Survival and crafting on the High Seas!
Unlike the rest of my usual gaming group, I didn't play the demo of Windrose when it came out; Can't remember why... because I was definitely hyped up for it the moment I saw the trailers. It's so rare to get a good quality pirate game, and most of the only notable ones in the last decade or so have not hit the mark. I'm no fan of Assassins Creed, and Sea of Thieves received a very lackluster welcome by almost everybody I know. I played for a few weeks with a couple of mates who were all cross-platform console players and then it just faded away much to my dismay.
I will admit that my hopes for Windrose were not as high as the crow's nest. A solo game from the developer out of Uzbekistan, no clear release timeline, early access / no Steam achievements - my pessimistic (realistic?) nature got the better of me and I pushed it to the back of my mind as something to check out and see how it performs once it eventually arrives. Well; I was blown away and all my fears turned out to be completely unfounded. 60+ hours into the early access release later and effectively conquering all there is to do (other than kill another 150 crocodiles) for now I can confidently delivery to you, dear reader, my honest review!
I will preface the below by saying that this is not ultra hard. It's definitely built to be a good time rather than a slog fest or skills challenge. You can definitely make things hard or easier on yourself based on the choices you make with weapons, armour and attributes just like any game; but unlike many survival crafting games you can 'just play' and get through it all without become experts in 10's or 100's of micro-mechanics. So if you love souls-like enemy brutality or Soulmask style depth of character attribute management then Windrose might fall short of expectations, but for me this is what made it great. Being new and being fun does not mean that you need to be more complex or hardcore than those before you and I think this is what they got just right.
What To Look Forward To
Swashbuckling! Sea shanties! Enough booty to collect to feel accomplishment but not with enough abundance that it feels like you're trading in a real job for a virtual one. Yes this is a survival crafting so you need to mine metal and chop wood but it's pretty fast and your tools (or weapons and armour) don't degrade and wear out so you might need to fill your inventory with something found 5 islands away then bring it back to craft metal ingots... but once you know what you're doing that can be 10-15 mins round trip, and you'll bring back enough to service your needs and 1-2 others as well.
The combat has really nice rhythm to it and like many platformers each enemy has its own timings and move sets to learn and be able to counter, and with some efficient timing and stamina management allows you to take 2-4 enemies at once without too much need for constant healing. Likewise the sailing and sea battles are a lot of fun once you get used to them, but can be brutal early game and require a session to learn what you're doing and how to prepare your ship to withstand attacks.
They really got the mechanics behind quest sharing correct with Windrose. I was a big fan of Enshrouded but the quest system sucked when playing with friends; Windrose nailed it straight away. You can play through the game at your own pace, certain quests are solo and some are shared progress if you have party members around. I was the trail blazer in the late game and would often explore new biomes, setup fast-travel bells, and generally be a few levels ahead of my friends; but it worked great. We all ended up doing the same quests, helping each other out or co-operatively doing the same quest at the same time, and the game never confused anyone's quest log or failed to spawn loot for one person or another - it just worked.
The building mechanics, way of acquiring new structures, level progression and perks all work great and feel more polished than other titles in the genre that have been around much longer. The team have done a very solid job of the early access release all around.
What's Not So Great Currently
This is one of my standout games in recent memory so criticism is going to be low.. and really nothing that every other game of this style doesn't also suffer from I think. With no known prior works from this developer it is astonishing what they've put out.
I will pick on the sailing / sea combat first of all. Being a pirate game most people want to get in a ship and sail the open seas! In fact the introductory quests focus on just that; learn what you're doing, repair a ship, be a pirate! The problem is that until you figure out good combinations of tactics and upgrade your ships gear.... you're gonna get frustrated by being literal canon fodder. Similar issues arise in the end game and trying to board a level 15 warship to plunder their sweet sweet booty... even at max level with a great weapon and armour set this is basically harder to do than beat the final biome boss. You can SINK them no problems, but boarding them to kill 20 level 15 pirates to plunder it? Thus far that's a pretty tall order as you can't upgrade your own boarding party so they get slaughtered quickly leaving you close quarters with 20 enemies that pack a punch (or flintlock at range!).
First time exploration is slow and can be boring, hard to justify if you only play in short stints. Pro tip: Always keep a fast-travel bell or 2 in the hull of your ship. There's nothing quite as frustrating as weaving your way through enemy ships to get to a far-off island only to realise you need to do it again because you forgot to bring a bell.
A Long Way To Go
Even though you can get around 60 hours of gameplay out of the early access, right now that's only 3 biomes and 3 major bosses - and at the time of writing the 4th biome has only been teased so far. I'd like to think that in time, and probably before the game goes 1.0, they will have 6 biomes at least. This also begs the question of what else they will add and evolve with the footprint they've start with so far. Unlike some games you don't need to pick one faction or another to align to in Windrose; you can become completely savvy with all of them, and it's actually not hard to do.
Ships will be another evolution to come, with the Frigate being the largest so far but I 'think' there's a Galleon on the horizon. More bosses and more quests are definitely needed as they're one of the only two ways to earn XP (exploring points of interest being the other way) and for players like me that like to level up and advance / get stronger the game still feels 'small' in that regard. Maxing out at level 15 the early access leaves a bit of XP on the table, reaching max level before you finish all quests, but if max level ends up somewhere around 30, 60, 90.... then this sea dog's going to have a LOT of legs in it which will make me very happy.
Final Verdict
I absolutely freaking loved this game, and it's the FIRST survival crafting game I've played where I got the end and wasn't ready to stop. I want more, and begrudgingly have to find something else to fill my time with until more content drops.
Reminiscent of Enshrouded this early access is VERY well done, and 1.0 (whenever that might come) will simply be putting professional polish on a game that's already proven it's point. I'll definitely be back, even if the worst should happen and I have to start again from scratch!