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Early Access
April 17, 2026 at 09:02 AM
Audit fix 2026-04-17 (meta): Fixed April 15 peak cell to 97,981 and added April 16 peak 113,930 (1 nodes); Updated Launch Momentum paragraph to include Apr 15 97,981 and Apr 16 113,930 peaks (1 nodes); Refreshed "second-day climb" framing to cover April 16 peak (1 nodes)
Windrose entered Steam Early Access on April 14, 2026 for PC. The game launched on Steam, the Epic Games Store, and Stove at a base price of $29.99 USD, with an optional $39.99 Supporter Bundle that adds the soundtrack and wallpapers. Kraken Express is the developer and self-publisher in most regions, while Pocketpair Publishing handles the Japan-region publishing role.
The current official expectation is that Early Access will last roughly 1.5 to 2.5 years. Kraken Express says the goal is to grow the game by about 50 percent before 1.0, but the studio has not published a date-by-date roadmap yet and is still in the launch-feedback phase.
Category | Verified Early Access Fact |
|---|---|
Early Access release date | April 14, 2026 |
Platforms at launch | PC only: Steam, Epic Games Store, and Stove |
Base price | $29.99 USD |
Supporter Bundle | $39.99 USD with soundtrack and wallpapers |
Current launch-week SteamDB peak | 97,981 concurrent players on April 15, 2026; peaked at 113,930 on April 16, 2026 |
Main-story scope | Roughly 50 to 70 hours for the Chapter 1 launch campaign |
Official co-op cap | Up to 8 players, with about 4 recommended for smoother late-game performance |
Dedicated servers | Supported at launch through the free Steam dedicated-server tool |
3 launch biomes: Coastal Jungle, Foothills, and Cursed Swamps
About 30 procedurally generated islands with over 90 hand-crafted points of interest in official pre-launch FAQ wording, commonly rounded up in press coverage
3 main combat-capable player ships at launch, with the dinghy acting as the starter transport
A full survival-crafting loop covering building, station upgrades, quest progression, food, alchemy, factions, and ship combat
A fully explorable Tortuga hub and multiple faction merchant networks
One correction matters here because older Windrose pages and some third-party coverage got it wrong: the third launch biome is Cursed Swamps, not Ashlands. Ashlands remains a planned future biome, not a launch biome.
Steam launch messaging set the base game at $29.99 and the Supporter Bundle at $39.99. The April 9 pre-launch Steam announcement also said a 10 percent introductory discount would run through April 21, 2026. Owners keep the eventual 1.0 release without buying the game again, even if the full-release price rises later.
Players who completed the February 2026 Steam Next Fest demo were also promised an exclusive decorative spyglass cosmetic in the full game. That bonus is part of the launch-window reward structure, not a gameplay advantage.
The most reliable current reading of Windrose multiplayer is conservative. Official launch-facing materials and the Discord FAQ mirror consistently describe the game as supporting up to 8 players. Dedicated servers are live at launch, but the studio still recommends smaller groups for a smoother experience and still frames naval combat around one player commanding one ship.
This matters because some host listings and older community writeups floated higher player counts or implied deeper shared-ship play than the official FAQ supports. The right current baseline is 8 players total, PvE focus, and fleet-style co-op rather than a mature multi-role shared-ship simulation.
Windrose did not enter Early Access quietly. The February 2026 demo peaked above 22,000 concurrent players during Steam Next Fest, pushed the game past 1.5 million wishlists before launch, and reportedly drew more than 800,000 total demo players. SteamDB then recorded a 69,544 first-day peak on April 14, climbed to 97,981 on April 15, and set a new peak of 113,930 on April 16, 2026.
That climb is the important part. Interest kept growing after release instead of collapsing, with concurrents rising through April 15 and reaching a new all-time peak on April 16, which is unusually strong behavior for an Early Access survival game.
Kraken Express has deliberately not published a locked sequence of dated content drops yet. The current official position is that the team wants to absorb launch feedback first and then turn that into a clearer roadmap. The studio's public messaging still points toward more biomes, more ships, more enemies and bosses, more weapons and armor coverage, and continued quality-of-life work.
Ashlands is the best-documented future biome, but it is still future content. Console versions are also still in the ambition stage rather than the schedule stage. GameSpot's launch-week reporting says the team is enthusiastic about eventually reaching consoles, but has no concrete console update to share yet.
It does not mean PvP returned. Windrose remains a PvE-focused game.
It does not mean microtransactions or live-service monetization. The game is explicitly buy-to-play.
It does not mean a fixed public patch calendar exists already. The roadmap is still being shaped by live launch feedback.
It does not mean demo progress carried over. The studio said the Steam Next Fest demo could not transfer into Early Access.
Windrose - broad overview of the current build
Roadmap - the current public future-content framing
Launch Reception - launch-week performance and community response
Multiplayer - co-op structure, dedicated servers, and current limitations
