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Windrose players thank the devs for avoiding item durability, a divisive survival game feature: "Possibly the most un-fun mechanic in any video game"

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By Scott McCrae published 21 April 2026

"Such a breath of fresh air"

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Windrose
(Image credit: Windrose Crew / Kraken Express)
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Windrose fans are thanking the developers for not putting item durability into the popular piracy survival game.

Over on the Windrose subreddit, multiple posts about the topic have emerged, with one user writing: "Big shout out to the devs for not including quite possibly the most un-fun mechanic in any video game."

And, for the most part, this seems to be a pretty popular take, with another adding: "I really, really, really hope they don't change this as the game moves toward full release. Having no durability is such a breath of fresh air."

Article continues below
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  • Screenshot from Windrose, showing a pirate aiming down the sights of her rifle while standing in front of tropical trees. Open-world pirate survival game Windrose launches to 69,000 peak players and 88% positive Steam reviews
  • A crop of the Windrose key art showing two pirates in front of a montage of ships, posing with guns Windrose is a pretty good karaoke cover of Assassin's Creed: Black Flag with a survival twist
  • Windrose early access release trailer shows a pirate wielding a sword, walking along a beach. Windrose's first mods add quality-of-life changes "for captains who'd rather be chasing horizons"

Even those who aren't wholly against item durability seem to be happy, too, with one user saying: "What used to be an immersive feature just became an irksome chore in so many games. Hell, even Animal Crossing included durability. It completely breaks the rhythm of a game and I'm so glad to see it absent." Meanwhile another post reads: "Who would've thought a game becomes 100x more enjoyable when your sword doesn't break into a million pieces every 15 minutes."

Personally, I think item durability can be good when used well. One of my least favorite bits of common game criticism is when I see people giving out about durability in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. But in those games, I think it's done perfectly and plays into the spirit of experimentation and freedom found in Zelda. After all, otherwise, everyone would find the Hylian Shield and Master Sword and call it a day, whereas your last axe breaking and forcing you having to scrap with a Bokoblin with a pot lid and a leaf is top tier gameplay.

Granted, I'm not a big survival game person, and have definitely experienced poor implementation of the mechanic, so if the people are happy with how it's used (or rather, not used) in Windrose, I'm pretty happy for them.

"It would just be Palworld 2": Pocketpair says adding a feature from the viral game it's publishing is impossible.

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