Can you believe it’s been over a decade since Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag?
It’s a shame we have yet to see an AAA pirating game in that time. AAAA did take a shot with Skull & Bones, and while I enjoyed it (gave it an 80/100!), it wasn’t what people were expecting. Sea of Thieves’ rough launch was also off-putting for many.
As often the case with niche genres, we rely on the resilience and creativity of the indie gaming scene to raise the flag – and the Windrose Crew has done exactly that.
Windrose Early Access Review – It’s About Damn Time
Don’t be fooled by Windrose’s Early Access banner currently adorning its Steam page – this is as good as any full indie release on any platform today.
While simple in spots, needing some quality-of-life touches and a tad more fleshing out, I’ve never seen such solid foundations on which to build an Early Access game.
Windrose’s core gameplay loop will no doubt be familiar to survival players. Players will spend many of their early hours gathering resources and materials as they build a settlement, completing quests and upgrading gear along the way.
While fantastic toward its latter stages, Windrose’s building system can be frustrating to wrestle with early on; at least in a creative sense.
Exploration, quest, and reputation rewards in Windrose bless players with new buildings elements. That being said, its procedurally generated nature means that something specific – like a certain angled roof piece – could very well be a long ways off.
A highlight of Windrose’s overall base-building process is linked to how its fast travel system doesn’t punish those that spend hours on their first island.
A little settlement made in Windrose’s first hour, we still used that as our main settlement even 50 hours later.
Windrose allows players to construct up to 10 fast travel bells to be placed anywhere near water, unlocking immediate fast travel from any other bell or while aboard a ship.
You can have entire villages at each of these locations, or simply use them to access resources and materials not available on one’s home island.
Windrose really shines in the versatility of its character builds – especially for an Early Access game. Through the combination of food buffs, armor set bonuses, and select weapon choices, players can craft a wealth of unique and engaging combat builds.
Focusing primarily on Greatswords, I spent most of my points on Character Traits to increase critical hit chance, stamina, and survivability.
As my build neared completion, I was stacking healing and critical damage on perfect blocks, gaining buffs for defeating enemies, and launching widespread sword swings as I tackled large groups of foes a blast.
Needless to say, character builds are important in Windrose – this is not an easy game.
On that note, playing Windrose on the recommended difficulty as a solo player will be challenging for even the most seasoned of survival players.
Adding friends to Windrose’s co-op mix is hugely beneficial, as having an extra sword or musket in a fight has clear benefits. However, this also allows players to double up on many rewards, proving that co-op play is a huge focus for the title.
Character progress in Windrose is based on the character rather than the server, so players can swap between games without losing progress.
Rewards in Windrose – including those as big as ships – are provided to all players upon quest completion, allowing groups to form small armadas even early in the game.
While each person taking a ship is obviously the best idea when tackling Blackbeard’s pirates, it’s not the only option. Windrose allows players to share ships, and although functionality is currently quite basic, they can interact with one another.
You can pilot other players’ boats, you can man the guns and fire while another steers – you can even throw your line over the bow and do some fishing while your captain plots the course.
Get ambushed by pirates in the process? No worries – simply summon your ship and hop aboard.
Even boarding enemy ships in Windrose can be done by multiple players. Only one ship may “officially board,” but nothing stops other players from jumping aboard and helping take down the enemy crew.
That being said, boarding combat in Windrose is a bit rough. Cannons, rigging, multiple enemies running up a small set of stairs – it’s very easy to die due to getting stuck or not being able to dodge properly.
However, as the only real issue lies with naval combat speaks, it speaks volumes for Windrose’s overall quality.
Windrose is definitely a survival-lite experience when it comes to traditional survival games. Food, while vital for surviving combat, is not a required resource to literally stay alive.
No need to run to the ocean every 10 minutes to fill up a hydration bar.
The true challenge with survival in Windrose comes with the combat system – and it is gloriously brutal.
Characters in Windrose – both friendly and enemy – use a Posture system that represents how many times a character can block attacks before succumbing to exhaustion.
…and likely get smashed in the face several times as a result.
The magic of Windrose’s combat comes in a player’s ability to hit the Perfect Block: a timed block that preserves the character’s Posture while reducing one’s opponent’s.
Put simply, Windrose features as satisfying a combat system can get in an Early Access release of an indie game.
While tough to start when learning the timing and attack patterns of different enemies, the end result of becoming an almost unstoppable force against crowds of up to five enemies is worth every scratch and bruise along the way.
The thought of dying to single enemies even toward the end of the game won’t appeal to everyone, but Windrose features incredibly accessible difficulty settings. With three main difficulty settings, each one can also be tweaked even further to reduce difficulty.
I played Windrose on various difficulty options, customizing each one. Regardless of survival or combat experience, I can confidently say that Windrose is accessible to all players.
That being said, playtime in Windrose will vary massively depending on one’s play style.
Our team played through Windrose’s entire story in co-op. Finishing most of its content – including maxing out our gear and building all the stock ships – clocked us at approximately 50 hours.
You can probably halve that playing on easier difficulty settings, or alternatively add up to 20 hours playing solo. Either way, the sheer amount of content in Windrose in Early Access easily matches the level of content and quality as full releases on the market today.
For an Early Access release, Windrose is incredible with zero technical problems. Not only are the foundations across every system and mechanic rock solid, Windrose is already feature-filled with ideas often months – or years! – away from their Early Access launch.
While it will earn an official final score once fully released, Windrose comes out of the Early Access gate strong with an easy 85/100.
Windrose Early Access Review
Reviewed On: PC (A digital code was provided)
Release Date: April 14, 2026
MSRP: $29.99
Platforms: PC
Developer: Windrose Crew
Publisher: Windrose Crew
Aggregate Scores: Metacritic
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