Windrose might have cemented its place among standout indie survival games with a jolly opening day, matey

After a highly successful demo on Steam earlier in 2026, the pirate survival game Windrose launched into early access and has garnered over triple the player count of its demo version.

While it’s still only day one, Windrose looks to be the next great survival indie title. It joins the ranks of other similar games such as Enshrouded, Palworld, Valheim, and The Forest. Those games achieved varying player counts on their opening days, but Windrose currently sits at just shy of 70,000 concurrent players on Steam after hitting a max of 22,000 with its demo.

As early access goes on, we could see Windrose hit upwards of 100,000 concurrent players on Steam. Compared to other survival indies, nothing will likely ever top Palworld’s opening week, as it achieved the second-highest concurrent player peak in Steam’s history with 2.1 million players. However, a more reasonable goal for Windrose would be Enshrouded’s maximum player count, which reached 160,000 a few days after its launch in 2024.

Despite the lower player count in the demo, Windrose became an overnight sensation when it debuted in February of 2026. Many high-profile streamers, such as Asmongold and Cohh Carnage, spent dozens of hours in the demo, showcasing exactly what the game had to offer to their thousands of viewers.

The survival and RPG gameplay elements really enthralled the community, but it was and still is Windrose’s pirate theme that continues to draw players in. Even though pirate-themed games have been highly successful in the past, see Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, it’s a setting that doesn’t make its way into too many modern games. Some developers have tried and failed recently, with Ubisoft putting out Skull and Bones in 2024 and Amazon’s MMO New World starting out as a pirate-themed game before it took a different direction.

However, it seems as though Windrose is exactly what players have been wanting in a pirate game. You’re placed in the shoes of a disgraced captain, and you need to recover your ship and crew to uncover the conspiracy that surrounds the island of Tortuga during the age of the pirates. You can take part in full-fledged naval combat, build a sprawling base, and interact with plenty of NPCs in various pirate towns.

Even in the initial stages of early access, Windrose is packed with content, and the developers are planning to add more in the near and distant future. Currently, the game is only available on PC, but console ports for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S could be a possibility down the line.

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Windrose‘s map might appear pretty small at first, but it expands quickly once you explore new areas. After a certain point, traveling from one point to another will take a lot of time, whether you travel the distance on land or by ship.

Thankfully, there’s a pretty elaborate fast travel system that’s been added from the demo to the early access version.

How does fast travel work in Windrose

If you’ve played the demo of Windrose, you’ll be pretty well aware of the system in place. If you’re someone completely new, read on. Once you’ve completed the first quest and started How My Shore Adventure Began (can’t miss as it’s part of the main story), you’ll be able to smelt your first copper ingot.

Once you know how to get Copper Ingot, you’ll be able to make a Fast Travel Bell using the Workbench. You’ll need 10 Copper Ingots and three Ropes to create a bell. Incidentally, you can also get Fast Travel Bell as random loot.

To set up a network, you’ll also need to create a Fast Travel Point. You can do that from the build menu. To create a Fast Travel Point, you’ll need 20 Wood and one Fast Travel Bell.

Before you can fast travel, you’ll need at least two points in two different locations. You can create two points on the same island, but they have to be distant from one another. Fast Travel Points can only be placed near water.

When you’re on your ship, you can fast travel from any location by selecting the point. This works as long as you’re not being chased by an enemy or in active combat. If you’re walking on foot, you’ll have to travel to a Fast Travel Point manually. I am unsure as to why the system works like this, but it is what it is.

Additionally, you can also find random Fast Travel Points existing in several locations. The different faction islands also have them, and you can use those after activating them by manually traveling to those locations. Once done, those travel points will be automatically added to your network.

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