Although there’s a lot of anticipation surrounding the upcoming remake of Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, another pirate game is already taking Steam by storm. Kraken Express launched Windrose into Steam Early Access on April 14, and it has already attracted nearly 200,000 players this weekend.
At the time of publication, Windrose has hit an all-time concurrent player count peak of 200,162 and is trending upward, according to data from SteamDB. It’s currently the sixth most-played game on Steam, only behind heavy hitters like Counter-Strike 2, PUBG, Dota 2, Slay the Spire 2, and Apex Legends. The game sits at a Very Positive rating on Steam despite some server issues, so players really like it.
Windrose, which was featured in the Triple-i Initiative showcase earlier this month, is a survival-crafting game in the vein of Valheim. The game starts with the same stone-and-wood-gathering gameplay loop as many survival games, but eventually embraces its pirate fantasy setting to let players build their own pirate ships and sail the high seas. There’s no PvP support in the game currently, but it does support co-op for those who want to establish their own pirate crew on a private server.
I’ve been playing Windrose since launch have enjoyed my time with it. Although this is not the most innovative survival game, it shows just how much a unique setting and clear aesthetic can help a game stand out. Outside of Black Flag and Sea of Thieves, we don’t get many games that scratch that pirate itch, and Windrose does. Something about the rags-to-riches trajectory that the survival-crafting genre often puts players on is also a snug fit for a game about pirates. Its success bodes well for Black Flag’s remake, even though that game is a very different single-player-focused adventure.
Kraken Express expects Windrose to remain a Steam Early Access game for up to two-and-a-half years. It received an update on Sunday to address the server stability issues that have plagued the game since launch.
