Posted Sat Apr 30, 2016 at 07:13 AM PDT by Justin Clark
First look at '1666: Amsterdam'
The annals of recent gaming history are strewn with fascinating casualties. The great development massacre of our time, of course, was THQ going the way of the dodo, with some dozen major titles getting scattered to the four winds after the publisher went belly up.
One of those titles was, apparently, a game being developed by Patrice Desilets, director of the first two 'Assassin's Creed' titles called '1666: Amsterdam'. It's a game with a messy history even beyond the THQ closure. See, Desilet had scooted off to THQ after being unceremoniously let go from Ubisoft after working on 'Assassin's Creed Brotherhood', and had been hard at work on 'Amsterdam' for two years when the axe came down at THQ as well. After THQ's closure, all of their in-development properties went on the auction block. Some went on to giant success (Deep Silver snatching up 'Saints Row IV'). Some became naught but dust (Guillermo Del Toro's 'INSane', though rumor was it was being morphed into 'Silent Hills'). Ironically, '1666 Amsterdam' did get picked up as well--by Ubisoft.
As one might imagine, Desilets was gone from the project again shortly after, but managed to successfully file lawsuit for the rights to 'Amsterdam', which brings us to this week. Desilet won the suit, and now has rights to the game. He has wasted no time hosting a presentation in Europe in which he posted the first look at the project, which was captured on video by Brandon Sheffield.
As expected there's no doubt the dude who directed 'Assassin's Creed' is responsible for it, but, there's some interesting twists, with the protagonist able to control animals, and cause all sorts of mayhem before coming to the big fat kill. It feels a lot like a more civilized 'Far Cry Primal', and thats definitely a good thing. It certainly shows a bit more inspiration than what became of 'Assassin's Creed' shortly after Desilets left (the solid, but sorta unremarkable 'Revelations', and the total boring failure that was 'Assassin's Creed III'). As of this moment, there's no current movement on the project, with Desilets working on a game called 'Ancestors', but for now, we've at least got the first inkling that something interesting could be coming down the pike if/when development continues. Check it out.
Source: Brandon Sheffield
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