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The question everyone asks before buying a survival game with friends: Is the co-op actually well-done, or are you going to spend three hours trying to connect before giving up and going solo?
With Windrose, the answer is mostly positive, though there are a couple of platform and hosting frustrations you should know about upfront.
Windrose Game Modes
When you create your first character, you will be presented with four options for how you want to play.
- Solo/Offline: This is as it sounds, you play in your own world, and no one can join you.
- Host a game: This lets you host a local server for you and your friends to play on. It will take your solo world if you have one on that character and let you invite up to eight people in total (though the developers recommend four). See 'A Note On Hosting' below.
- Connect to a server: This is how you connect to a friend instead. Just enter their server's unique code and any passwords.
- Create a dedicated server: The last option lets you rent a server directly from Nitrado, costing between $10-$15 a month. This lets you have a server that's up at all times, and not reliant on one of you hosting the world.
A Note On Hosting
As with most Survival co-op games, the host of the world, owns that world. If they drop or are not available that day, then the save is stuck with them. You will have to progress separately without them or wait for them to come on in order to play in that world. This is not the case with a dedicated server, only a freely hosted world.
Character Progression (It Follows You)
As has become standard now with survival co-op titles, your character and all their inventory follow you to whatever world you go to. This will also mean your progression carries over, but you can still complete quests with friends. As such, you can also progress your own "world" while playing with friends, as it will then carry that progress back with your character.
Pro Tip: If you want to have a solo and a "with friends" character, it's best to make multiple characters.
Loot Share
Loot from chests is individual, so you won't need to worry about any "first-come, first-served" shenanigans from your friends. Wood, Stone, Copper, etc, are shared. If one of you decides the Lumberjack life is for them, your island will look barren quickly.
Crossplay (Steam & Epic)
Sadly, for the time being, the Steam and Epic versions of the game are separate, and you cannot crossplay between them. This may change in the future, but for now, it's important you and your friends play on the same platform.
Note: Though not surprising, there is also no split-screen, no local co-op. Everyone needs their own copy and their own machine. The game also doesn't allow Family Share to play two copies at once.
Is Windrose Coming to Console?
For those on console, for the time being, the developers Kraken Studios have given this dream a swift "for any future platform announcements, the studio is directing fans to watch official channels." Like many games in early access, it will either be a case of waiting for the inevitable 1.0 release or the game doing so well that the developers put it out on console earlier than expected.
Check out our other content for more in-depth Windrose content and expert tips.
