The team at Kraken Express has revealed how Windrose, the open-world pirate survival game, has managed to hit half a million players in just two days of early access. The game dropped on April 14, emerging to strong reviews on account of all the meat on the game’s bones, the charming visuals, and the massive open-world environment ripe for exploration.
Windrose was onto something solid in the earliest days of its playtests, and the recent demo that went live during Steam Next Fest was one of the most popular on the entire platform.
Windrose Sets Sail and Dominates the Seas
The pirating space has been dipped into aplenty over the years, with games like Black Flag, Sea of Thieves, Greedfall, and Skull & Bones all offering their take on an open-ocean, pirate theme. Windrose has taken the concept and turned it into a PvE survival title with heaps of customization, construction, and intense combat sequences.
Windrose, formerly known as Crosswind, gives players a vast world to dig into right out of the gate. Players are thrown into the deep end after suffering a shipwreck, and it’s up to them to rebuild their pirating empire, starting with little more than sticks and stones.
Before long, you’ll find yourself at the helm of a hulking ship, mastering a crew, outposts, and troubling anyone who challenges you on the open seas. There isn’t any PvP in Windrose yet, but it’s early days, so watch this space.
In a post on social media, Kraken Express revealed that a whopping half a million players have entered Windrose in just two days of early access:
What makes this more impressive is that Windrose isn’t just another free-to-play survival title. It has a fairly decent price tag of around $26.99, which means Kraken Express has already made bank. The studio, backed by Pocketpair Publishing, hasn’t made anything as a collective before Windrose, making the success even more admirable.
On Steam, Windrose has managed to generate a peak concurrent player count of more than 97,000 users, and the slew of reviews stitched together by users is reflecting in 85% positivity, which is nuts for a brand-new title in the early access space.
Have you played Windrose? Let us know if you’re enjoying it on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
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Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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