The upcoming Salem Witch Trials simulator set in Amsterdam, 1666: Amsterdam, has entered early access this week and it brings a wave of intrigue and frustration to players.
After soaking Summer Game Fest 2026 in a hue of red witch fury, I have been enamoured with the idea of embodying a Scarlet Witch-adjacent power sorceress in 1666: Amsterdam. Panache Digital Games uncorked the brain centre of everyone who has had a meagre interest in the Salem Witch Trials, with a blood soaked day-walking witch, an intriguing magic circle with a flood of participants, and the promise of mystery and intrigue pedaling the narrative forward.
After playing the crash-heavy prologue demo after SGF 2026 in June, I couldn’t wait to play a better version of this title 15-years in the making. My time playing the early access period of 1666: Amsterdam pulled me back into the intriguing mystery, but unfortunately, also back to SGF 2026 where frustration with general gameplay won the battle against intrigue. 1666: Amsterdam feels bad when you’re in control, and it’s hard to get around that.
1666: Amsterdam wastes no time shoving you off the pier into the deep end, as the narrative starts during a major witch ritual (a witchual, perhaps) where The Collector is chosen among the cabal. In 1666: Amsterdam, you are Noa, and you serve as The Collector of the Zaindaris coven. The Collector is basically witch cop, and you’re tasked with tracking down corrupt beings (dubbed The Originals) who made dark pacts centuries earlier and abuse their power.
“Aside from gripes with general gameplay, 1666: Amsterdam drops a truly compelling narrative centre screen.”
Your ultimate mission is to confront The Originals in their true form, and ultimately collect the power they owe. In the ritual, Noa is given a choice between cat companions, and everything in the story is moving fluidly, until right when you select your feline companion.
You are then, without warning, injected into the year 1999 and are put behind the modern visage of Clio in a library. Clio is a descendant of Noa (I imagine) and the modern day time jump helps tie the entire storyline together. But, after lighting blood lanterns with magic and floating through the air with authority as The Collector, this change of setting takes all of the wind out of 1666: Amsterdam‘s sails.
Although this time jump drives the narrative forward with purpose, the change of pace is so jarring and the change from 1666 to 1999 changes visuals so much without warning, it feels inorganic and steals some of the whimsy from the blood magic circle back in 1666. This small segment as Clio operates as the investigative and movement tutorial, and is disguised as such, but this segment of gameplay would have been better served as a cutscene. It overstays its welcome, and attempting to find the proper library shelf is excruciating with the shaky camera functions deployed in 1666. This problem also overstays its welcome and plagues the entirety of 1666: Amsterdam.
Investigating in 1666: Amsterdam (as Clio or Noa, playing as the feline Aaron feels seamless) does ask the player to surveil their surroundings, but it’s so sensitive, and requires the player to ‘hook onto’ invisible proper interactables to obtain information.
While investigating as Clio in modern time feels cumbersome and tiring during the tutorial segment, this does not get better when embodying Noa in 1666. As a matter of fact, when investigating surroundings in 1666: Amsterdam, the main frustration isn’t that it’s janky and rarely works (that’s part of it), it’s the insistence that the player would rather be playing nearly anything else.
Aside from gripes with general gameplay, 1666: Amsterdam drops a truly compelling narrative centre screen. Clio’s relation to 1666’s Noa, how Aaron can both be 1999 Clio’s father, and 1666 Noa’s cat companion, and how everything fits together reasonably without feeling as messy as it should (no spoilers!) is a virtuous act in storytelling. Panache Digital Games penned a seriously intriguing mystery, loaded with supernatural elements, multiple perspectives throughout time travel, and made it so you’re basically the witch version of Phoenix Wright in 1666 (without the arguments).
“My favourite parts of 1666: Amsterdam are the otherworldly storytelling and writing that balances such a complex narrative filled with witchcraft and coven activities.”
1666: Amsterdam‘s tale spins like a well-honed story expected of 15-years baking in the oven, but, gameplay is abysmal in the early access period. While enemy designs are wicked, they use incredibly easy-to-choreograph fight animations, and as Noa, you have two functions in combat (at least in the opening hours of 1666: Amsterdam): attack, dodge and repeat. That’s all. Fighting a massive horrific abomination boils down to hit a few times, dodge a few times, and repeat. This is the formula for the entirety of combat encounters deployed in 1666: Amsterdam and it doesn’t change much from encounter to encounter.
My favourite parts of 1666: Amsterdam are the otherworldly storytelling and writing that balances such a complex narrative filled with witchcraft and coven activities. Panache Digital Games does an excellent job of hooking the player and forcing them to witness the events that transpire. The problem is, when you take control of the characters, gameplay falls short in nearly every regard just like the SGF 2026 demo that released earlier in the year.
While improvements have been made (the game crashes far less since the early access patch dropped) 1666: Amsterdam asks for a toll of $29.99 to gain access to this early access period, and gameplay frustrates far more often than it feels good. While 1666: Amsterdam has soul, and seeds a truly compelling story filled with intrigue, the sum of its parts are hard to recommend considering the entire product is included. 1666: Amsterdam has a solid premise, good sound, and solid cat-based gameplay, but needs a lot more work for it to be recommendable when it has a premium pricepoint and doing basic game functions feels like moving through mud.
