Assassin’s Creed creator once again confirms Amsterdam 1666 is still happening
"I'm back at it," Désilets says
After the release of Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, Assassins Creed creator Patrice Désilets has once again confirmed that there are still plans to work on the elusive Amsterdam 1666.
At Reboot Develop Red in Canada, Eurogamer asked Désilets how serious he is about working on Amsterdam 1666 now that Humankind Odyssey is out. Désilets told Eurogamer he's so serious he almost lost his house over it. The mysterious game has been in development since 2012, but got tied up in an IP rights battle between Désilets and Ubisoft.
"I want to do a game about the Devil," he said, "I hate horror movies, I hate the subject matter for some reason, so it's a challenge for me. I love Amsterdam, I like the fact there was a year called 1666, and I want to do it. I want to do it."
Désilets explains that studio Panache, which he founded, has found its "DNA a bit" after working on Humankind Odyssey and explained that now Amsterdam 1666 won't be a game made with THQ Montreal, but a game from Panache.
"I'm back at it." Désilets confirmed. While he still remained quite vague about the premise and when we can expect to see the mysterious game, it looks like it's still very much in the works and will one day come to light.
This isn't the first time Amsterdam 1666 has said to be still be in the works. In an interview with VG247 at Reboot Develop back in April, Désilets said, “For sure, Amsterdam 1666 is gonna happen.”
Amsterdam 1666 first came to light back in 2012 after Désilets joined THQ Montreal to work on the elusive title. But due to financial troubles in 2013, THQ was bought by Ubisoft, who in turn owned the rights to the game. After Désilets was fired, he fought to regain the rights and successfully got 1666 back in 2016. (That's a lot of 6s.)
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Not long after he won the rights back, concept art was revealed, and some footage (see above) of the game also surfaced - showing what was then described as an open world Assassin's Creed-esque game set in Amsterdam, where you supposedly play a character with ties to the devil.
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I started out writing for the games section of a student-run website as an undergrad, and continued to write about games in my free time during retail and temp jobs for a number of years. Eventually, I earned an MA in magazine journalism at Cardiff University, and soon after got my first official role in the industry as a content editor for Stuff magazine. After writing about all things tech and games-related, I then did a brief stint as a freelancer before I landed my role as a staff writer here at GamesRadar+. Now I get to write features, previews, and reviews, and when I'm not doing that, you can usually find me lost in any one of the Dragon Age or Mass Effect games, tucking into another delightful indie, or drinking far too much tea for my own good.