1666: Amsterdam will no longer use generative AI during development, with Assassin’s Creed creator Patrice Désilets saying the technology has now been completely removed from the project.
Désilets confirmed the change during Gamescom 2026 in an interview with GamesRadar+, clarifying that Panache Digital Games had used generative AI primarily during the game’s conception and pre-production stages.
According to Désilets, that is no longer the case.
He said the studio has removed the technology from its development process and will not use generative AI going forward.
The clarification represents a stronger commitment than Panache’s earlier statements about AI-generated assets.
1666: Amsterdam first faced criticism in June after players identified apparently AI-generated imagery in its playable prologue and promotional material following the game’s Summer Game Fest reveal.
Panache subsequently investigated the assets and acknowledged that early AI-generated material had made its way into the public build.
The studio said the affected material included in-game portraits and external marketing assets.
Panache apologized at the time and described their inclusion as an oversight, promising that human-made replacements would be released and that the Early Access and final versions would not contain AI-generated assets.
However, questions remained over whether generative AI would continue to be used internally during production even if the resulting material did not appear in the finished game.
Those concerns intensified after comments from Désilets earlier in August.
He explained that the small development team had used AI during earlier production because it could quickly generate large numbers of visual variations during experimentation.
Désilets also admitted that the team had become so accustomed to some of those materials during development that it did not immediately recognize certain assets as AI-generated when preparing the public demo.
At the time, he emphasized that those assets would not remain in the finished product.
The new Gamescom statement goes further.
Rather than simply promising to remove AI-generated content from the final game, Désilets now says generative AI itself has been removed from the development process.
That distinction is important because the debate surrounding AI in game development increasingly extends beyond what players ultimately see.
Studios have used generative tools for concept art, placeholder imagery, writing experiments and other pre-production tasks, even when none of those outputs are intended for release.
Panache’s updated position means 1666: Amsterdam will instead continue development without those tools.
The reversal comes just days after the game entered Early Access on PC.
1666: Amsterdam launched into Early Access on August 25 through Steam and the Epic Games Store, giving Panache an extended period to develop the project alongside player feedback.
The dark third-person action-adventure is set primarily in Amsterdam during 1666 and follows demon hunter Noa Brooklyn alongside Aaron, a man from 1999 who has been transformed into a cat.
The project has an unusually long history.
Désilets originally conceived the game more than a decade ago before development was interrupted by studio closures, ownership disputes and a lengthy effort to regain control of the intellectual property.
Panache eventually revived the project and publicly revealed its latest incarnation in June 2026.
That history made the AI controversy particularly prominent around the game’s return, with some players questioning why a studio employing experienced artists had used generated imagery during development.
Désilets’ latest comments now give Panache its clearest position on the issue.
The studio previously promised that AI-generated assets would not remain in the released game.
It is now also saying that generative AI will not be used in the continuing development of 1666: Amsterdam at all.
