Pirate Survival Game Is Taking Over the Steam Charts (And It’s Not Even Out Yet)

February 21, 2026, 2:15pm

Officially, the February Steam Next Fest event doesn’t start until the 23rd. But many games like to launch their new demos a few days early to help them pick up steam and give players more time with them. While demos don’t often hit the highest player peaks on Steam, there tend to be a few that dominate events like Next Fest. And this year, an upcoming open-world survival game with a pirate flair is already making waves with its demo.

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Windrose is an upcoming open-world survival crafting game set on the open seas. Players will battle across land and sea, engaging in soulslite combat while also taking command of their very own pirate ship. And the game’s new Steam Next Fest demo, which went live on February 17th, is sitting at the top of Steam’s trending games by an impressive margin for a demo. As I’m writing this, SteamDB reports a concurrent player cap of over 18,500 players for Windrose. And that’s before the Steam Next Fest event has even begun.

Windrose Might Be an Early Contender for Best Steam Next Fest Demo

Survival games and pirates are both incredibly popular. And while there are plenty of great survival games out there, pirate games have been a bit more, well…mid. So it stands to reason that gamers are eager to test out Windrose and see if it lives up to our dreams of a great pirate game at last. The so-called Age of Piracy is a natural setting for a survival game, as pirates are often off on dangerous adventures.

Windrose promises to deliver “the classic build, craft, survive” formula alongside intense combat and “engaging exploration on land and sea.” If my lingering seasickness from Ubisoft’s Skull and Bones is any indication, a pirate game that balances sea and land exploration is well worth trying. And apparently, I’m not the only one who thinks so. The demo’s rising popularity suggests that this is a game players have been eager to get their hands on. If you want to see more of what Windrose has to offer, you can check out the game’s Steam Next Fest demo trailer below:

The Windrose demo offers around 4-6 hours of gameplay. It takes players through the first 3 islands of the game’s Archipelago, showcasing early quests. Players will get to sail their first ship and sample the game’s core mechanics, including its survival mechanics. Perhaps most notably for the game’s rising popularity in the demo stage is that Windrose supports co-op through player-hosted sessions. That means players can demo the high seas adventure together. Co-op games often fare well on Steam because gamers get their friends in on the fun. And who doesn’t want to play pirates with their pals?

This is the pirate game’s first public demo. And from the looks of it, Windrose is off to a good start with its potential fanbase. It already has a Very Positive rating on Steam, with over 1,000 reviews ahead of Next Fest’s official start next week. One review calls it “the pirate sandbox we ACTUALLY wanted,” and our own preview here at ComicBook echoes that sentiment. Many players who’ve reviewed the Windrose demo are already saying they’ll be there for the Early Access launch day one. That said, the game doesn’t yet have a release date, so it’s unclear exactly when we’ll be able to truly set sail on the open seas.

Are you excited at the possibility of a great open-world pirate game at last? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!