Windrose Reveals Its Roadmap — And Players Will Wait Six Months for the Ashlands Biome

Game: Windrose  |  Developer: Kraken Express  |  Publishers: Kraken Express (global) · Pocketpair Publishing (Japan)  |  Platform: PC (Steam Early Access)  |  Early Access Launch: April 14, 2026  |  Price: $30

Windrose developer Kraken Express — a roughly 60-person studio based in Uzbekistan — shared the first details of its post-launch content plan on April 28, 2026. The next major update introduces a new biome called the Ashlands and arrives in at least six months. Before then, a smaller interim patch addresses technical issues. These announcements come as Windrose continues to dominate Steam, having sold 1.3 million copies in just nine days and generated approximately $30 million in gross revenue in its first two weeks — making it the survival genre’s biggest debut since Palworld.

What Is Windrose?

Windrose is an open-world pirate survival game set in an alternative Age of Piracy. It combines the classic build, craft, and survive formula with intense naval and land combat, procedurally generated biomes, hand-crafted dungeons, and a full story campaign. The game launched into Steam Early Access on April 14, 2026 to instant critical and commercial success, earning 88% positive reviews from over 16,000 Steam users. Notably, Pocketpair — the Japanese studio behind Palworld — co-publishes Windrose in Japan through its Pocketpair Publishing label, lending further visibility to an already breakout title.

What’s Coming First: The Interim Patch

Before the Ashlands update, Kraken Express confirmed a smaller patch is already in progress. According to Eurogamer, this update targets connectivity issues, CPU and disk usage, and overall performance and stability. It also includes over 50 fixes and quality-of-life changes, plus roughly 40 new building pieces. As a result, players receive meaningful improvements well before the six-month wait for the major content drop ends.

The Ashlands Update: What We Know

In a Steam community post, Kraken Express outlined what players can expect from the first major content update. The team was careful to frame this as a high-level overview rather than a finalised roadmap. Here is what Kraken Express confirmed:

• A new biome called the Ashlands is the headline addition. The name suggests volcanic terrain or a scorched, post-catastrophe landscape, though the developer has not confirmed any specifics yet.
• The update arrives in at least six months. Kraken Express intends it to feel expansion-sized rather than a routine content drop.
• Bug fixes and technical improvements take priority until then, rather than new content additions.
• A more detailed roadmap follows in one to two months, once the team integrates community feedback into its planning.

Kraken Express explained the philosophy driving the update directly in the post:

“Our philosophy now is to enrich the current gameplay systems, instead of only adding new biomes with the respective content, so even before we have the full details, it’s safe to say the game will not just grow in size – it will also evolve.”

— Kraken Express, Steam community post, April 28, 2026

The Full Early Access Plan

Beyond the Ashlands update, Kraken Express published broader Early Access goals on the Steam store page. These targets apply to the entire development period before version 1.0:

Kraken Express additionally confirmed that the order of future content depends on community feedback. Players can submit suggestions and bug reports via Discord, Steam discussions, and the game’s internal reporting tool. According to Eurogamer, the team has been explicit that player priorities will shape which content arrives first.

Why No Fixed Roadmap Yet?

Kraken Express addressed the absence of a traditional milestone-based roadmap in the game’s FAQ. Simply put, the studio does not want to commit to a specific content order before it fully understands what players need. The FAQ states:

“While we already have a rough plan for future biomes, bosses, and storylines, player feedback will be crucial in determining which content and aspects of the game we need to focus on. We are fully committed to listening carefully and working hard to make this journey exciting for everyone.”

— Kraken Express FAQ

This approach mirrors the strategy that made both Valheim and Palworld successful during their own Early Access periods. Notably, 60% of Windrose players have also played Valheim, according to player crossover data from Alinea Analytics, confirming both games share a loyal core audience.

Windrose by the Numbers

The commercial performance of Windrose makes its roadmap one of the most closely watched in the survival genre right now. According to Forbes, OpenCritic, and Alinea Analytics, here are the key milestones:

Bottom Line

A 60-person studio from landlocked Uzbekistan just delivered the survival genre’s biggest launch since Palworld, and immediately told its million-plus players to wait at least six months for the next chapter. Kraken Express has been upfront about the timeline, and clear that quality takes priority over speed. For a team still processing a launch that exceeded all reasonable expectations, that is the right call. The community-first approach to the roadmap, combined with the game’s exceptionally strong foundation, gives players every reason to stay invested in what comes next.

Are you willing to wait six months for an expansion-sized Ashlands update, or would you prefer smaller drops more frequently? Let us know in the comments below.