Exploration in Windrose happens across a procedurally generated archipelago of islands with multiple biomes. While the island layouts are generated, the game contains over 100 hand-crafted dungeons and points of interest placed throughout the world. Each dungeon has set encounters, loot tables, and environmental puzzles.
World generation
Every player gets their own world, and every new game generates a different island layout. This gives the game strong replayability, since you cannot simply memorize the map. Crucially, character progression carries between worlds. You can start a fresh world without losing your character's levels, talents, and unlocked recipes.
Biomes
The archipelago includes several distinct biome types. The demo covers the opening biome and its first three islands, but the full game expands into more varied environments. Different biomes provide unique resources for crafting and host different enemy types.
Points of interest
Islands are scattered with hand-crafted locations: hidden caves, abandoned camps, ruins, treasure sites, and dungeon entrances. Some of these locations tie into quests, while others reward pure curiosity with loot or lore.
Dungeons
The 100+ dungeons are instanced areas separate from the open world. They contain tougher enemies, boss fights, environmental puzzles, and better loot than surface encounters. Dungeons range from short side-diversions to multi-room crawls.
Risk and reward
Venturing to more distant or dangerous islands carries higher risk, including stronger enemies, environmental hazards, and the distance from your base. The payoff comes in the form of rarer resources, better gear drops, and access to higher-tier crafting materials.
Sailing as exploration
Traveling between islands happens by ship. The journey itself is part of the gameplay, with random encounters, shipwrecks to investigate, and enemy vessels to fight or avoid. The sea is not just empty space between destinations.