Finding something genuinely exciting and fresh in the world of video games is getting harder by the year. Not that I think the pursuit of novelty supersedes all else – some games work best when they deviate as little as possible from their well-established subgenres. But 1666 Amsterdam already feels like the perfect Early Access game for all the ways it defies expectation.

Helmed by Patrice Désilets, the founding father of Assassin's Creed, Panache Digital Game's hard-won-back IP existing in a playable state in 2026 feels like a victory lap in itself. That said, experiencing the witchy action-adventure first-hand during a 1666 Amsterdam preview did expose some of its more obvious teething problems.

The combat is perhaps the roughest element, fast-paced melee moves interspersed with spell-slinging demanding a lot of my already compromised hand-eye coordination skills. The lack of a parry or block button also left me flitting around battle arenas in search of a safe tile to heal on. But that can be excused when the game is so replete with gorgeous technical and thematic touches, all linking back to the love with which this game is being made.

Early Access kicks off today, I already feel that 1666 Amsterdam is the kind of game a player-tested work-in-progress period was made for. Panache doesn't think it's perfect; it wants your help to make it better.

Noa's journey is entirely separate, but there are plenty of games like Assassin's Creed if you're craving some stealth action goodness

Early Access is an indie phenomenon that many triple-A games could learn a lesson from.

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