1666 Amsterdam was one of the more intriguing games I saw at Summer Games Fest and having a demo got me excited right away.
This game made me dust off my Steam Deck and try to play the demo since it isn’t hitting consoles just yet. Because I’m not a PC gamer in a world where AI companies are screwing over every gamer on the block, I did have to lower the settings to minimum and a lot of areas chugged along. I’m going to chalk that up to playing a game not optimized for Steam Deck….being played on a Steam Deck. Though the game is designed with a controller in mind, so at least that worked entirely fine.
However the 30 minutes of gameplay is simply not enough because I enjoyed every minute of it and can’t wait to play more.
The game breaks itself down into 3 different timelines and I was curious how it was going to do this when it was announced. Were we going to play each timeline separately? The answer is no, the game actually does a fascinating job of intertwining the 3 different timelines really well to blend into one narrative. Each one seems to be breaking down various aspects of the game with one era being used for more action sequences, another used for the backstory, and the last diving deep into the lore and discovering the story being told.
This was such an incredible experience on its own and I kept diving deeper with every aspect. I do hope the final game has a little bit more exploration and lore moments to interact with, but I understand the demo being a little more straightforward.
Another aspect that the demo doesn’t seem to explore just yet is the cat companion. Early on you get an assortment of several different cats with different backgrounds, and I’m assuming class based titles, but the demo didn’t seem to explore this aspect fully at all. In the announcement they state that the companion will have an effect throughout the game. It would be cool if characters or story elements change throughout the game based on this decision. Still though, the simple fact of picking a cat made the interactions more personal as a player.
Overall the witch aspect of the game was thrilling throughout the whole experience. I was already interested in the game purely because of this narrative idea, but the way it explores the idea of witches in all 3 generations was so damn cool. I was thinking during one scene how disappointed I was on a Steam Deck because of how cool it should have looked visually normally. But the visual que’s and the intertwining worlds are so great.
If I had to make two statements for critical feedback, it would be to simply work on the dialogue a bit. It was a bit strange reading the note from the character’s father in regard to the story, but it felt like it was just trying to dump the story aspect on us for the demo. The second statement is in regards to some elements having a “dated” feel to them, and I’m not sure if it was intentional, or if it was simply an unfinished product design. For example when you search in areas for items, the items randomly pop out like an old school game and float on the floor, you then have to hold a button to pick up each piece. Instead it would be better for the character to simply find the items, or have some way for you to search and pick it up within an inventory.
Other aspects I can’t really critique yet because it’s either an issue with playing on the Deck or the fact it was a demo. Animations and visuals were hard to see on low settings, but what I did get was rather enjoyable and somewhat creepy. We also didn’t get to dive into any major action sequences, and again no real big puzzles, due to the short length of the demo. Instead we got hints of everything, or teases if you may. I also played with a controller and it operated fine for me, but mouse and keyboard players appear to be having some input issues with the game.
I do think the demo needs a bigger disclaimer about being an early build of the game. With some of the aspects of the game feeling quite unfinished, I do believe it’ll be a long time before we see the game leave early access. I just hope people can appreciate seeing a game in such early stages and see through it to see the potential the game has.
But this was a demo that made me sit on the end screen and immediately want to talk to someone about it. I wanted more, I can’t wait to see the action sequences and polished areas of the game. I understand the demo was a bit slow pacing, but it was simply introducing us to the world and it does that with exposition dumps in large parts, but it builds the world quickly and pulls you in. Lets just fix that note sequence, I don’t think anyone wants their dad talking about how good their mom is in bed to them.
You can try the demo yourself on Steam.
