That's Why I Fought for 1666

Key insights

5 takeaways · ~2 min read

01
Patrice Désilets, creator of Assassin's Creed and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, is releasing a new game called 1666: Amsterdam, a third-person action adventure about witches, cats, and time, with an early access PC release scheduled for later this year.
02
Désilets has been developing versions of 1666 since 2011 and even sued his former employer, Ubisoft, over the game.
03
1666: Amsterdam is intended to be the first in a series, with subsequent games exploring the 'year of the devil' (1666) in different global locations.
04
The game is from Panache, Désilets' Montreal-based start-up studio, which previously released Ancestors: A Humankind Odyssey.
05
Désilets revealed 1666: Amsterdam at the Summer Game Fest showcase, launching a prologue demo on PC the same day.

Summary

Patrice Désilets, known for pioneering titles such as Assassin’s Creed and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, is preparing to release a new action‑adventure, 1666: Amsterdam. The game centers on witches, cats and time manipulation set in the infamous year of the Dutch fire. Désilets has pursued this project since 2011, even filing a lawsuit against Ubisoft over its ownership. The title will launch in early access on PC later this year, with a prologue demo revealed at the Summer Game Fest.

The narrative structure spans three distinct time periods, and Désilets envisions a franchise that travels globally while remaining anchored to the year 1666, which he describes as “the year of the devil.” He intends future installments to shift locations but maintain the same temporal backdrop, mirroring the original Assassin’s Creed model of global settings.

The interview highlights Désilets’ fascination with numerology, citing personal anecdotes such as a 16.66‑dollar sandwich bill that reinforced his belief in the significance of the numbers three, six, and nine. While the piece does not provide quantitative data or a formal methodology, it offers insight into the developer’s long‑term vision and creative motivations. The scope is limited to a single title set in Amsterdam, with future expansions planned worldwide within the same historical year.