Last year in November I did a piece about pirate games where I said that they are scarce and I really struggled to find good ones. In a million years I wouldn’t have guessed that six months later I would be playing my new favorite pirate game, Windrose. It’s all thanks to Kraken Express and their efforts in creating a game that we all could enjoy. 

Windrose is an open world RPG/Sandbox pirate game that was released in early access on 14th April 2026 on Steam.  

Unfortunately I was deep into my Crimson Desert playthrough to even notice it when it was released but I’m happy to report that I eventually did (a week later) and I got it immediately. I couldn’t stop playing it for the first few days. Now, I know that I kinda spoiled it by calling it the best and my favorite pirate game but it still has a lot of room for improvement and I have a lot to say about my whole experience. So strap in because here we go:  

This the PC that I’ve tested Windrose on:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D 

GPU: Nvidia RTX 5080 

SSD: Kingston SNV3S2000G 2TB 

RAM: Kingston 32GB 

MBD: Gigabyte GA-B650 EAGLE AX

The Story

Most sandbox explorers nowadays just throw you into a random place and you grind from there with little to no story at all. Luckily, that’s not the case with Windrose. 

The infamous Edward Teach aka Blackbeard is the ruler of the seas. It’s rumored that he struck a deal with the Devil himself. The story begins when his goons attack and destroy your ship in search of some sort of artifact. 

From that point you end up on a deserted island where you have to rebuild, get revenge and help other friendly pirates. It’s safe to say that you’ll have your hands full for a while. They even promised to expand the story at least 50% more once the game is fully released. 

The Gameplay

Windrose is a pirate PVE-oriented sandbox game, mostly similar to Valheim. I had a sort of love/hate/toxic relationship with it at the beginning, mostly because I underestimated my willingness to suffer (more on that later).

The character creation options are on the basic side, especially when it comes to tattoos — my best assumption is that they’ll add more later on. Nonetheless, I managed to create a roguishly handsome pirate named Bartholomew. Soon to be a pirate king, I’m sure.

Anyway, moving past that, my biggest regret was setting the difficulty too high. Mainly because whenever I tried to hunt or fight an enemy, I would get pulverized in seconds — all my stuff left behind next to enemies that could one-shot me. For the first couple of hours I was stuck in a loop of running up to an enemy, hitting once, and dying. Eventually, for my own sanity, I decided to lower the difficulty, and my enjoyment of the game increased exponentially. Fights became more manageable and sinking other ships was actually possible.

As for gathering materials, they’re spread across different islands. Finding and collecting them takes a little effort, but it becomes straightforward once you know where to look. I’ve already got a bunch of various materials stocked up at my base — the main problem is remembering which chest I stored them in. I need a dedicated worker just for that.

Speaking of which, there are people scattered across the map who can be hired for a price to “work” for you. Once hired, they’ll spawn at your base and grant certain perks related to their job. My advice: hire them as soon as you have the cash, because they’ll speed up progression noticeably and reduce the amount of grinding needed for upgrades.

The one thing that sort of bothered me was traveling longer distances by ship. I understand it’s meant to feel “realistic” and is part of the experience, but at some point it becomes a snoozefest — especially for someone with limited time in front of a PC. Luckily, I later developed a fast travel system to get more easily from point A to point B. The way I do it is to always carry at least one bell with me, and whenever I visit a new island, I set up a fast travel point just in case. Once I’m done with an island, I dismantle it and get my bell back. And if I’m short on time, there’s a potion that teleports you straight back to base.

Graphics and Audio

As for the looks of the game, there’s nothing to write home about. It is a standard looking early-access sandbox game. Animations are working for the most part, but they for sure could use some polishing. I didn’t have any issues, though. They’ve really done good work for this stage of development. 

Sound effects are standard but what stands out to me are sea shanties. It’s a surprising addition to the game that I didn’t see coming. As you already know, voyages in Windrose can be lengthy and most of the time I ended up singing along the crew.

Conclusion

Just like I’ve stated multiple times already, Windrose might be one of the best pirate games available and it’s far from being finished. If they continue with the support and deliver on what they promised, it’s shaping up to be the best pirate game. What are your thoughts on Windrose? Were you struggling as much as I was?