.
A later stage of the game demonstrated for us by Désilets shows off Noa's private safehouse, where she can recover from one street brawl too many, and mix her own health and shield potions using gathered reagents.
"Our open world is not about the city of Amsterdam per se," Désilets says. "It's different districts in which every single house you see here, you can go in." Some areas are off limits, requiring Aaron's help to subdue NPCs. He can possess them with a quick swipe of his claws, meaning Noa can walk arm in arm with them into restricted zones. It looks like the game's answer to Creed-like crowd blending and social stealth, and it's satisfyingly on-theme.
Another beautifully conceptualized factor of play I witness is its compelling roguelike system for unlocking abilities. Ornate jewelry boxes referred to as coffers have been left for Noa across the city by her coven, each offering a choice between three abilities. Equipped abilities are represented by beautiful gems and ornaments you can physically see on Noa each time she reveals her arcane form, adding a striking layer of customization that, at present, has "no limit".
The only catch is that if you die at any point during the Esbat, whether during the investigation stage or the boss fight at the end of it, you'll have to start that night over again, removing all your coffers. At this stage in development, if you don't die at all, that means you could become one very powerful and very bejeweled witch by the end of things. But, aiming to launch in Early Access, plenty may be tweaked and balanced in future.
Origin-al story
Life and death are intertwined in the world of 1666 Amsterdam
Hunting down an Original for myself, asking tavernkeepers and loose-lipped patrons is an easy way to get hints as to their location. Luckily, Noa seems to have already identified roughly where this first Original is hiding. He's been shut up in his house somewhere on this canal front, and tips from the locals suggest the adjacent house might be the spot.
Tapping LB on my Xbox controller, I send Aaron the cat into the house to investigate through a cracked window. Just like finding points of interest with Noa, controlling Aaron requires me to hold down LT to look for white dots signaling an interactable item – or, in Aaron's case, a surface he can leap to – as he finds doors to unlatch and let Noa inside.
Aaron's feline agility means that 1666 Amsterdam does have a touch of Assassin's Creed's rooftop-hopping verticality, something Patrice was inspired by when he first visited the city after leaving Ubisoft in 2013. "She's city witch because I'm personally a city-dweller. That's it, I like cities," he chuckled during a post-preview masterclass session (same here – the city stealth era was my favorite thing about pre-RPG Creeds), and that affinity shows in every inch of 1666 Amsterdam.
There's even a coffer ability called Travel that lets Noa herself soar out of windows and up onto rooftops, gazing down at the tangled streets without being detected. She can then gracefully leap and twirl back to the ground and swap back into her hidden form, earning a few gasps of surprise from a handful of nearby townies, but not unmasked for long enough to trigger a street brawl. Though, if that does happen, defeating a number of enemies builds up a terror gauge, and remaining foes will flee your intimidating wrath.
For now, though, I focus on battling the Original in front of me. I'm warned that most Originals won't go down without a fight, but this one seems sympathetic to my cause. I've got his seal in my inventory, so all that's left to do is take him outside to let Noa do what a Collector does best. A grueling battle ensues – far simpler than the later-stage ones depicted in the hands-off demonstration, since I have no coffers to aid me – as the Original's inner demon comes out to play.
There's another attack pattern to learn: Noa dodges three-strike combos and ranged projectiles, swooping in to deliver a few strong hits before pirouetting to safety. Target lock on is incredibly effective here, and after a couple of false starts (I accidentally kept going into debug mode, whoops), I've finally downed my first Original. I only wish I'd focused in on the breakable crates dotted throughout the battleground and experimented with shattering them near the demon to see if it did any damage (I managed to kill four Knaves with this barrelmancy half an hour earlier), but holding LT to cast spells can be confusing in the heat of battle without anything to slow my prey down while I focus.
I'd only just reached a point where Aaron travels back to 1999 to find his unconscious wife levitating in a gore-spattered bedroom, Noa appearing on his shoulder as his very own Bateratze, before the preview session came to a close. My hour-and-a-bit with 1666 Amsterdam didn't feel long enough at all, but even this brief taste has me desperate to return to Panache's mysterious world in all its gritty glory.
Every rough edge feels like a battle scar, much like Noa's own, proof of the incredibly long road the game has taken to get to this point. I actually hope that the developer doesn’t smooth it out too much for that very reason; what's a warrior without a few good nicks?
There's more going on in the gaming world than GTA 6 this year. Check out all the new games still to come in 2026 while you wait for 1666 Amsterdam!
