Kraken Express arrives with an early access open-world pirate game. Free exploration, naval combat, co-op for up to 4. The 2026 pirate dream might finally be here. Or not. That's the whole point.
Alexandrosse
Since Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag in 2013, pirate game fans have been waiting. They waited while Sea of Thieves played cosmetic Monopoly. While Skull and Bones shipwrecked. While the major franchises looked the other way.
Windrose arrives with a simple and direct proposition: an open-world pirate game, no free-to-play, no battle pass, developed by a team that cites Black Flag as the best reference in the genre. Available in early access on PC since April 14th 2026, at €26.99.
The question isn't whether the concept is good. It is. The question is whether Kraken Express can turn it into something lasting.
Windrose offers an open maritime world with three distinct biomes, around thirty procedurally generated islands and over 90 hand-crafted points of interest. Three playable ships, a building system, extensive crafting, character progression with stats and talents. A campaign lasting 50 to 70 hours depending on playstyle.
The ship is at the centre of everything. Navigation, combat, customisation, crew management: the vessel isn't a travel tool, it's a mobile base. Boarding is fully playable, naval battles have real weight, and co-op for up to 4 players works from day one.
Studio Kraken Express came from a previous project called Crosswind, a free-to-play MMO they abandoned to remake the game entirely as a paid title. A courageous decision, and by their account the best they ever made. It shows in the result: no shop, no battle pass, an honest price and a complete game at purchase.
For an early access release, that's a serious foundation. Around 500,000 copies sold in 48 hours and a peak of 113,000 concurrent players at launch leave little doubt about player interest.
Early access is early access. Kraken Express plans to stay there for between one and a half and two and a half years, with the aim of adding roughly 50% more content before the 1.0 release.
Land combat is the most frequently cited weakness in early feedback: enemies hit hard, attack readability is imperfect, and the loop is less satisfying than the naval side. This is precisely the kind of flaw early access exists to correct. But it's also the kind that, if it lingers too long, ends up killing enthusiasm.
Multiplayer connectivity had problems at launch. Hotfixes were deployed quickly and the studio is active on Discord. Good responsiveness. But dedicated server issues at launch for a 4-player co-op game is a signal worth monitoring.
And then there's the history of live service and multiplayer games that launched well and didn't keep their promises. The pirate gaming audience has been disappointed too many times. Launch enthusiasm guarantees nothing.
We're waiting. With genuine interest, not naivety.
Windrose has what most pirate games never had: a solid foundation, a studio that seems to have understood what players want, and a business model that isn't trying to extract money continuously. If Kraken Express keeps its promises over time and keeps correcting and enriching the game, Windrose could finally be exactly what the genre has been waiting for since 2013.
The 1.0 release will be the real test. In early access, we're watching. And right now, what we see makes us want to keep watching closely.
Preview based on early access — version subject to significant changes
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