A DUTCH COLLECTATHON
1666: Amsterdam is set in the titular city during the titular time period, as it follows the character of Noa in her new role as a Collector for the Zaindaris coven. As a Collector, she needs to seek down a group of people known as The Originals, who were granted power in exchange for helping shape and grow the city. The problem is that the NUX power within them eventually corrupts, meaning that the Collector is eventually required to forcibly end their contracts by ripping it right out of them.
It’s a great setup, and there’s clearly a lot of detail here to make the city feel authentic whilst also turning the horrific witch trial period into something that fits their supernatural story. They’ve added so much depth to the Zaindaris lore and how it fits into the towns history, that the line between what was part of the real witch trials and what is part of the narrative can be hard to separate at times.
Noa is not alone though, as the start of her story sees her choose a familiar to work with – a black cat, who goes by the name of Aaron… and this is where things start to become a little complicated. And that’s because the game isn’t just set in 1666, it’s also set in 1999 as the real-life Aaron finds his way unexpectedly travelling into the consciousness of Noa’s familiar.
But that’s not all! The game also warps to present day Clio, as she uncovers the mystery around her father and his antics in 1999 and 1666, whilst also finding out more about her own family history and her place within it. There’s a lot to unpack and it may seem overwhelming at first, but the game does a good job at blending the three together – and in a much better way than Désilets’ previous time travelling classic, Donald Duck: Goin’ Quackers.
Wait, no, I mixed up my notes. I actually meant Assassin’s Creed. I’m sure that comparison will help you give a reasonable ideas as to how the narrative is presented.
There is definitely a lot of Assassin’s Creed DNA within 1666: Amsterdam, but the two games couldn’t be further from each other in terms of how they play. Whilst the other series involves fast movement, action, and lots of parkour, Amsterdam is surprisingly rather sedate. Noa is a powerful sorceress that can cast spells and take down groups of strong guards, but that form will only serve to draw attention – and trouble. As such, during the day you’ll be relying on blending in as part of the community as you explore and find the information you need before nightfall.
These daytime segments make up the bulk of the game, and are also by far the most compelling. You’ll start out knowing nothing about The Originals, and have to rely on obtaining clues to pin down their location, the artefact that gives them strength, and their true name – so you can cast the spell needed to draw out the NUX during the full moon that night. It sounds overwhelming as the game tries its best to be as hands-off as possible, whilst still trying to nudge you in the right direction by providing many clues along the way. Overheard conversations, wanted signs, diary entries, and the like can all help get you to where you need to be – although you will often need to sneak into private residences to get what you need.
And that’s where Aaron comes in. His cat form allows him to sneak into places that Noa can not, and also traverse across the rooftops and into open windows to obtain important items (like keys) or unlatch doors. You can also take advantage of NPCs that are afraid of black cats, by hissing at them and ripping their face open to possess them – thus allowing you to perform certain actions, or escort Noa through areas she would otherwise be unable to pass through. Using Aaron’s cat form adds a great layer to the game, even if some of the platforming with him feels a little unpolished at time as you can often jump to areas you don’t intend to go to.
What is definitely more unpolished is the game’s combat system, which is where the game feels the most like Assassin’s Creed – albeit somehow even more primitive. When the suspicion meter reaches its max, guards will descend upon Noa and attack her until she either loses their attention (which takes a long time) or takes out so many that they basically just give up (which takes longer, but is marginally less boring). With such a small health bar, fights are also incredibly difficult at first, as it’s quite easy to lose all three chunks of health very quickly if you’re just button mashing the attack button. You have to take care to dodge incoming enemy attacks, whilst getting in two or three hits of your own… and that’s pretty much all there ever is to it. New foes will appear as your threat level increases, but fights remain the same. Given her degree of magical prowess I had expected her to have a more magical moveset, but the magical abilities you acquire typically aid stealth more than combat. It’s a real missed opportunity, and I hope that it gets an overhaul before the final release.
I say this because the game’s dreadful combat is all the more apparent at night-time when you have to take out the NUX spirit that escapes from its Original. These monsters largely look the same, but attack in slightly different ways; however, the lack of depth means that the most effective way to take one out is to be as aggressive as possible whilst consuming a large amount of health potions and trying to dodge any attack you can. It’s very underwhelming, and I wish that the creatures had more telegraphed attacks, less health, and perhaps a slower method that incentivises strategy over brute force. As they are though, you can’t really strategist when all you do is give them multiple thwacks with your broomstick. Adding more depth to the combat could also allow for some more interesting ways to handle the boss fights.
My criticism about the combat is quite harsh, but honestly it only makes up for a small portion of the game (at least in theory, as sometimes the suspicion bar can max out in a second resulting in unexpected and unwanted fights). For the most part though, I found 1666: Amsterdam to be really compelling more often than not, especially with the magic system that is in place. Aside from the crafted potions that you can concoct in the privacy of your home, there are also spells and upgrade obtainable from contracts that help make you stronger. I hated the system at first as different options you are presented are hidden until you’ve used them, but given that death allows you to reselect before solidifying your choice at the end of the chapter, it ends up being a great way to promote experimentation.
Some upgrades are clearly better than others though, as a boost to your health, attack power, and combat meter are all vastly more useful in the long run due to their utility during boss encounters, but there are still some fun ones that allow you to use your magic in different ways. Enchanting vines so that later you can potentially hide within them if you get into a scrape is very useful, as is being able to paralyse foes from behind to help you sneak through areas more easily. There are quite a lot available already, and I hope that more can be added in the future – with a NG+ mode at the end so you can go back and get everything!
Overall, this is a strong start and the ten hours or so worth of game make the experience very promising. It definitely has some rough edges where it can be improved, such as the aforementioned combat and the surprisingly dreadful performance and overall optimisation (which even on the Steam Machine is subject to single frame-rate dives and hard crashes), but as the developers seem hard at work on improving the stability, at least that issue should only be temporary.
