1666: Amsterdam's terrible demo shows AI is only part of the problem

1666: Amsterdam is 15 years in the making — and might need 15 more

1666: Amsterdam, an upcoming historical action-adventure game, was re-revealed at Summer Game Fest 2026. You'd be forgiven for forgetting it exists though, because it was originally a THQ title that began development in 2011, before the studio declared bankruptcy. Patrice Désilets, a former creative director at THQ and at Ubisoft for the first two Assassin's Creed games, founded Panache Digital Games and resumed development on 1666: Amsterdam.

So it's safe to say the game has had a turbulent history, but after an intriguingly eerie trailer showed off some occult happenings in 17th-century Netherlands, it seemed to be back on track. The re-reveal coincided with the release of the game's prologue, a 30-minute demo introducing players to the world, the characters, and the mystery within. However, players quickly spotted the use of generative AI for in-game art and assets, which the studio admitted to via X:

"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 prologue. This includes some in-game portraits and external marketing assets. We are actively reviewing the assets in question. Human made versions will be released in an update dropping soon. We own up to this oversight and apologize for any upset caused. Please be assured that the early access and full game will not include any assets generated by AI."

This statement drew expected and understandable backlash, and while the use of generative AI is appalling and egregious, the gameplay experience in the demo is even worse than a few seven-fingered portraits would suggest. It begins strong: a dark forest path, with the only light coming from torches along the ground and commotion in the distance, before the player emerges at an occult ceremony. After choosing a feline partner from a selection of black cats on a dying tree, the game cuts to the modern-day perspective of Clio, a young woman meeting Professor Lucas, an expert in paleography, the study of handwriting and manuscripts, in a university library.

The Assassin's Creed inspiration is evident here, with the shifts between the past and the present. This is where 1666: Amsterdam starts to fall apart, though. Clio comes to Lucas to decipher a letter from her late father, which requires searching the shelves of the library for information. Rifling through books results in an underbaked animation where the book you're looking for just falls to the floor, in an astoundingly immersion-breaking manner.

After searching to no avail, Lucas asks Clio if she has anything, such as a pendant, that her father left her. Whaddya know, she does have a pendant that she's worn every day since her father gifted it to her, and it's the exact piece of the puzzle she needs to translate the letter. Despite knowing next to nothing about this mysterious letter, Lucas knew exactly what she needed. How convenient. Now Clio is becoming a master of a dark energy known as "nux."

Flash back to the dawn of the millennium, and you're now Clio's father, Aaron. He’s heading back to a hotel room with a woman named Agnes for a raunchy night. However, Agnes performs an occultist ritual — which is how Aaron became embroiled in, well, this whole situation — and turns him into a cat. Introducing one of the worst pieces of gaming dialogue in history:

"I woke up, or something, I'm still not sure. I was a cat, Clio! Yes, you read that well! I. Was. A. Cat."

It gives teen creative writing energy, almost freeze-frame, record-scratch, "yep, that's me: you're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation"-esque. From here, Aaron (as a cat, of course, Stray eat your heart out) travels back in time to the scene at the start of the game, jumps into the arms of Noa, the player-character from the intro, and the demo ends.

To go from 1666: Amsterdam's opening five minutes, where I was very much hooked and intrigued, to all of that dissipating by the end of the demo is impressive. There's an interesting theme here, but it can’t be saved by the awful gameplay and writing. After 15 long years, 1666: Amsterdam needs to go back to the drawing board.