Assassin’s Creed creator Patrice Desilets will make Amsterdam 1666, but he’ll start from scratch
Amsterdam 1666 has a strange history, originally starting as a Patrice Desilets game under the THQ Montreal label before getting snapped up by Ubisoft when THQ went defunct. Desilets had to fight for ownership of his creation, eventually winning the IP rights for the game in 2016.
During a chat at Reboot Develop, we asked Desilets if he still plans to make the game at his studio, Panache, which is currently creating prehistoric survival game Ancestors. “For sure, Amsterdam 1666 is gonna happen,” Desilets said.
In fact, Ancestors could lay the groundwork for Panache to tackle the concept. Ancestors is an open-world game where you explore by running across the jungle floor or swinging through the canopy above. “You put the cape on the ape and you’re pretty good to do another game,” Desilets explained. “If you think about it, climbing up a tree trunk, climbing a rock, climbing a building façade... It’s like now I’ve got a toolbox.”
If you aren’t clued up on Amsterdam 1666, it’s an Assassin’s Creed-esque open world concept about the devil in Amsterdam circa 1666. Here’s an early concept video:
Of course, Desilets has had a lot of time to think about and refine the concept since the game’s cancellation. Not only that, but technology has changed and he no longer has access to the mega budgets of triple-A dev.
“Now I am thinking about it a little bit. It’ll probably change a little bit,” Desilets explained. “You were more like the devil’s apprentice than the actual devil. Once I finish this and then, ‘Okay what’s next?’ If it’s Amsterdam 1666, I’ll probably restart from scratch.”