Revision 12

Patch Notes tracks every published hotfix and update to Windrose since Early Access launch on April 14, 2026. This page is a running ledger; the Roadmap page covers upcoming/planned work, while this page covers what has actually shipped. Kraken Express publishes patches through the Steam news hub and mirrors them to the official Discord.

Launch-Week Patches

Hotfix 0.10.0.1.6 Detail

Kraken Express published Hotfix 0.10.0.1.6 on launch day through the Steam news hub. The patch did not add new content. Instead, it cleared three specific friction points that had surfaced within the first hours of Early Access:

• Dedicated-server connectivity: disabled the access token generation cooldown for dedicated servers, which had been causing connection failures for self-hosted and rented hosts.

• Server version mismatch: the game client now checks the server version when joining and shows a UI error if the server is running an older build. Previously, outdated-server joins could fail silently.

• Invite codes: the 8-character minimum length was removed. Codes are now valid at any length between 1 and 32 characters, which matches how many groups already formatted their shared room codes.

In the same post, Kraken Express said more connectivity fixes were being tested and asked the community for help contacting major ISPs, because some of the studio's backend addresses appeared to be blocklisted on specific European and North American networks. Gaming press covered the ISP-help request as an unusual first-week operations moment.

Hotfix 0.10.0.1.6 landed alongside the 48-hour commercial milestones. By April 16, Kraken Express announced Windrose had passed 500,000 copies sold since Early Access opened, the Steam review score had settled around 88 percent Very Positive, and peak concurrent players on Steam reached 69,544 on April 14, 97,981 on April 15, and 113,930 on April 16.

Launch-Week Milestones (Non-Patch Posts)

While the list above is just patches, Kraken Express also posted community-facing updates that shaped the launch window:

• April 14, 2026: "Windrose is setting sail now!" launch announcement post

• April 16, 2026: 500,000 copies sold in 48 hours milestone post; same-day acknowledgment of ISP connectivity incidents affecting co-op across EU/NA

• April 17, 2026: Scheduled maintenance notice for Hotfix 0.10.0.2.54

Pre-Launch Communication Timeline

How to Read Version Strings

Kraken Express uses a semantic-version style prefix (for example, 0.10.0.2.54) that reads as "major.minor.patch.hotfix.build." A short hexadecimal commit suffix sometimes appears in build metadata when a patch is mined, but the public-facing version tag shown in the Steam news title is the five-segment prefix. In practice, only the five-segment prefix matters for compatibility discussions: clients on 0.10.0.2.x can typically co-op with each other, while a client on 0.10.0.1.6 cannot join a 0.10.0.2.54 server without updating.

Where to Find Patches Authoritatively

• Steam news hub: (primary)

• patch history: (data-mine view)

• aggregator: (convenient summary)

• Official Discord: real-time discussion; sometimes patches are previewed in the dev-posts channel before the Steam news goes live

See Also

• Roadmap — future content direction

• Early Access — broader Early Access context

• Launch Reception — launch-week performance and press coverage

• Multiplayer — where the ISP and connectivity discussion lives

Hotfix 0.10.0.1.6 Full Change List (April 14, 2026)

The launch-day hotfix shipped hours after the Early Access release. It was a narrow polish pass focused on connectivity plumbing, localization, and removing a leftover pre-launch link. No combat or boss changes landed in this build.

Connectivity and Hosting

• Access token cooldown: disabled for dedicated servers so self-hosted and rented hosts stopped dropping connections during the first join rush.

• Server version check: the client now checks the server version when joining and surfaces a UI error if the server is running an older build, replacing the silent failure that occurred before the fix.

• Invite-code range: the 8-character minimum was removed. Invite codes can now be any length between 1 and 32 characters.

• Host server startup timeout: extended to 5 minutes so slower-starting dedicated hosts have more time before the client gives up.

• Dedicated server documentation updated with difficulty-preset examples so hosts could see the exact preset strings.

UI and Localization

• Main menu: removed the leftover "Wishlist Now" link that should not have shipped post-launch.

• Localization: multiple string-correction passes across supported languages.

• Server info: "Show Server Info" fields in the Esc menu are now hidden by default with a reveal button, so streamers are less likely to expose dedicated-server details on camera.

• Nitrado integration link: the dedicated-server hosting partner link in the in-game tool was corrected.

Hotfix 0.10.0.2.54 Full Change List (April 17, 2026)

The first substantive post-launch patch. Online modes were taken offline for approximately one hour during rollout (12 AM PDT / 3 AM EDT / 7 AM GMT / 9 AM CEST); offline and solo play were unaffected. This is the patch that finally closed out the day-one combat and boss issues and fixed the Overpenetration talent, which had been non-functional at launch.

Connectivity and Multiplayer

• Further connectivity fixes and bug corrections across the backend relay and lookup services, continuing the work begun in 0.10.0.1.6.

• Online-mode maintenance window during the rollout, with solo and offline play available the entire time.

Boss Encounters and Combat

• Boss difficulty scaling retuned for 3+ player encounters. Multi-player scaling had felt uneven during launch week; this brings 3-, 4-, 6-, and 8-player squads back in line with the intended curve.

• Thomas Richards (Coastal Jungle boss for Revenge Is Best Served Cold): fixed a target-switching bug in multiplayer and retuned the bomb-throw timing. The specific edge case where Richards would sometimes use his Grab attack immediately after throwing bombs was resolved.

Enemy AI

• Grenadier grenades now pass through players and other NPCs instead of colliding with them. Prior to the fix, a grenade could embed in a teammate and remove the intended spacing tell.

• Grenadier aggro retuned: Grenadiers no longer lose targets as quickly and now correctly close distance when a player retreats. Pre-patch guides that recommended kiting past a fixed distance to break aggro are no longer reliable.

• Plague Crusher tree-collision fix: the enemy no longer snags on trees during movement and correctly destroys foliage while pursuing the player. This is currently the only public reference to Plague Crusher as a named entity.

World and Quest Softlock Fixes

• Fixed a crash caused by ship spawns in Tortuga that could strand players at the hub.

• Fixed a softlock where the Boar Whistle (the Foothills altar reward used to summon Truffle) could become permanently unobtainable if it dropped into the altar's bowl while the receiving player had a full inventory.

• Object-carrying animation: fixed a visual bug when carrying large objects between stations.

Weapons and Talents

• Overpenetration talent (Marksman Tier 3) now functions correctly. It was non-functional from launch until this patch. Numbers tested before April 17 should be treated as invalid.

• Dragonbreath Blunderbuss: fire damage values now display correctly and the intended visual effects play on hit.

• Plague Halberd: visual effects now position correctly during boarding sequences.

• Musket aiming: smoother camera movement while aiming, resolving the jitter players reported during the demo window and launch week.

• Healing Potion: fixed an interrupt bug that could cancel the drink animation without returning the potion to the inventory.

Hotfix 0.10.0.3.104 Full Change List (April 19, 2026)

Second substantive post-launch patch. Focused on connectivity options, a new save-backup safety net, and a set of visual and UI bug fixes. Community item-data comparisons tracked no item or recipe changes in this build, so it is largely a systems and infrastructure release.

New Player-Facing Features

• Manual connectivity server selection. Players can now pick a specific connectivity server instead of relying on automatic selection, and can see which servers are currently reachable.

• Direct IP connection option added as an alternative to the connectivity service. Useful for same-network or port-forwarded hosts when ISP-level blocking makes the relay service unreachable.

• Automatic save-backup system. The client creates a save backup every time the game launches, with a rolling window of up to 30 backups. Restore instructions are provided in-game; backup files live under the user's AppData directory.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a main-menu loading issue for Windows usernames containing non-Unicode characters. Players with Cyrillic or CJK usernames were previously hard-blocked at the main menu.

• Fixed a feather simulation bug on the Plague Witch model.

• Corrected trader model issues and armor clipping across several sets. Multiple rigging errors had been causing equipment to position incorrectly on the body.

• Resolved a rare crash tied to an item bug.

• HDR activation now works correctly. It was broken at launch.

Technical and Performance

• Server process priority is now automatically set to "Above Normal" on Windows dedicated hosts.

• Increased grass render distance.

Known Issues Called Out in the Patch Notes

• Connectivity servers can still appear available while being unreachable on unstable connections. The new server picker surfaces this as a false positive.

• Direct IP mode does not yet surface error messages for wrong password or version mismatch. Login failures currently present as silent failures.