Sea Shanties

Sea shanties are one of the most praised features in Windrose. NPC crew members sing period-appropriate shanties while the ship is under sail, creating an atmospheric experience that is widely cited as a standout element of the game. The shanties were a major draw during the pre-launch campaign, when the game passed over 1.5 million wishlists. The Original Soundtrack, composed and arranged primarily with vocals by Sean Dagher, is available as a standalone DLC or as part of the Windrose Supporter Bundle.

How Shanties Work

Players can trigger sea shanties while sailing by activating them from the ship's helm. The NPC crew then sings the shanty together as the ship travels. Key details:

• Shanties are performed by NPC crew members, not the player character

• The player must be at the ship's helm to trigger a shanty

• Shanties play during peaceful sailing, not during active naval combat. The Steam store description says: "When the cannons go silent, claim your spoils and share a sea shanty with your crew as you sail onward."

• Deckhands also perform idle actions (heading below decks, sleeping in hammocks) that tie into the overall day-night ship routine

• Community members have requested the ability to listen to shanties while walking around the ship without being at the helm, suggesting this is a possible future feature

Known Shanties

The game launched with six core in-game shanties plus additional OST tracks featured in trailers, promotional materials, and on the Original Soundtrack DLC (full list in the OST Tracklist section below). All shanties used in the game are traditional songs arranged for Windrose, not newly composed pieces: These are all traditional, public-domain works arranged for the game rather than newly composed songs.

In-Game Shanties

Historically, each of these songs belonged to a specific shipboard job. Halyard shanties such as Blow the Man Down set the rhythm for hauling on a line in long pulls, pump shanties such as Whiskey Johnny paced the work of pumping out the bilge, and a capstan or windlass song kept a steady tread while raising the anchor. Drunken Sailor is the best known of the group and is the one most players recognize the moment the crew strikes it up.

Promotional and Trailer Songs

Composer and Production

All shanties in Windrose are produced entirely in-house, with no AI involvement: the developers have stated plainly that the shanties are made in house and do not use A.I. The vocals were recorded live by Sean Dagher, a professional folk singer and shantyman. The studio confirmed the live recording directly, describing him as an artist who sang every vocal tone for the launch build.

The music was composed and produced in-house by the studio's audio engineer, described as "a multi-instrumentalist and active live performer." Initially, a single vocalist (Dagher) sang all the vocal parts and harmonies. When asked if the trailer song was AI-generated, the developer responded: "No. But for now we have contracted only one singer, and he had to sing all the tones."

Because one performer recorded every harmony part for the launch build, the choir effect is really a single voice layered against itself, which is the reason some listeners asked for rougher, multi-voice backing. The studio has flagged additional vocal variety as a planned improvement during Early Access.

Community feedback after the demo requested "rougher backing vocals" for grittier variety with multiple voices rather than Dagher layered with himself. Kraken Express acknowledged this in the March 23, 2026 post-demo improvements post as one of the Quality of Life additions they aim to deliver during Early Access.

Official Soundtrack DLC

At the April 14, 2026 Early Access launch, the Original Soundtrack became available two ways:

The OST DLC gives owners a full audio library they can play outside the game. Sean Dagher's vocal work is the centerpiece, accompanied by the studio's arrangements of traditional shanty material and original incidental ship music.

Shanties of Crosswind (April 2025)

On April 4, 2025, the studio (then operating under its former name before the rename to Kraken Express) released the "Shanties of Crosswind" music video, featuring in-game footage captured with Unreal Engine 5 cinematics. The video showcased the shanties alongside visuals of ships, ocean, and weather systems, and helped generate early interest in the game.

Drunken Sailor Remaster

On February 23, 2026, alongside the announcement that Windrose had surpassed one million Steam wishlists, the team released a remastered "Drunken Sailor" trailer. The trailer featured updated gameplay visuals from the demo and became the game's official gameplay trailer during Steam Next Fest, where the demo became one of the most-played demos on Steam (22,000+ peak concurrent, top 20 demo of all time).

Community Reception

The sea shanties have been overwhelmingly praised:

• Many players who had grown tired of the 2021 sea-shanty trend say the in-game performances won them back over to shanties again.

• Community threads frequently single out the music as a highlight, calling the soundtrack a standout feature of the game.

• Fan demand for full-length versions led to the Rolling Home single being released on streaming platforms.

• Players have compiled and shared their own shanty playlists in community discussions.

• The shanties are frequently cited as the feature that first drew players to check out the game, and post-launch coverage has repeatedly praised them.

Criticism

A minority of community members have raised concerns about production quality. One player felt the single-vocalist recording sounded "overly edited," and another expressed preference for a cappella versions over instrumented arrangements, saying they "don't like the fake pipes and drums." One community member suggested recording with multiple vocalists "preferably off key" for greater immersion. These concerns remain minority viewpoints; the overwhelming reception has been positive, and the March 2026 developer statement on rougher backing vocals directly addressed some of this feedback.

Historical Context

Windrose's setting in the Age of Piracy era (early 18th century, around the c. 1716-1718 Blackbeard timeframe) predates the true golden age of sea shanties by about a century. Shanties as known today largely developed during the packet ship era of the 1820s to 1860s. The songs used in the game are anachronistic for the early-1700s pirate setting but fit the broader Age of Piracy fantasy Windrose is going for. Pirate crews of the late 17th and early 18th centuries sang, but their repertoire was different from the shanties later codified as "pirate music" in popular culture.

See Also

• NPC Crew how crew members behave on deck

• Ship Types ships you sail while shanties play

• Naval Combat when shanties pause and cannons take over

OST Tracklist

The full Windrose Original Soundtrack tracklist includes the following shanties, all performed by Sean Dagher:

• Drunken Sailor

• Rolling Down to Old Maui

• Rolling Home

• The British Tars

• Leave Her Johnny

• Blow the Man Down

• Bully in the Alley

• Good Morning Ladies

• Maggie May

• Whiskey Johnny

Each shanty has its own wiki article with detailed context, origin notes, and in-game trigger information.