Following today’s appearance at gamescom Opening Night Live, 16 66: Amsterdam has launched into Early Access on PC via Steam and Epic Games Store for $29.99, arriving right on the August 25 date Panache Digital Games locked in earlier this month. The Early Access launch comes with a new trailer offering another look at the game’s world, characters, and the mystical forces lurking beneath the city.
The setup casts you as Noa Brooklyn, born the Collector and raised by the Zaindaris for a purpose she didn’t choose: taking back the power owed by the Originals, entities who have lived for centuries beneath Amsterdam’s streets. By day, you investigate a handcrafted version of the city, identifying, tracking, and marking the Originals hidden behind human faces. When night falls and the Esbat begins, they reveal their true forms, and Noa uses witchcraft, spellcasting, and strategy to confront them and collect what is owed.
Noa doesn’t work alone, though. Aaron, summoned from 1999, experiences the world through the eyes of a cat, and you can switch between the two at will for radically different approaches to investigating the city, uncovering hidden paths, and closing in on targets. Yes, one of the two playable characters is a cat.
Panache plans to keep developing the game throughout Early Access, with player feedback gathered through the official Discord community shaping what gets improved and where the experience goes next. This is the same long-dormant project that an Assassin’s Creed co-creator resurrected back in June, and there’s no word yet on how long the Early Access period will run. If you want a deeper look at what the team is building, the Behind the Shadows diary series has been documenting development since June.
