Windrose - Before You Buy

Welcome to "Before You Buy," where we offer direct gameplay and initial thoughts on new game releases. This episode focuses on a new pirate-themed game, Wind Rose, originally known as Crosswind. The developers shifted from a PvP focus to a co-op style, a move that appears to have paid off, given its high ranking on Steam's wishlists. The game's impressive visuals have even sparked skepticism, which is understandable for a new game from a new team aiming high. However, Wind Rose is a functional and real game, though perhaps not as ambitious as trailers suggest. At its core, Wind Rose is a survival game, akin to "pirate Valheim." While it includes pirate elements, the majority of gameplay revolves around typical survival mechanics: harvesting resources, crafting tools, weapons, and armor, and expanding your base. The pirate aspects, such as ship battles, are enjoyable and well-executed, but they currently feel secondary. If you're seeking a game primarily focused on sailing, trading, ransacking harbors, crew management, and swashbuckling adventures, you might find Wind Rose a bit lacking. However, for survival game enthusiasts who appreciate a pirate setting, there's much to like. It’s a solid survival crafting game, but it doesn't transcend its genre to become something more broadly appealing. It’s important to manage expectations; don't go in expecting a true pirate-themed action RPG or something like "Black Flag" without the assassins, or you'll likely be disappointed. The game's opening, unfortunately, doesn't make a strong first impression. It features rudimentary comic book-style cutscenes and white text on a black background, reminiscent of rushed Xbox 360-era movie tie-ins or Xbox Live Arcade games from 2010. While the core game's visuals are clean and capture the sunbaked Caribbean atmosphere of the golden age of piracy, the dialogue and NPC interactions, mostly text-based, often feel like placeholders. After the brief introduction, you're washed ashore on a deserted island and guided through a standard, non-diegetic tutorial for the survival mechanics. This involves collecting wood, grass, and rocks to craft a workbench, build a hut, set a respawn point, and cook food. The game introduces some positive innovations, such as the bonfire concept. A large bonfire serves as the center of your base, and anything within its radius contributes to your base's comfort level, granting bonuses based on decorations. Pre-built structure options are also available, speeding up construction significantly and providing easy templates. The actual building tools can be a bit janky, with common struggles of aligning tiles or fitting awkward pieces. It's a functional system but feels somewhat dated, lacking features like automatic wall shortening or parts conforming to desired shapes. Despite these issues, there are plenty of cosmetic items and style options to make your base feel authentically piratey. Harvesting resources in Wind Rose, at least on standard difficulty, is relatively painless compared to other survival games. The game generously provides resources, even raw ores, making it easy to gather large quantities quickly. Once you acquire a boat, wood resources become virtually unlimited, and grass is abundant. Later resources are harder to find, but by then, you have various options beyond simple wandering, including assigning crew to your bases to manage resource gathering. A significant relief is how the game handles ships. They are not huge resource sinks requiring excessive grinding, nor do you need to craft every cannonball. The ship is well-designed, offering a large cargo hold for resources that can be easily transferred to your base. Upgrades are straightforward, and ship repairs are common. The inventory system is also user-friendly, allowing for automatic transfers and pulling resources from a shared pool for crafting, eliminating tedious box-digging. The survival aspect is somewhat downplayed, similar to Valheim, primarily focusing on hunger. Cooked foods provide temporary buffs, and thankfully, there's no dying of thirst or dysentery. However, despite the forgiving survival mechanics and ship-to-ship combat, the on-foot combat can be brutal, especially for solo players. The "Souls-like" combat system, while not bad, feels overtuned, with enemies capable of killing you in one or two hits from the start. Basic enemies like boars and crabs can easily overwhelm you. This difficulty is particularly noticeable in caves and bandit camps, which are swarming with enemies and seem designed for co-op play. While enemy AI can be exploited, it's not a satisfying solution. Despite its difficulty, the combat is remarkably well-designed for a survival crafting game. The parry system, thought-out enemy attacks, wind-ups, and tells, along with unblockable attacks requiring dodges, are features rarely seen in this genre. This level of effort is a pleasant surprise for Wind Rose. Mechanically, it's an improvement over contemporaries, though it can feel like an early 2000s MMO. Exploration is both satisfying and underwhelming. Most islands feel similar, and while there are ruins, caves, and buried secrets, not much feels explicitly unique. The game looks good overall, and there are many quests to complete. Exploration is crucial for earning experience and leveling up your character, making it feel somewhat forced rather than purely for the joy of discovery. The water and ships look fantastic, especially during sailing. While there isn't much to do when not on your ship, the visual experience and sea shanties (reminiscent of Black Flag) add to the atmosphere. Ship-to-ship combat, a personal favorite, is fun but basic compared to other pirate games, lacking strategic depth. Wind doesn't seem to affect ship speed, making the sailboat aspect almost meaningless. Boarding enemy ships is awkward and unsatisfying; you simply teleport onto the ship and watch your invincible crew fight. As an Early Access game, priced at $26.99, these half-baked pirate elements are expected to be fleshed out. In contrast, the survival mechanics are much more developed. Wind Rose offers a substantial amount of content for an Early Access title, including three of four planned biomes, full towns, and four major factions with missions and rewards. It feels more complete than many other survival crafting Early Access launches, akin to a full game with rough edges that need refinement. The potential for Wind Rose to become truly great is evident. While not my primary genre, I found it enjoyable. It's a solid "Valheim-like" with the potential to surpass its inspiration if developers consistently update and improve it, especially by listening to player feedback. Starting from a strong foundation makes refinement much easier. If the described gameplay appeals to you, and the caveats don't deter you, this $30 game is an easy recommendation for survival-hungry players seeking a co-op fix. However, if your sole interest is pirates, it might not be for you. The most crucial takeaway is that Wind Rose is a pirate game where you spend approximately 80% of your time on non-pirate-exclusive survival activities. While the "bones" are good, it's not a pirate simulation. It's an okay pirate simulation at best, but a very good survival game.