Windrose Crew is approaching one of the most important moments in its history, as Windrose emerged as one of the standout titles of the latest Steam Next Fest and has quickly become one of the more closely watched games in Valve‘s catalog. According to the developers, that momentum is not built on pirate fantasy alone, but also on a clear set of influences, with Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag sitting near the very top of the list as what they consider the best pirate game ever made.
In an interview with Automaton, Windrose Crew producer Phil explained which games helped shape the studio’s open-world pirate project. He said the decision to make a pirate game came partly from the team’s own love of the setting and partly from a belief that the niche still is not being served especially well. In other words, the studio wanted to build something it genuinely wanted to play itself, while also targeting a gap it believed players still wanted someone to fill. That matters, because Windrose has never really looked like it was aiming to be just another costume-heavy pirate adventure. From the outside, it already feels more like a serious attempt to plant a long-term flag in a space other games have only partially occupied.
Phil also made it clear that the team did not limit itself to studying traditional sailing or pirate action games. It also looked closely at survival titles to understand how open worlds filled with possibility can be structured in a way that keeps players engaged for the long haul. He specifically named Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Valheim, and Enshrouded as major points of reference, saying those games helped inform Windrose Crew’s attempt to build its own PvE pirate experience with survival at the core but a strong emphasis on adventure and exploration. That means Windrose is not simply trying to recreate ship travel and treasure-hunting as surface-level attractions. It wants the act of surviving, roaming, and discovering to feel equally central to the experience, which gives the project a broader ambition than a narrower pirate action game might have.
Even with that wider set of influences, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag appears to hold a special place inside the studio. Phil said the team at Windrose Crew is made up of around 60 people with different tastes and favorite genres, but he also claimed there is near-universal agreement on one point: Ubisoft’s 2013 title is still the best pirate game ever made. That is a bold statement, but not a particularly surprising one, because Black Flag remains the reference point many players instinctively return to when they think about naval exploration, ship combat, and the fantasy of living as a pirate. For Windrose, then, the game is not just a nostalgic influence, but a benchmark that still defines what the genre can look like at its best.
The interview also touched on combat, and that is where the project starts to show another side of itself. Phil said the battles in Windrose will carry a certain Souls-like edge, because the studio believes that style of combat is naturally tense, engaging, and well suited to the game’s world. Even so, the team is not interested in simply copying familiar genre habits. It does not use a roll dodge, for example, and instead relies on dashes and parries because, in Phil’s view, a pirate would not be rolling around the battlefield. He also added that, during the early research phase, the team noticed that many survival games do not put enough weight on combat systems, which is why Windrose is trying to stand out more strongly in that department. With Early Access launching on April 14, players will not have to wait long to see whether all of these inspirations really come together in a pirate game worthy of the confidence behind it.
Source: 3DJuegos
