Is 30 Minutes With 1666: Amsterdam Worth It?

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At SGF, Patrice Désilets, the original creative director of the first Assassin's Creed, unveiled 1666: Amsterdam, a project he has been shaping for more than a decade. It is a third-person, narrative-driven action-adventure game, and its 30-minute prologue demo, including the opening chapter, is already available for free on Steam and the Epic Games Store. The full version is currently planned to enter Early Access in 2026.

The most persuasive part of the reveal is that players can try it immediately. Big-stage announcements usually leave players waiting years before there's anything to actually play. 1666: Amsterdam, at least, is putting a real test in front of players now, and a free 30-minute sample is a much easier ask than buying into pure promise.

The premise is straightforward enough to sell itself. The story is set in Amsterdam in 1666, a year the game describes as a point when upheaval returns every 333 years. By day, players control Noa, a witch who uses sorcery while exploring handcrafted city streets. By night, she has to uncover the secrets beneath the city's surface and confront and destroy powerful demons known as the Primordials.

The more tangible draw may be the dual-protagonist structure. Players can switch between Noa and the black cat Aaron, not just in perspective, but in playstyle. You can explore with Aaron riding on your shoulder, or swap fully into the cat's viewpoint and make use of his keen sense of smell. If that system works smoothly, it should give the game more range than a standard action setup.

So far, this does not look like a game built around combat alone. The focus is still on a narrative-driven, third-person action-adventure structure, which matters because a short session should be enough to tell whether its fundamentals work. After finishing the prologue, you should already have a decent read on the storytelling pace, the feel of exploration, and whether the cat perspective is a meaningful mechanic or just a novelty.

Still, some skepticism is warranted. Yes, this is a game Désilets has spent more than a decade developing, but the full release path remains long, with Early Access not planned until 2026. The concept is appealing, and the early presentation is polished, yet whether the final project can sustain that promise will depend on how much substance exists beyond this short demo.

The practical takeaway is simple. Download the 30-minute prologue on Steam or the Epic Games Store, but don't rush to frame it as the next Assassin's Creed. What is clear right now is the Amsterdam setting, the witch-and-black-cat dual perspective, and the day-night split between exploration, secrets, and demon encounters. If the prologue can make those three ideas land, it is already offering more than many newly announced games that are still selling little more than a pitch.

That is the best way to approach 1666: Amsterdam right now: not as a hype machine, but as a low-commitment trial. The free demo is its clearest sign of good faith, and at the moment, the only part players can properly judge today. Whether the 2026 Early Access version can carry that momentum is a question for later updates.