Why Windrose borrows from the competition – and still stands out

Gunsmoke, brutal close-quarters combat on deck, mysterious palm-lined beaches and the open ocean – the pirate genre has always fascinated me. And judging by the success of major franchises like Pirates of the Caribbean and One Piece, I am certainly not alone in that. All the more surprising, then, that pirate games remain relatively rare.

In many ways, the genre had already made its breakthrough years ago. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, released in 2013, drew tens of thousands of players into the virtual Caribbean, and Sea of Thieves, which arrived roughly five years later, remains hugely popular to this day. Beyond that, however, the genre has been largely quiet in recent years despite the setting’s obvious appeal. It was not until 2024 that the next major pirate title, Skull and Bones, arrived – and crashed spectacularly. Windrose, which entered Early Access on April 14, is now giving pirate fans reason to hope again.

Windrose borrows heavily – but still charts its own course

With Windrose, the Uzbek studio Kraken Express has clearly taken cues from the competition. The most obvious point of reference is Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. Even back then, naval combat was one of that game’s greatest strengths, and Windrose adopts many of those same qualities, including sea shanties. At the same time, Kraken Express takes a different path by tying those sea battles much more closely to survival systems. Rather than simply setting sail in a fixed story-driven ship, players in Windrose can equip and customize different types of vessels.

A second major source of inspiration is the survival hit Valheim. The world is divided into multiple biomes, each culminating in a boss fight. Once that especially powerful enemy is defeated, the way opens to the next region, complete with new enemies, resources and better equipment. Windrose, however, combines this sandbox structure with a quest and reputation system. Across the procedurally generated world, players encounter factions whose merchants offer blueprints for better armor, more impressive bases and more powerful ships – provided the required reputation level has been reached. There are also side quests and a main storyline which, while narratively far from groundbreaking, still gives players a clear throughline as they move through the world.

Not an MMO after all

Windrose was originally announced under the name Crosswind and was meant to be an MMO with a free-to-play model. Fortunately, that never happened. In my view, typical MMO elements such as grind and overly complex progression systems would only have slowed the game down unnecessarily – not to mention the likely presence of an in-game shop. Instead, Windrose has become a pleasantly streamlined survival experience that brings together some of the greatest strengths of the genre’s biggest heavyweights while doing away entirely with annoying microtransactions.