The Ashlands is a planned biome for Windrose, first revealed in the August 2025 Devblog #5 announcement. It is NOT available at the April 14, 2026 Early Access launch; it is the most prominent planned post-launch biome. The Ashlands represent a scorched, volcanic region covered by ashfall from a past eruption, tied narratively to the game's supernatural corruption plotline.
The three biomes shipped at Early Access launch are Coastal Jungle, Foothills, and Cursed Swamps. The Ashlands will be added during Early Access as part of the roughly 50 percent content expansion planned before the 1.0 release (a 1.5 to 2.5 year roadmap).
Current Status
Attribute | Status |
|---|---|
Revealed | August 2025 Devblog #5 (Crosswind-era) |
Available at Early Access launch | No |
Planned release | During the Early Access period (April 2026 - 2027/2028) |
Gear tier (projected) | Late-game; likely tier 16+ or an alternate endgame path |
Known enemies | Corrupted enemies with supernatural abilities, skeleton enemies |
Boss encounters | "Expansive dungeons" with new bosses planned |
Theme and Setting
The Ashlands are described as a scorched, volcanic biome covered by ashfall from a past eruption. Players will use pickaxes to dig through volcanic ash to uncover secrets and treasures buried under it. The biome ties into the supernatural corruption spreading through the world, suggesting the eruption was not purely natural.
Planned Content
High-tier resources buried under volcanic ash, requiring pickaxes to extract
Expansive dungeons with new quests and challenging boss encounters
Corrupted enemies supernatural variants with new abilities
Skeleton enemies particularly vulnerable to Crude damage (clubs, halberds, maces)
New story content extending the Columbus's Book of Prophecies and supernatural corruption plotlines
Historical Context
The Ashlands was originally part of the Crosswind-era design before the pivot. It was revealed in the August 2025 Devblog #5 that announced the pivot from free-to-play MMO to buy-to-play PvE co-op, alongside the Tortuga redescribed as "a besieged outpost." The studio (operating under Crosswind Crew, Windrose Crew, and now Kraken Express in turn) has kept the Ashlands on the roadmap across its renaming periods, signaling the biome remains a committed part of the 1.0 vision.
Narrative Connection
The Ashlands are described as "tied to the supernatural corruption spreading through the world." Exactly how this connects to Blackbeard's pact with dark powers, the Columbus's Book of Prophecies treasure, and the Cursed Swamps plague is part of the story that will unfold when the biome releases. The gameplay loop (digging through ash for high-tier resources) suggests a unique exploration mechanic distinct from the other three biomes' more open terrain.
Timing Expectations
Kraken Express has not committed to a specific release date for the Ashlands during Early Access. Given the 1.5 to 2.5 year Early Access window and the priority of polishing the three launch biomes, players should expect the Ashlands to arrive via a major content patch at some point during 2026 or 2027 rather than immediately after launch. Watch the Steam news feed and community hub for announcements.
Discovery Database
The in-game discovery panel tracks 11 recorded notes in the Ashlands across up to four categories: Local Threat (the biome boss), Key Discoveries (research manuals that unlock progression), Major Discoveries (passive finds recorded the first time a named resource is picked up), and Other Resources (generic gather items). Each note corresponds to an in-world handwritten manual, logbook, or research record the character catalogs on first encounter.
Key Discoveries
Research manuals recovered from ruins, caves, and pirate camps. Picking one up unlocks a crafting recipe, map tool, or progression milestone tied to the biome's signature resources.
Major Discoveries
Noteworthy finds the game registers the first time the player picks up a named resource or unique item in the biome. These are the biome's characteristic resource set.
Rosella Sepal
Volcanic Ash
Pineapple Seeds
Status as of Late April 2026
On April 28, 2026 Kraken Express published a community update that reframed the Ashlands timeline. The studio said the Ashlands biome is the next major content drop, and that delivering it will take at least six months. The update committed to a series of bridge patches focused on technical stability (save reliability, force-relay connection, idle CPU and disk usage, and quest-blocker fixes) before the Ashlands content itself can begin landing in playable form. The studio also said more information will follow in a month or two as the bridge work matures.
This is the first time since the launch window that the project has set a public delivery range for the Ashlands content. Until that point the only public reference was the August 2025 Devblog #5 reveal, which described the biome thematically but did not commit to a release window. The April 28 framing supersedes the older language and is the current canonical signal for when Ashlands content will start arriving in builds.
Everything below this section about Ashlands enemies, items, recipes, dungeons, and bosses remains projected and not confirmed in the current build. No playable Ashlands content has shipped at the time of writing. Players who want to vote on what the bridge patches prioritize and who want to read the official statement directly should consult the Roadmap article and the Windrose Support article.
Where to Read More
Roadmap: current public direction and the late-April 2026 update in full.
Windrose Support: the official feedback platform that surfaces the feature-vote channel feeding the bridge-patch priorities.
Patch Notes: running ledger of the bridge-patch sequence (0.10.0.4 and 0.10.0.5 are the first two).
See Also
Procedural Biomes full biome progression including launch biomes
Cursed Swamps the final launch biome before Ashlands content arrives
Roadmap Early Access content plans
Supernatural Forces dark powers lore connecting the Ashlands
Crosswind development history including the August 2025 Ashlands reveal
Confirmed Placeholders
Several items, resources, and recipes already exist in the live game files but have no working source, recipe, or effect at the time of writing. Community theorycrafters have noted that the loading-screen hot-zone string for the Ashlands tags the region with volcanic glass and obsidian as a regional resource, which lines up with the Cursed Swamps pattern of new biomes shipping with their own pickaxe tier. The widely held theory is that future pickaxes will mine obsidian here, and that the dormant items below will activate when the Ashlands patch lands. Treat all of the following as community speculation, not confirmed design. The studio has not commented on individual items, and any of them could be cut, repurposed, or re-tuned before the biome ships.
Swamp Pickaxe and Swamp Axe: visible in the data files with roughly +100 attack damage over the previous tool tier, enough to one-shot most resource nodes. Neither tool is currently obtainable through any quest, vendor, or drop, and they are not used by any active recipe. The leading theory is that they release as part of the Ashlands update, possibly alongside more advanced versions specifically tuned for the new biome's nodes.
Swamp Pickaxe entry: see also the Swamp Pickaxe article for the per-stat data-file dump. Same caveats apply.
Hide Arborum and Fabric Arborum: resource entries with placeholder icons and no current recipe usage anywhere in the live game. The naming pattern (arborum suggesting tree- or wood-derived) plus the absence from existing biome resource sets has led the community to suspect they are inputs to a future Ashlands gear or building tier.
Ancient Relic Fragment: classified under Key Discoveries for the Ashlands but currently has no obtainable instance in the live game and is not consumed by any active recipe. Likely tied to a future quest chain or research-manual unlock when the biome ships.
Banana Coffee and Chicha Morada: consumable recipes that exist in data and can technically be crafted, but currently grant no buff or effect when consumed. Players have flagged this as either an oversight or an unfinished pass that may activate when the Ashlands' associated stat or biome modifier ships.
Because the region is unreleased, none of the above should be planned around for current builds. If a future patch wires any of these items up, expect the relevant entry on this wiki and the dedicated item pages to be updated with the verified source, recipe, and effect at that time.