Patrice Désilets acquired the rights from Ubisoft in 2016, but eight years have passed since then, so it’s fair to ask what happened to a project that could have been demonic and brilliant.

Ubisoft is known for a number of its IPs, but if you were to look for them from before the mid-2000s, you’d be hard pressed to come up with anything other than Rayman: The Prince of Persia, Saints Row, Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, but that’s about it. Patrice Désilets, one of the key people behind Assassin’s Creed, has changed all that. What we have now is Assassin’s Creed: Hexe, which is what he wanted to do long before with 1666 Amsterdam, which was the subject of a huge dispute between him and the French publisher.

The game never made it into the limelight, but Désilets’ project was known to offer an experience that would have featured 17th century demonic references with a baroque visual design inspired by Flemish paintings in the style of Rembrandt or Vermeer. According to Désilets, the game and its story would have been about the devil (he didn’t talk about the game mechanics). He hated horror movies and the subject matter, so it would have been a challenge. In the leaked gameplay, you could control crows, rats, and cats, because our hero had supernatural abilities (moving heavy objects, setting a whole city on fire).

We first heard the name in 2012 when it was trademarked, but it all goes back to 2010 when Désilets left Ubisoft because he was fed up with Yves Guillemot wanting an Assassin’s Creed every year. In 2011, it was announced that he had signed on with THQ to create Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey and 1666 Amsterdam, and in 2012 THQ trademarked the 1666 name. But THQ went bankrupt and Ubisoft bought THQ Montréal, where Désilets worked, so he was essentially back under the French publisher…

That didn’t last long, because although he continued to develop 1666 Amsterdam under Ubisoft Montréal, he left in 2013, and according to the French publisher, he did so voluntarily. But he told Polygon the opposite: he was fired by Ubisoft, and after receiving his papers, two guards escorted him out of the building without saying goodbye or taking his personal belongings. In other words, it was not his decision, and so Désilets fought for his rights, his team and his game. For this, he sued Ubisoft for 400,000 dollars (damages, costs, compensation, unpaid salaries).

This left Ubisoft with the project, which the company did not deal with… However, in 2016, after a legal dispute, we heard that Désilets had regained the rights to the game. Then, for a couple of years, we heard that he was going to start developing 1666 Amsterdam after Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey. In 2019, Ancestors was released, but since then, there has been no word on the demon game. It’s a shame…

Source: Polygon