Review: 1666 Amsterdam
- Guilherme Ribeiro
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
Magic and cats, a powerful combination.
THE GAME
1666: Amsterdam is an action-adventure game developed and distributed by Panache Digital Games. The character Clio seeks to understand a letter and an amulet her father left her. With the help of Professor Lucas, they discover something magical about these objects, which reveal an ancient story about Aaron, Clio's father. We are then transported into the story, showing what Aaron wants to tell his daughter. This is the story of how Aaron, in 1999, was forced to help Noa, a witch living in the year 1666 who needs to prevent a great evil. After undergoing a ritual, Aaron is transported from 1999 to 1666 and transformed into a cat. In this form, he is essential to helping Noa in 1666. Despite his reluctance, he agrees to help. The opposite also happens: in 1999, still human, he is helped by Noa in cat form. Using a lot of magic, the two help each other, whether investigating or in battle. Many mysteries surround this world, and it's up to you to help in the past so that a future may still exist.
MY IMPRESSIONS
First, it's important to note that at the time of this review, the game is in early access. Therefore, it's clear that the game still needs a lot of polishing, both aesthetically and in terms of gameplay. However, we'll start with the interesting part of 1666: Amsterdam: the idea. The whole story about witches and sorceresses, dark creatures, and everything surrounding this premise is very cool, as is the use of different time periods, showing different eras that are somehow connected. Exploring the environments is very interesting, both as a witch and as a cat, but especially as a cat. These moments where the interactions between the two characters are used to advance and solve problems are really cool. However, for some reason, they needed to add combat to the game, and thus it loses much of what makes it interesting. Even though the game's overall controls are still quite clunky and strange, exploration is the best part of the game. The combat is terrible and repetitive, with enemy encounters that appear out of nowhere and don't add anything positive. This is the biggest sin of 1666: Amsterdam, which should have invested in a game without this type of combat. Casting spells has a certain bureaucracy that's hard to understand, even though it might be part of the immersion, it's not very fluid. Clearly, the game needs more polish in these aspects.
Following the story is irritating because, while you're free to advance, lines of dialogue keep appearing, and there are many of them, forcing you to choose between stopping and paying attention to what's being said or simply ignoring it and trying to understand what's happening through fragments of what you can read. The game is in Brazilian Portuguese, but at many points, the subtitles switch to English for no apparent reason, but it's forgivable since it's in early access. The story's pacing is unappealing, as if nothing is clicking. The environments feel strange, which may be intentional, but some sections seem completely lifeless or just a repetition that doesn't make sense in that part. Many times I couldn't understand what my objective was or what I was actually supposed to do, since everything looks very similar visually. Collision with other characters is nonexistent, which completely ruins the immersion of blending in with the crowd. When you walk alongside a character, for example, the two of you stick together, with unnatural movement. Another example is how the cat moves; it can't jump freely and has to "aim" where it wants (or can) jump, only doing so when the button to perform the action appears. These are things that, while planned to keep the game controllable, should be done better.
It's noticeable that the game is still very raw. Early access will serve precisely to identify problems and improvements. As I said before, the premise is very good, but it's lacking in execution. Despite this, perhaps with the opening of early access, many things can change and not all will be lost. If the developers focus on what is good and polish the game further, we can see a great evolution from what is currently being offered.
ACHIEVEMENTS
1666: Amsterdam doesn't have any achievements at the moment, but since it's in early access, we can expect them to be implemented in the future, which is natural and usually happens with games that open for early access.
CONCLUSION
A good idea, a poor execution. 1666: Amsterdam needs a lot of improvement, a lot indeed. Early access will be a double-edged sword, because it might alienate those who were excited about the game, but it could also use the criticism to significantly improve it. For me, if this game didn't have combat the way it is, it would be perfect. The exploration aspect, although simple and somewhat hampered by the gameplay, is much more fun than any battle section I experienced. The developers have a great idea on the table, and I hope they can polish the game and make the gameplay as interesting as the premise of 1666: Amsterdam.
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