Revision 7

Windrose launched in Steam Early Access on April 14, 2026 at 8:00 AM UTC (4:00 AM EDT). The game is available on Steam, Epic Games Store, and Stove for $29.99 USD. It is developed by Kraken Express and co-published by Kraken Express and Pocketpair Publishing (Japan).

The Early Access period is expected to last 1.5 to 2.5 years, during which the game will grow to include roughly 50 percent more content before the 1.0 release. Players who buy during Early Access receive the 1.0 version as a free upgrade, even if the retail price rises.

Pricing and Editions

A 10 percent introductory discount applied through April 21, 2026. Players who completed the February 2026 Steam Next Fest demo receive an exclusive decorative spyglass cosmetic in the full game.

Launch Day Performance

The launch hit strong numbers on day one, building on 1.5 million+ Steam wishlists accumulated during development:

Early Access Content

The launch build ships with:

• 3 biomes — Coastal Jungle, Foothills, Ashlands — each with unique main and side quests, crafting recipes, enemies, and bosses

• Approximately 30 procedurally generated islands

• 90+ hand-crafted dungeons and points of interest including ruins, temples, shipwrecks, and pirate camps

• 3 playable ships with cannon-based naval combat and boarding actions

• Tortuga as a fully explorable hub town with traders and quest-givers

• Faction reputation and trading systems

• Base building and settlement building with NPC workers

• Talent system with six attributes and 39 talents

• 50 to 70 hour main story campaign

• Soulslite combat, alchemy, cooking recipes, farming and fishing, and mining

Multiplayer

Windrose supports cooperative multiplayer for up to 8 players, though the developers recommend 4 players for optimal late-game performance. Both self-hosted co-op and dedicated servers are available from launch. Third-party hosting providers such as Nitrado, G-Portal, GG Host, Survival Servers, 4netplayers, GTX Gaming, Citadel Servers, and Nodecraft offer Windrose server rentals. There is no PvP; the game is strictly PvE.

1.0 Roadmap

The full roadmap has Kraken Express planning to add roughly 50 percent more content before the 1.0 release, spread across 1.5 to 2.5 years of Early Access updates. Confirmed planned additions include:

• New biomes beyond the launch three

• Additional ship types (carronades, long cannons, and more vessel classes)

• More weapons, armor, and loot

• More bosses and enemy variety

• Expanded talent tree and character progression

• Additional dungeons and points of interest

• More story chapters (the launch covers Chapter 1)

• Official mod support (not available at launch; community mods already exist via the UE5 pak format)

• Console versions (after PC stabilizes)

System Requirements

System requirements are subject to change during development. Self-hosting a co-op server requires additional RAM beyond the stated minimums. If performance is an issue, lowering shadow quality provides the biggest FPS improvement based on community testing. See the full system requirements article for more details.

Development History

Windrose was originally announced as Crosswind on March 19, 2025, planned as a free-to-play survival MMO. After running an alpha playtest in June 2025 (20,000+ keys distributed over four weeks), the team pivoted to a buy-to-play PvE co-op survival adventure. The game was renamed to Windrose at the PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted on December 4, 2025. A free demo ran during Steam Next Fest in February 2026, attracting over 850,000 players and 1.5 million+ wishlists before the April 2026 launch.

Supported Languages

The game supports 12 languages for interface and subtitles: English, German, Russian, Simplified Chinese, French, Italian, Spanish (Spain), Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), and Turkish. Full audio is available only in English at launch.