A new trailer for 1666 Amsterdam introduces the witch Noa and her companion Aaron, a man from the year 1999 trapped in the body of a cat.
After a long and turbulent development process, the stars finally seem to be aligned for 1666 Amsterdam. As a witch with her cat companion, we must hunt demon-like creatures in 17th-century Amsterdam. Jean-François Boivin, co-founder of Panache Digital Games and executive producer of 1666 Amsterdam, explains who our two protagonists are and what connects them in a new trailer.
The Zaindaris Noa: Apothecary and Hunter of the Originals
Patrice Désilets, who served as creative director on the first Assassin’s Creed, has been working on 1666 Amsterdam for over a decade, and the influences of Assassin’s Creed are unmistakable. It’s one of those titles I’d completely forgotten about but that has captivated me ever since I saw the first trailer. As a witch named Zaindaris and an apothecary in 17th-century Amsterdam, we hunt down the “Originals,” who are overwhelmed and controlled by ancient magic.
Jean-François Boivin now introduces us to our two protagonists in the trailer. Noa Brooklyn is a young woman living in Amsterdam in 1666. As an apprentice apothecary and witch, she tries to help people. To do so, she has many different tools at her disposal—tools that her predecessors also used and that will be passed down to future generations.
A time-traveling professor in the body of a cat
Noa receives help from a black cat. But there’s more to this cat than meets the eye, as it’s actually a man named Aaron who was torn from the year 1999 and finds himself in the body of a cat. We also immediately see how Noa got the distinctive scar on her cheek, as Aaron the cat wasn’t exactly thrilled about this transformation.
The trailer doesn’t explain where Aaron himself got a similar scar, but I’m looking forward to uncovering that mystery in the game itself. So far, however, no official release date has been announced. A demo of the prologue is currently available for download and play on Steam and Epic Games.
While the trailer clearly shows that Aaron and Noa work together—which will also be a fundamental part of the gameplay—it’s not clear if and how they can communicate. Does Noa know that Aaron is a human from the future? The trailer answers many questions and raises even more. Exactly my kind of witch mystery.
