Patrice Désilets Confirms 1666: Amsterdam "Won't Be Using Any AI Anymore" After Gamescom Backlash

Patrice Désilets, the creator of the original Assassin's Creed, used a Gamescom 2026 interview to publicly confirm that his studio Panache Digital Games has finished with generative AI on 1666: Amsterdam and will not bring it back. Asked directly by GamesRadar+ to clarify the project's relationship to the technology, Désilets drew a hard line: "Yes, we use some AI in the process, mostly at the beginning, in conception and pre-production. It's been totally removed, and we won't be using AI anymore."

The clarification lands roughly a week after 1666: Amsterdam entered Early Access on Steam and the Epic Games Store on August 25 for an introductory $29.99 USD, and more than two months after Panache Digital Games first acknowledged on X that some AI-generated assets had slipped into the game's free Prologue released over the summer. The original June 9 statement from the Montreal-based studio framed the AI use as an "oversight" limited to "early versions of assets," promised that human-made replacements would ship in an update, and assured players that "the Early Access and full game will not include any assets generated by AI."

1666: Amsterdam is a dark action-adventure set in a witchy, supernatural 17th-century Amsterdam, where players control Noa Brooklyn, a demon hunter raised by the Zaindaris to track and collect immortal beings known as The Originals. The narrative flips between 1666, 1999, and the present day, and a playable cat companion named Aaron, originally a man from 1999 pulled through time, plays through the world from a feline perspective. It is the second game from Panache Digital, the independent studio Désilets founded after his well-documented exit from Ubisoft, and the follow-up to Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey.

Désilets framed the AI use as confined to the earliest phases of development. Speaking with GamesRadar+ at the Cologne show floor, he said the team leaned on generative tools during "conception and pre-production" but that those assets "have been totally removed" before the Early Access build went live, and added that the studio is committing to going forward without generative AI on the project. The Early Access build that players can download today on Steam and the Epic Games Store does not include any AI-generated assets, and an update replacing remaining portraits and marketing art from the Prologue era has been promised since June.

The interview did not settle every open question. Désilets said he was "a bit thrown" by reporting that suggested the team had lost track of which assets were AI-generated, and that some outlets were accusing Panache of being unable to tell its own output apart from machine-made work — a claim he disputes without releasing a full audit. What is on the record: Panache Digital Games has publicly committed, on its own X account and now on the Gamescom show floor, that no generative AI assets ship in the Early Access build or will ship in the full game.

The current Steam build of 1666: Amsterdam is sitting at a "Mixed" user review rating, and the conversation on Steam Community is split between players weighing the AI disclosure against broader complaints about clunky combat, dated mechanics, and bugs in the Early Access build. Reporting from TechPowerUp, Tech4Gamers, and Insider Gaming has tracked the same back-and-forth. Console versions of the game have not yet been dated.

Désilets' Gamescom appearance comes against the wider backdrop of generative AI scrutiny across the Summer Game Fest 2026 showcase window. Sega's Crazy Taxi: World Tour, which appeared at the show, currently carries an AI disclosure on its Steam page; series creator Kenji Kanno has since clarified that AI was used only "as a reference" for artists to look at before drawing final assets by hand. Other titles, including Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, have also drawn community criticism for AI-generated material in their shipping builds.

Our Take

Panache Digital Games' situation is not unique, but the way Désilets chose to address it is unusually direct for a project lead at this scale. The studio acknowledged the issue early, removed the contested assets before Early Access, and now has its founder on the record saying the technology is gone from 1666: Amsterdam entirely. Whether that is enough to win back the wishlists that were revoked over the original disclosure is a different question — and one the Early Access reviews suggest is still being answered in real time.

The Early Access build of 1666: Amsterdam is available now on Steam and the Epic Games Store. Players can read Panache Digital Games' original June 9 AI disclosure on its official X account, and track updates to the game's asset replacement plan on the 1666: Amsterdam Steam store page.