Open-world pirate games are so back: Windrose hits 1.5 million Steam wishlists as 800,000 players convince devs to leave the bangin' demo up until launch

I was psyched when I saw an open-world pirate survival game topping the list of most-played Steam Next Fest demos, and I was even more psyched to find out the demo is very good. I've since spent hours with Windrose's Steam demo, crafting and building my base, sailing around the high seas, and pumping other ships full of cannonballs, and I am triply psyched to learn I'll be able to continue doing so until the game's early access launch.

Developer Windrose Crew revealed as much in a new Steam update celebrating a staggering 1.5 million wishlists, not to mention 800,000 players from the demo alone.

"You are amazing! Seriously, after climbing to the top demos of Steam Next Fest and reaching one million wishlists we were not expecting this momentum to continue — but here we are, with over 1,500,000 sea wolves waiting for Windrose to finally set sail," says Windrose Crew. "Another impressive number — over 800,000 captains have tried the demo! And by the way, you can still do it, the demo is staying up until the Early Access launch."

This is fantastic news. Windrose is exactly the type of indie game you would think is doing too much, combining deep survival mechanics with ship-sailing and customization, naval combat, dungeon pillaging, and a story inspired by real-life history, but somehow it all feels thoughtful and seamless in motion. The demo gives you a meaty taste of the first three islands in the game as well as a few early quests and, yes, ship-sailing and pirate battles, although it's worth noting any progress you make will very sadly not transfer over to the full game.

Windrose Crew is also using feedback from the demo to make some alterations to the early access launch, although it notes that everything is still subject to change. The incomplete changelog includes improved one-ship co-op so that multiple players can man the cannons on a single ship, as well as more loot variety, a possible increase to eight-player co-op (though the devs recommend 1-4 players), and "more pirate-y" sea shanties.

"Thank you all once again for your passion and input. We can't imagine a better community for Windrose, and will keep working hard to deliver," says the developer.

Relevant: Dev behind viral open-world pirate game Windrose says it isn't holding back release date info to "tease your anticipation," but because it wants "to ship the game on time and in [the] best condition possible"