AHOY, YA SCURVY DOGS! WINDROSE’S STEAM NEXT FEST DEMO IS OUT NOW WITH A NEW GROG-SOAKED TRAILER
Find your legs at sea and on land in the open-world pirate survival adventure game – exploring, crafting, sailing and fighting solo or with friends in co-op!
TORTUGA – Feb. 17, 2026 – Look alive! Windrose Crew is excited today to give ya scallywags the Steam Next Fest demo for the upcoming open-world pirate survival adventure game, Windrose! Formerly known as Crosswind and sitting within Steam’s Top 35 Wishlists with over 840,000 wishlists, Windrose’s first official demo promises jaunty escapades featuring exploration, crafting, building, and bloody, high-stakes swashbuckling on land and at sea. Better still? You can invite your friends for high-seas sailing and shenanigans together in co-op for up to four players!
Welcome to the Age of Piracy! In the Windrose Steam Next Fest demo, you’ll experience thrilling sea battles and seamless ship-to-land gameplay with a strong focus on exploration, base building, and combat. Face off against formidable enemies in challenging Souls-lite action, make the perfect crew with friends, and become a notorious pirate captain the oceans fear!
Steam Next Fest Demo Highlights
- Features 4-6 hours of content, showcasing the foundations of the upcoming Steam Early Access experience
- Learn the ropes of life as a pirate with a series of onboarding quests, get your first big ship, and explore three islands from Windrose’s first major biome
- Experience several game systems and mechanics, including exploration, survival, melee and ranged combat, naval combat and ship boarding, and crafting and building
- Co-op multiplayer* for up to four players
And this is just a taste of the Windrose experience! The game will feature vastly expanded content when it debuts in the future on Steam Early Access. People who play the demo before Early Access launch will get the exclusive decorative spyglass for the game when it launches later this year.
Play Windrose’s Steam Next Fest demo now, wishlist Windrose on Steam for the latest news, and follow along with every update on X/Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and Discord.
*Co-op multiplayer is self-hosted in the demo – dedicated servers are planned for Steam Early Access but unavailable in the demo.
About Windrose Crew
Windrose Crew (formerly “Crosswind Crew”) is an experienced team of developers dedicated to bringing the open seas to fans around the world with their upcoming pirate survival adventure game Windrose.
