naiwa 2026-04-19

Kraken Express has created the pirate simulator the genre has long awaited: 86% positive reviews already in early access.




The pirate MMO sandbox Windrose from Kraken Express caused an unexpected sensation: just a few days after launching in Steam Early Access on April 14, the game reached a peak concurrent player count of 183,149 and secured 8th place in the ranking of the most popular Steam games with a current 153 thousand online users. For an early access debutant, this is a result that places it above such established titles as Stardew Valley (around 100 thousand) and Crimson Desert (around 136 thousand), which itself is one of the main PC releases of April.Audience reviews confirm interest in the project: out of more than 12 thousand ratings on Steam, 86% are positive. Player comments boil down to one thought: Windrose has become the very pirate game people finally want to play — with mechanics that work and an atmosphere that holds you. Notably, in terms of concurrent players, Windrose is only behind a few major hits — in particular, Counter-Strike 2 (1.4 million) and Slay the Spire 2 (around 242 thousand).A console version is not expected in the near future: on April 14, the studio confirmed that at this stage they are focused on preparing the final 1.0 version for PC. The developers do not hide their interest in releasing on other platforms, but do not specify exact dates — console players will have to wait for now.
Pirate "survival" game Windrose sold 500 thousa…