Announced last night during Summer Game Fest, 1666: Amsterdam is the newest title from Panache Digital Games, the studio led by Assassin’s Creed‘s creator. The game takes place in the second half of the seventeenth century and heavily focuses on witches, while also containing some trippy time travel shenanigans.
It also already has a free-to-play demo on Steam, which I gladly hopped onto because I simply adore the Dutch Golden Age as a setting. The year 1666 is less than two decades after the conclusion of the 30 Years’ War in Europe, which saw millions killed, as well as the 80 Years’ War fought between the Dutch and the Spanish over the former’s independence.
The Netherlands in those times was a mercantile powerhouse and would eventually have the wealthiest corporation in human history, the Dutch East India Company, whose immense funds would turn the Dutch lands into highly developed and rich urban centers of education and culture. However, a lot of its people were fanatically religious Protestants and had strong ties to the persecution of witches, perfect for a game focusing on ancient powers and, well, witchcraft.
