I've already played the demo of this co-op pirate survival game for 7 hours, but the boisterous sea shanties my crew sings keep me coming back for more

I’ve already played the demo of this co-op pirate survival game for 7 hours, but the boisterous sea shanties my crew sings keep me coming back for more | PC Gamer Skip to main content Open menu Close main menu PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES US Edition UK US Canada Australia Subscribe Sign in View Profile Sign out Search Search PC Gamer Games Hardware News Reviews Guides Video Forum More PC Gaming Show PC Gamer Clips Software Codes Coupons Movies & TV Magazine Newsletter Affiliate links Meet the team Community guidelines About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine SubscriptionWhy subscribe?Subscribe to the world’s #1 PC gaming magTry a single issue or save on a subscriptionIssues delivered straight to your door or device From$1Subscribe now Don’t miss these RPG ‘We lost things such as physics in games:’ The dev behind my most anticipated RPG thinks players are craving more interactive games, not just ‘moving around in a static 3D environment’ RPG I applaud this gacha game for ditching anime characters for puppets, but it still can’t escape the pitfalls of a post-Genshin Impact world Strategy Steam Next Fest hasn’t even started, and its first must-play demo is already here Card Game If you’ve ever had a crippling Vampire Survivors or Slay the Spire habit, avoid Vampire Crawlers at all costs RPG The upcoming Disco Elysium for D&D nerds just dropped a 90-minute supercut of its weirdly beautiful soundtrack Horror Burglin’ Gnomes is the next great friend-slop game that everyone with a PC and at least one other friend should check out RPG The dev behind my top upcoming RPG is a Hungarian chef who thought ‘if not now, then when?’ and learned coding from scratch to make his dream ‘eurojank’ masterpiece MMO Project: Gorgon has recaptured the old-school MMO magic I thought was dead and gone by letting me ask a pig about its mother so hard it dies Assassin’s Creed Assassin’s Creed 3’s greatest feature was pushed to the side until Black Flag because Ubisoft was worried that ‘the tech wouldn’t work’ Sim I thought Fishing Shop Simulator was a joke after I saw mechs in ancient Rome, but after two hours with its demo, I’m hooked Sim Birdwatching Notebook is meant to be a relaxing idler, but it drove me to new depths of unlock-obsessed birdmania Survival & Crafting The best survival games on PC RPG This musical RPG is doing important work by letting you beat up music snobs, but I really stuck around for the painful (brilliant) puns Games Steam Next Fest is back and you’ve once again got just 7 days to find your favorite demos among hundreds of choices Life Sim Starsand Island is the first can’t-miss cozy game of 2026 and it’s already taken over 20 hours from me PopularNEW: PC Gamer Clips!Arc RaidersBest PC gearFalloutGame Quizzes Games Survival & Crafting I’ve already played the demo of this co-op pirate survival game for 7 hours, but the boisterous sea shanties my crew sings keep me coming back for more Features By Christopher Livingston published 23 February 2026 The demo for Windrose is a rollicking pirate adventure—once you’ve chopped down enough trees, that is. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Windrose Crew) Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter PC Gamer Get the PC Gamer Newsletter Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? Every Friday GamesRadar+ Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you’re going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them. 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From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we’ve got you covered. Signup + Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! Signup + An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter One completely unexpected side-effect of the pandemic: I got really sick of sea shanties. When everyone was stuck at home clinging to TikTok for their sanity, it seemed like at least one out of five people recorded some sort of shanty-related content, and it didn’t take long before the idea of hearing yet another spirited aquatic anthem made me want to throw myself off a boat.Luckily, I deleted TikTok a couple years ago and I’m fervently pro-shanty once again, which makes for perfect timing because the Next Fest demo for pirate survival game Windrose is out on Steam—and it’s great. You can fix up a ship, hit the high seas, and listen to your crew of NPC pirates sing a whole bunch of awesome sea shanties. Just listen (and watch) the new Windrose trailer below and try not to get completely keyed up for a grand pirate adventure: Windrose: Drunken Sailor (2026 Remaster) – YouTube Watch On Of course, this is a survival game, so the grand adventure doesn’t happen right away. You begin the demo on a tiny island after an encounter with Blackbeard has left you shipwrecked and stranded with not so much as a single tricorn hat to call your own. Related articles ‘We couldn’t even have imagined this’: Co-op pirate survival game Windrose has been wishlisted over 1 million times Capture the heart of hectic sea battles in upcoming pirate themed survival crafting adventure, Windrose Down with the Ship’s demo proves it’s a worthy spiritual successor to the space-faring magic captured by FTL: Faster than Light You know the drill: pick up rocks, gather branches, craft a cruddy axe and a crude pick and start grinding for resources. Th