Enshrouded
Enshrouded
Game
Game2026
Windrose
Developer Kraken Express
Windrose is an upcoming survival video game developed by Kraken Express and published by Pocketpair. It was released in early access on April 14, 2026. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
652 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Nov 5, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
69
Fresh
343 positive · 152 negative
95% range 65–73%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 343 | 152 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 56 | 1 | 64 |
| Lemmy * | 3 | 2 | 20 |
| Mastodon * | 3 | 0 | 8 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
28,024 of 31,814 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
68% recommend · 206 yes, 99 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 305 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (46,158 of 53,277 positive).
Players praise Windrose as a pirate survival game that blends Valheim and Sea of Thieves. [1][2][3] Some reviewers criticize the game for excessive SSD writes and balancing issues. [4][5][6] Several players note the game respects player time with no item durability and streamlined crafting. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [4]
Game is good, except for balancing at the start. I now completed and collected everything there is. But this is not the reason for a thumbs down. UPDATE: The following is likely not true anymore because this was fixed. I personally cannot test this right now though, but people in the comments do. UPDATE 2: It seems the writes are still pretty high as reported from other sources. The game currently generates 50-60GB …
- [5]
DO NOT PLAY UNTIL THE FIX THE READ/WRITE ISSUE ON SSD. Normal games read/write about 1-2 MB/s on an SSD this game was doing 100+. They "fixed it" by bringing that down to like 20-30. I loved the gameplay but with SSD's costing 2.5x more than what they did in 2025 NO ONE wants to buy another to burn through it 20x faster than average. If they don't fix it, I'm gonna get a TINY SSD (<256GB) that this game can destroy …
- [11]
TL;DR: If you like building, exploration, and you’ve been looking for a pirate survival game that actually delivers - just buy it. You won’t regret it, even at current early access state. Details: Build bases, scavenge resources, and pick fights you might not win (especially if you’re trying to avoid killing dodos). And of course, step up as a captain: craft your own ship, upgrade it, load up the cannons, and take …
- [1]
Simply put * Gameplay is like Valheim. * Mechanics are like Sea of Thieves. * Runs about as stable as Enshrouded. * Costs about the same as a family pizza.
- [3]
This game is what "Skull and Bones" should have been. The most fantastic pirate experience since AC4 Black Flag and a good example how early access should be done! Well optimized, almost no bugs, well balanced for multiplayer and singleplayer... just a good project, that will get even better in the future. A must buy for fans of Black Flag and/or Valheim!
Summarised from 34 of the 448 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 11, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
68% of the 305 Steam reviewers we collected recommend Windrose. The complaint that keeps coming up: excessive SSD writes can wear out drives. Deal-breaker or nitpick?
Reactions
60 of 652 · most liked firstADD PAUSE BUTTON IN SOLO MODE FOR DADS PLEASE. Finally a pirate game you can enjoy solo. Nice environment Combat is good Controls & building 10/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game is good, except for balancing at the start. I now completed and collected everything there is. But this is not the reason for a thumbs down. UPDATE: The following is likely not true anymore because this was fixed. I personally cannot test this right now though, but people in the comments do. UPDATE 2: It seems the writes are still pretty high as reported from other sources. The game currently generates 50-60GB of save game writes to disk per hour (checked with a program called…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TL;DR: If you like building, exploration, and you’ve been looking for a pirate survival game that actually delivers - just buy it. You won’t regret it, even at current early access state. Details: Build bases, scavenge resources, and pick fights you might not win (especially if you’re trying to avoid killing dodos). And of course, step up as a captain: craft your own ship, upgrade it, load up the cannons, and take the fight to the sea to prove who really runs these waters. The hook is how…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Tired of losing all your hard earned stuff to sweaty jobless cheaters? You have arrived.... finally a game that is actually fun and gives you the freedom to explore, create and progress as you play with your friends and not be worried about your game being ruined by other players.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good game? Yes. Fun game? Not really. Could it become fun? Maybe. Will it get there? We’ll see. It feels like a game with a strong foundation, but the actual moment-to-moment experience is weirdly tiring. The pacing is off, the interactions can feel awkward, and almost everything in the world wants to kill you except the three factions you barely ever see. That creates constant tension, but not the fun kind. More the kind that makes you feel like the game is always leaning over your shoulder,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have been wanting a new pirate game for a long time. We all know (I'm pretty sure) Assassin's Creed Black Flag. I'm also pretty sure we all know the disastrous failure that Atlas was or better yet, in recent years - Skull and Bones was. No game even compared to Black Flag at all and I was worried no game would ever come close again. Windrose started as a PVP pirate game. I did not want it because of that fact. I actually ignored this title because PVP is littered with cheaters and sweats…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →DO NOT PLAY UNTIL THE FIX THE READ/WRITE ISSUE ON SSD. Normal games read/write about 1-2 MB/s on an SSD this game was doing 100+. They "fixed it" by bringing that down to like 20-30. I loved the gameplay but with SSD's costing 2.5x more than what they did in 2025 NO ONE wants to buy another to burn through it 20x faster than average. If they don't fix it, I'm gonna get a TINY SSD (<256GB) that this game can destroy and not ruin my main 4TB SSD. If they fix this issue to at least less…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Got gored by a boar. Got pecked to death by a dodo. Got skewered by a pirate. Got puked on by some undead horror. Fell off the top of a tall ruin and died because I ran out of food buff. Built my own little pirate town, got my own ship, sunk some of Blackbeard's fleet and plundered their booty. Check. I am having a wonderful time with this game!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Amazing game, I've been having tons of fun playing with friends and I'm absolutely loving the crafting systems and very thoughtful QoL this game decided to include early on. Here are some criticisms coming from a place of love since I will absolutely keep playing and attempt to create mods for it going forward. - Character's progression is very overdesigned and detached from the actual gameplay. 90% of what you do in the game does not reward you with experience or contribute in any way in your…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This review isn't going to add to the glazed hype, but rather focus on what I think can turn this game into something super special. Let's start with the good. - For a small dev team, they created one off the most immersive "worlds" to be a pirate in. The wind, waves, music and boating is all really well presented. It generally *looks* and runs stunningly. - Crafting is nicely streamlined when compared to other survival games, which I personally appreciate. An example is not needing to take a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →From a technical standpoint, Windrose is very, very good. The game runs like a dream, looks nice. The multiplayer just works. The server/world hosting options are pretty robust. I didn't run into any bugs in my time playing the game. For early access, this is all pretty impressive! The building systems are solid, crafting is alright, and it's pretty competent in all those categories. On the other side: I just don't think it's that fun from a design perspective: The ship combat is okay,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Simply put * Gameplay is like Valheim. * Mechanics are like Sea of Thieves. * Runs about as stable as Enshrouded. * Costs about the same as a family pizza.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →FINALY a worthy and well made Pirate game with survival elements! Watch and learn UBISOFT, watch and learn.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A little Valheim and a little Enshrouded (and maybe a little Soulmask/Conan with npc hirelings) - with plenty of its own identity - all wrapped in a gorgeous pirate flag =) When you get your first ship and your crew starts singing shanties... *chefs kiss* =) If you're a fan of survival games like those previously mentioned - you'll find yourself right at home here. If you're also a fan of the age of piracy - well, then you're simply going to adore it!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is what "Skull and Bones" should have been. The most fantastic pirate experience since AC4 Black Flag and a good example how early access should be done! Well optimized, almost no bugs, well balanced for multiplayer and singleplayer... just a good project, that will get even better in the future. A must buy for fans of Black Flag and/or Valheim!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I feel guilty leaving a negative review, as Windrose suffers from the same thing Valheim and most other PvE survival games did when they first come out. They're pretty good, fun and captivating at first, until you realize how boring, unoptimized, and bad some of the mechanics and systems are. Huge, open world meant for exploring, but relatively shallow in the quality of content you're able to do. It kind of reminds me of Elite Dangerous in a way. The levelling system could use an overhaul.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The one, the only, the true AAAA pirate game. Skull and Bones crying at what could have been.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's refreshing to play a survival game that actually respects your time. Many survival games make you chop trees and smash rocks for hours and pretend it makes it 'challenging' instead of a just a chore you have to do to get to the actual gameplay. Windrose strikes a really great balance where resources feel scarce enough that you have to go search for them but they are still abundant enough that you don't feel like you are wasting your precious resources crafting essential equipment. This is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Right, I'm not a pro review writer so I'm just going to tell you what I like about this game. +no item durability (what a pain in the ass in survival games) +no inventory weight limit, only x amount of slots +gathering takes some time but isn't quite as ludicrous as in some other games like it (looking at you, Conan Exiles), and you can eventually start buying resources - not all, but most +it's gorgeous to look at - the environments are beautiful and well crafted +combat is challenging but not…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Best Pirate Coop Game we've ever gotten. Maybe 60% of what Blackflag is but with Coop. Pretty much Velhiem but as Pirates which is epic! A Must play for anyone with a group that played Ark, Velhiem, minecraft... It needs Sharks, Water Monsters, Kraken, More Fishing, Whaling, Ways to Sell your silver, gold, fish.. More NPC and non military life fishing boat NPCs NPCs that can do task. IT make healing with 60% of supplies until stopped Sort chest in campfire area... NPCs should be able to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Windrose is one of those games where I stopped thinking after an hour and just kept playing. On paper it sounds like every other survival title, crafting, building, multiplayer. But the moment you're boarding an enemy ship and then ten minutes later you're exploring a dungeon on shore, something clicks. It doesn't feel like two half-finished games stitched together. The ship actually feels like progression, not just a vehicle you assemble on the side. With up to eight players in co-op that…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've played a lot of PvE games but this one takes the cake. I love the small changes that better player life: crafted items don't break after many use. One player in a squad just needs to rest to change the time to day. Each person gets their own set of rewards rather than first come first serve type things. Amazing so far
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After the intitial hype, 70 hrs playtime and most frustrating experience yesterday, I feel like i can give my take on this game in its current state. I would not describe this as a pirate game, but an Open World Survivalcraft game with a pirate-ish setting. What do I mean by that? The usual perception of pirates is not bulding a home/base, fight wildlife and fantasy creatures most of the time, collect tons of resources and fight exclusively other pirates at sea. You will grind resources for…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →CAVEATS FOR PURCHASE RECOMMENDATION** -I would NOT recommend purchasing this before its 1.0 release -I would NOT recommend this game if you are not a fan of "Souls-Like" style punishment -I would NOT recommend this game if you have limited time -I would NOT recommend this game if you are looking for a solo-play experience ----------------- With those comments in mind, this is a very well-crafted base-builder/pirate simulation style game. Ship mechanics are great, it's absolutely beautiful,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Rum, Beer, Quests, and Mead, these are the things that a pirate needs. Thoughts so far... - Runs Smoothly, - No Crashes, - Early progression is fun. - Dodo's can do one. big feathery bastards - The only issue I've encountered is the game failing to close fully on exit. (No Longer Occuring) - I love that they've already added the ability to fire the cannons on other ships, had a blast with the dudes. Would like to see... - Ability to climb into the crows nest, might be an option on other ships…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game has a lot of potential, however it feels like they intended it to be mainly co-op as single player is a massive drag. Id be happy to change my review to positive once some things are ironed out. but there are some core issues as follows... - The amount of resources/farming needed feels kinda excessive with the yield you get. And the inventory space/options compared to the amount of different materials and items clog this up quickly. - XP being earned only in non-repeatable…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very good Survival game that is a mix of Valheim, Enshrouded and for me in some ways the Risen and Gothic games. The basebuilding is top notch like Valheim, Enshrouded, Dune and Minecraft. The combat reminds me most of Risen/Gothic games and Enshrouded. The progression as far as biomes goes reminds me most of Valheim as you slowly get to new Biomes/areas. While the prosgression for your character reminds me most of Enshrouded and Risen/Gothic. The game world is well done, exploring and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Windrose is a simple but genuinely fun pirate survival game. The building mechanics are easy to understand and enjoyable, and there is a nice satisfaction in slowly expanding and improving your base. That said, the resource management can get tedious. The game really needs better quality of life features, especially a way to track how much of each material you still need for crafting or building. By the time I reached the endgame, though, most of that became less important. The ship…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →WINDROSE Review — A Pirate Survival Game That Has the Look, But Not the Hook Rating: 6/10 WINDROSE is not a bad game. In fact, I think the core idea is strong. A pirate survival game is something a lot of people have wanted for a long time, especially with how starved the pirate genre has been since games like Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and Sid Meier’s Pirates! gave players that fantasy of sailing, raiding, fighting, and carving out a name on the open sea. But after trying WINDROSE, my…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I loved the demo and couldn’t wait for the game to be released. It’s far superior to the ‘game’ made by Ubislop. I’m really looking forward to seeing the direction this game takes, because it seems to have a very promising future. Fair winds and following seas, fellow pirates!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TONIGHT AT 8:30PM ET! @spencerwan.bsky.social is joining us to become PIRATES in WINDROSE! When we tried this game originally off-stream we got murdered repeatedly by hogs so it should be a good time!!! twitch.tv/secretsleepoversociety
neutral · AI labelView post →The game feels surprisingly really good. My only complaint is the toolbar UI at the bottom that is standard with every Build/Craft/Survive genre game. It’s functional but it always makes a game feel generic and less immersive. Palworld is a great example of an improvement on the Build/Craft/Survive game UI.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I went into Windrose hoping for "Valheim with pirates," and honestly... that's pretty much what I got. But it also has its own personality, which surprised me. The sailing is easily my favorite part. Exploring new islands scratches that same itch Valheim does where you keep saying, "Okay, one more trip," and suddenly it's three hours later. My friends and I are constantly getting sidetracked because we spotted another island, found a treasure map, or picked a fight we definitely weren't ready…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Survival games are my heaven. I don't usually lose interest in them so quickly. I have no complaints about the prospect of the game, the mechanics it employs, or the current state of it. I have complaints about what the current design indicates about the end concept being worked toward. A simple revenge story, as far as I can tell. There is some depth lacking, and some creative freedom, but it is still a good ride if you enjoy the actual story behind the quests you are given. If you do not…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Important to know: as of today, this game is known to burn though SSDs right now until fixed. roughly 50-60gb of written data per playtime-hour. Real review: It is fun until you have a little breakdown caused by any of the EA stuff, like shipcannons not hitting, extreme balancing problems, very frustrating enemy ship spawns or even that the targeting in naval does barely works at all. dont get me wrong, if you have a run, you re having a blast. but once you look behind that romantic pirate…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My wife and I just finished conquering everything this early access game currently offers, and let me tell you, nothing bonds a marriage like getting absolutely obliterated by Dodos. These things hit like they’ve been training at CrossFit Pirate Bay. Normal mode? Yeah, “Normal.” Sure. In the beginning we were basically two underdressed tourists being mugged by prehistoric chickens. But once you start finding gear you actually care about and upgrading it, suddenly you go from “Please don’t…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I confess. It is my intention to commandeer one of these ships, pick up a crew in Tortuga, raid, pillage, plunder and otherwise pilfer my weasely black guts out!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Suck it Ubisoft. This game has just entered EA and is already a better game then Skull & Bones EVER will be without even trying. Sure some things need work but this game already feels very polished and nice. I can't wait to see where the wind blows this game from here.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pirate Serennedy doodles, Windrose is such a good game #serennedy
positive · AI labelView post →Such a impressionable age it is. Now playing [Windrose - Together We Rise](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdHpktve7xc)
neutral · AI labelView post →Things I expected from a pirate game: - Rum - Treasure - Sea shanties - Boarding enemy ships Things I actually did in this pirate game: - Died to a chicken - Died to a pig - Died to a goat (in a cave???) - Died to 3 pigs AND a chicken at the same time - Cried - Crafted wooden stick - Died to same pig - Unlocked musket - Committed genocide against the pig species In summary: I came for Blackbeard, I stayed for revenge against livestock. Blackbeard can wait. The boars eat first. Growth is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Solo Players beware. Wanted to enjoy this game so much. i've put many hours into it and I cant do it anymore, the combat is so hard its borderline impossible and takes all the fun out of the game. if you come across more than one enemy which you have to all the time for main quests, then have fun respawning and traveling back there 30 times as 2 hits and you're dead, yet they take 10 hits each. lets not forget the enemys with guns that one shot you from 100ft away while you're fighting…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Windrose thought: I realize the genre-convention for 'crafting' (really, 'base building') games are pretty set, but I am a little surprised that they applied the standard voxel-base-building model to your base on land, but there is almost no customization at all for your ship. In a pirate game.
neutral · AI labelView post →Fun game for a bit. Gameplay loop is very repetitive. Building is great. Combat is decent. Naval combat doesn't take much skill. Impossible fights become a breeze with 1 or 2 ship upgrades which make it boring overall. Copy pasta POIs. GAME HAS NOT HAD ANY CONTENT ADDED SINCE EA LAUNCH! DEVS THOUGHT IT'D BE A BETTER USE OF TIME TO SELL MERCH EVEN THOUGH THEY MADE A FORTUNE OF THE INITIAL HYPE! I can't recommend a game that will happily take your money to help their game but then seem to drop…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Non-ship based combat is horrible. Animation locks on attacks leave you too open to getting hit by an enemy and most points of interest mean multiple enemies per pull. Any hit leaves you temporarily stunned with seemingly no cooldown on this so you'll often be stunlocked to death. Enemies however receive significant diminishing returns on your staggers from your hits. You're constantly having to kite back to slowly whittle the enemies down which just feels boring and noninteractive. The rest of…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wish Steam Reviews had another option between 'Yes' and 'No' for the game, as while I want the game to succeed in what it is doing, there are some issues that need to be addressed before it gets there. Biggest elephant in the room: Combat I'm not talking ship combat (not to be confused with boarding combat), as that is pretty solid at the moment and has room for improvement. No, I'm talking about all other combat. The combat system as it stands does not work well with how all other…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Steam Super Hit Windrose Is What Skull & Bones Should Have Been. So basically, a AA studio, combined with a publisher that is _still currently being sued by Nintendo_, managed to make a game that Ubisoft spent half a billion dollars and a decade to fail at making. In other news: 
neutral · AI labelView post →A little Valheim, a little Enshrouded and a little Sea of Thieves all wrapped in amazing pirate songs! Arrrr!! Even in the early access it feels like finished, especially if you compare with other early access games. It would be great if it gonna be MMORPG but online co-op also enough. For sure one of the best Pirate games & worth the price ! Enjoying it !
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A GREAT FOUNDATION - NOW GIVE IT THE DEPTH IT DESERVES I actually really enjoyed Windrose. The pirate setting works. Exploring the world is fun. Sailing feels good. Building a base can be incredibly satisfying. There is a genuinely good game here. But after finishing the available content, I was left wanting much more from almost every system. ================================================== >>> BUILDING IS GOOD - BUT IT NEEDS MORE <<< ==================================================…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I enjoyed this game quite a bit for about the first 10 hours, but once the honeymoon phase wore off all the cracks started to show. All the survival mechanics are quite basic which isn't bad at all, but the combat in this game is awful. I like difficulty in games and I usually play on harder difficulties, but the combat this game has makes the difficulty very artificial? Most encounters I have is baiting their attack by walking/running out of range get a few hits in and rinse and repeat and it…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great pirate game for those who enjoy survival and adventure alike. YARRRR!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Finished Windrose in about 50 hours, playing super casually, doing a ton of building and I loved every moment of it. I also played the whole thing with friends, and the game shines even more in co op. Exploring, building, and taking on challenges together just feels smoother with a squad. This is exactly the kind of game I always hoped New World or Skull & Bones would become, exploration driven, atmospheric, and rewarding without exposing the grind. The world feels great to exist in, the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Dig safe out there. [Now playing Windrose - Diggy Diggy Hole](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34CZjsEI1yU)
neutral · AI labelView post →crazy what happens when you actually make a good game and not AAA slop. btw thank you Devs for not listening to sea of thieves morons that wanted this game to be mainly pvp focused. You get your own npc workers and crew on your ♥♥♥♥ its amazing. Game looks and feels great the combat is also very fun.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This Early Access pirate game [Windrose] was quietly killing your SSD without you knowing - A misconfigured database cache was driving writes of over 108GB per hour, but a patch is already live..
neutral · AI labelView post →Devs didn't lie when they said 1 playthrough would occupy 60-100 hours cuz I am just sailing around listening to my crew singing shanties while ignoring the quests P.S. I am incentivized to just stay on my ship and pick off sailors with my blunderbuss during boarding because you can't dodge anything with how cramped it is
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Basically Valheim but Pirates and it delivers... Addictive!!!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game killing System SSD resource by writing 1GB data per few minutes. I really love this game but I do not want degrade the SSD just because UE5 works like this. Windrose is installed on my game SSD but its writing data to my system SSD. So after 10 hours of playing my SSD lost about 100GB of its lifespan. 100 hours ~ 1TB. More info about why this happening : The game is built on Unreal Engine 5. UE5 uses real-time shader caching in a folder called "D3DSCache" located here:…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Awesome game that's only going to improve throughout EA I have no doubt. For devs: Biggest issue I have at the moment is light sources at my base camp seem be disproportionately resource hungry. PC was jumping up 15c hotter just from just 1 torch even when I lowered all the options. Had the same issue in enshrouded early access, but they fixed it in a performance pass eventually. Hopefully you do the same!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is great, a ton of fun, but it has so, so far to go. I enjoyed dozens of hours, which is normally enough for me, but as I got deeper into the game I just felt teased. The things it lacks that would make it an all-time great seem like they'd take more dev time than is reasonable for a small/mid-size studio. As of now, the game is beautiful, it handles excellently, the combat is great, and it has one off the best implemented building mechanics I've ever seen. Resource gathering and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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