New pirate game Windrose sails on Early Access!

I have been looking for a new pirate game for a long time now. My taste for sailing and ship battles came from Art of War at Sea during my DOS days, the 2003 Pirates of the Caribbean by Bethesda, and the 2004 Sid Meier’s Pirates. Only a few people know that I like pirate themed games. So I’m stoked with the Windrose Early Access.

The new pirate themed game Windrose is now available on Early Access at Epic and Steam! The game has ship battles with a swashbuckling adventure and base building over multiple procedural islands. Players will need to explore different islands to gather resources and gain exp.

I don’t mind that the early access is available now. It was my choice to buy it in this early. The fundamental gameplay and features make it playable. At least to understand the premise. I was able to grasp the building mechanic within the first few hours. And Windrose is one of those games that made me still think about it in bed.

Set sail for glory!

The existing ship management tool looks simple. You can transfer items on the fly from your character to your flagship anywhere on the map except for assigning ship equipment. There can only be one flagship that can spawned on the nearest coast. However, you can have other ships and they will be listed under ship management too.

Players can have multiple ships at the same time, and can spawn them near the base or close to the shore. But you will need to build a wharf to recall ships from anywhere on the map. You can also interact and sail on the other ship despite having a different flagship. Most of the time your unused ships will be anchored.

There will also be floating loot highlighted on the sea which you can loot. The loot varies from drifting wood to provisions that you can sell for piastre. I also noticed that sailing can take much of your time in the game.

The base building looks promising

There is apparently no build limit in the game with no cap to bonfires and the height limit looks loose. For example, placing torches inside a dark cave. Windrose build mechanics do not feel restricted. Perhaps only restricted under your imagination. But building takes some practice as expected between toggling building and demolishing.

Yet I’m most impressed that there is no cap on bonfires. Which means you can build any number of camps on the map. Build a small bonfire camp, or an estate farm, or a series walled ports on the shore. However there is a limit to building a max of 10 fast-travel bells.

A helpful tip would be to keep the last fast-travel bell in your inventory in case you need to deploy it on a remote island. And you can build a fast travel bell by itself as long as it’s close to shore. The other limitation is that there is currently no fast-travel between camps like Pockepair’s other game in Palworld.

Resources determine your progress

Resource gathering doesn’t feel like a grind at the start of the game. There are plenty of resources around and early structures aren’t demanding. I find some survival games fail at this point which would make no sense.

You’ll start with nothing, but there will be enough around the first island to get you started and beyond. Windrose encourages players on why they need to produce a surplus of resource instead. And to explore more.

Some resources respawn in the game– as expected? I was curious about the copper mine after mining. I discovered that the copper veins do respawn after I returned. A copper chunk respawn and blocked the torch I placed. It may be after a few in-game days.

Although trees do not respawn. It’s funny, I know. Your character collects seeds anyway but that wouldn’t be sustainable enough early on. So you will resort to other methods such as sailing the seas for wood.

As you progress later in the game, so also your need to look for higher tier resources. For example, sulfur for gunpowder. Instead players will need to raid Blackbeard camps for gunpowder and raid them again after they respawn.

There’s adventure from the random map

The map and POIs are procedurally generated. You can also create markers and name markers on your map. Like marking clay deposits or where to find bananas. Being able to add text markers is a helpful feature. You can also place markers where it stays static on the radar so it acts like a pinned waypoint.

However, this adds a layer of planning on where to build bases. One must explore the island first before building a base – one near a copper mine for example. Or building a camp where you can raid Blackbeard camps.

Beautiful Weather we’re having!

Windrose absolutely nailed one thing from the get-go and it’s the dynamic weather! Weather is a missing piece in its older peer game of Palworld and I’m still wishing for Pocketpair to add it. Yet Windrose has an immersive weather: of course there’s night and day; there’s sunshine, and rain– and storms too!

There was a stormy night while I was sailing and the picture felt a little terrifying. Fortunately I didn’t see any damage register on my ship. Although during one storm back in camp, I saw the grass sway and bend along gusty winds and saw a few flashes of lightning. So there’s a distinction between a rainy weather and a storm.

Not to mention there’s a difference to the sound of rain when outside and inside a structure. I just stayed in my wooden shanty during one rainy night. It’s a nice ASMR.

Windrose is a gorgeous looking game with an immersive ambiance. It’s easy to feel immersed in your base with the waves splashing on the shore during a sunny day. Or when you see and hear the storm passing through your base. The soft golden sunlight signals a new day of adventure. Or the orange sunset heralds to come home. Then there’s also the sound of wind picking up which may be a storm and the time to find shelter.

Named NPCs can live in your camps

There are a few named NPCs that you can recruit who will then be able to work in your camps. I won’t spoil it but there are really only a few of these Named NPCs. Thought it’s funny that your ship crew stays only in the ship.

You can easily settle named NPCs between camps using the bonfire. Each named NPC has their own profession, such as Dr. Galen handing out potions every couple of in-game days. And if you do have multiple settlements, these will feel empty fast if you don’t have guests or workers. For example, building a large fort with no one in a solo playthrough. I expect more named NPCs will be added later.

There’s a learning curve to land and ship battles

Land battles will be initially challenging. But it can be summed up to timing enemy attacks. Your character does not have a lot of HP as well as a solid equipment. So fighting will depend on mastering dodge and parrying. Players can definitely do a run and gun, or dodge and strike playstyle. But this is difficult when there’s not much space for dodging such as the deck on a ship. Parrying in Windrose gives players more advantage as these blocks as these can stagger the enemy and leave them wide open.

Ship battles are challenging in a visual way. That is judging the height of the volley of your cannons to ensure that it hits the enemy ship. It can be summed up to figuring out the volley, the angle, and speed of the enemy ship before shooting your cannons. Then there’s also learning to finesse your ship to fire cannons with on your port, bow, and starboard while one side reloads.

Players will need to invest in upgrading their equipment and ship to defeat enemies even at the early stages of the playthrough. Enemies have high damage. Which is bad for any low level and low HP character. Enemy ships also tend to sail in groups – rarely by itself. But be sure to raid when you spot a lone enemy hauler.

Ship boarding is currently fair. But I wouldn’t be too eager for it. Frankly I was disappointed about one thing in ship boarding. In addition, There were times when I was so frustrated during a ship battle that I made a list what to improve in Windrose.

The Verdict

It’s certainly not a bad thing to wait until the game progresses to later versions.

I can list some things that need to be improved in Windrose. And one thing that kind of disappointed me with ship boarding. Honestly, I would recommend getting the demo first. But realistically, I would wait for the game to hit to later version 0.2 or version 0.3 even. As mentioned, the game has laid out its foundational features but that may not be enough for long session for some players.