Getting Started

This guide covers the first few hours of Windrose based on the Steam Next Fest demo. The game starts you with nothing on an island after Blackbeard wrecks your ship. Here is what to focus on.

Immediate Priorities

1. Gather basic resources. Pick up sticks, stones, and plant fiber from the ground. Punch trees and bushes for wood and fiber. Collect coconuts from palm trees for an immediate food buff.

2. Place a Bonfire. Your first build target. Costs 5 wood. This becomes the center of your settlement and unlocks further building. Press B to open the build menu.

3. Build a Workbench. Costs 5 wood. Unlocks tool crafting: Stone Axe, Stone Pickaxe (3 wood + 3 stone each), and Bandages for healing.

4. Build a Shelter with a Bed. Costs 4 wood + 10 plant fiber. The bed acts as your respawn point on death.

5. Craft a Torn Sailcloth Bag. Increases your inventory capacity, which is critical for gathering runs.

6. Cook food. Build a Cooking Fire (3 wood + 3 stone). Food does not prevent starvation because there is no hunger bar. Instead, eating buffs your stats (basic foods for around 7 minutes, cooked recipes for up to 30 minutes). You can stack up to three different food and drink buffs at once (two food plus one drink). Always eat before combat.

Finding Copper

Copper ore is found inside caves (marked with cave icons on islands). Mine it with a Stone Pickaxe, then build a Charcoal Kiln (25 wood + 20 clay) to convert wood into charcoal, and a Smelting Furnace (15 clay + 30 stones) to smelt copper ore into ingots. Six copper ore plus one charcoal produces one copper ingot. Smelting copper unlocks important recipes including the Fast Travel Bell and a Lantern for hands-free lighting.

Clay

Clay patches appear as dark, cracked, muddy ground. Look between the Ancient Ruins and Copper Deposit areas on the starting island. Mine clay with a Stone Pickaxe. You need clay for both the Charcoal Kiln and Smelting Furnace, so gather plenty.

Early Combat Tips

• Lock on first. Press T to lock onto your target. Without it, your dodges and guard will not track the enemy correctly.

• Dodge > block. Dodging gives invincibility frames and repositions you. Block when you cannot dodge in time. Time your blocks for a Perfect Block (parry) to rapidly drain enemy guard.

• Pay attention to enemy wind-up animations. Most attacks are telegraphed.

• Keep a pistol as a secondary weapon for pulling individual enemies from groups.

• Avoid enemies two levels above your current level. Level 3 Sows (wild pigs) can one-shot unprepared players early on.

• Hunt Dodos for easy meat and avoid higher-level creatures until you have better armor.

• Upgrade your armor to at least 180 defense and stack food buffs before tough encounters.

Meeting Doctor Galen

After completing the initial survival steps, you will encounter Doctor Galen, the first major NPC. Speaking with him unlocks two main quests: "Rescuing the Crew" (finding and freeing your captured crewmates) and "I Need a Bigger Boat" (locating and repairing a larger ship on the second island). Complete Rescuing the Crew first, since you need a crew of seven people to repair the bigger ship.

Getting Your First Ship

Doctor Galen provides a small starter boat after you meet him. Once you have it, the game opens up significantly. You can press K to summon your ship to any shoreline, so you will never lose it. If your combat ship is destroyed, build a Wharf at your base and pay 20 wood to repair and salvage it, then press K to respawn it. See naval combat for how ship battles work.

Fast Travel

After smelting copper, you unlock the Fast Travel Bell recipe. Place one at your base and near dungeon entrances or resource-rich areas. You can warp between bells instantly or return home from your boat using the map interface. This saves enormous amounts of sailing time.

Comfort System

Placing decorations at your base increases your comfort level. Higher comfort raises your stamina bar and stamina recovery rate through a Well-Rested buff. Build one of every decoration subcategory for efficient comfort gains. The stamina boost is especially important before boss fights and long exploration runs.

Crafting Quality of Life

One thing that surprises most players: crafting stations pull from all storage at your base. You do not need to carry resources to the workbench. Just dump everything in chests and craft from the station. This is by design, not a bug. The Disassembly Bench recycles unwanted gear for 100% material recovery, so do not hesitate to break down equipment you have outgrown.

Upgrading Stations

Crafting stations have upgrade levels (Workbench 1, Workbench 2, etc.). Recipes unlock progressively as you gather new materials. Attachments like the Sawhorse and Toolbox can be placed within your bonfire radius to unlock higher-tier recipes at existing stations.

Co-op

The demo supports up to 4 players in self-hosted co-op. Dedicated servers are planned for Early Access. If you are playing with friends, coordinate who builds the base and who gathers. One person handling construction while others explore and fight makes the early game much smoother.

Key Controls

Key System Settings

• The game supports 12 languages including English, German, Russian, Simplified Chinese, French, Japanese, and Korean

• Minimum specs require a GTX 1080 Ti and 16 GB RAM, so this is not a lightweight game

• SSD is recommended for loading times

• If you get low FPS, lower shadow quality first, as it has the biggest performance impact