Crosswind Is an Upcoming F2P Pirate Survival MMO in Development for PC

Today, developer Crosswind Crew has announced an eponymous free-to-play pirate survival MMO game in development for PC. Just like you’d expect, Crosswind is set in the year ’17XX’, right in the middle of the Golden Age of Piracy. It is in this setting that players will take the role of a freelance captain who has just been betrayed and is stranded after a job gone wrong. The game starts as a relatively familiar tale of survival and revenge but eventually expands into a larger conflict with empires, pirate clans, and even mysterious dark forces. Driven by real-life characters and supernatural forces alike, the story unfolds in an epic battle against an unspoken ancient evil.

The game reportedly offers a comprehensive survival experience. Players will explore vibrant, diverse biomes to gather resources and then unleash creativity in building and crafting, turning their initial shelter into a fully functioning outpost. It’s also possible to recruit and expand the crew to speed up harvesting and production. The combat features a vast arsenal of melee weapons and firearms, allowing players to parry and dodge enemy attacks and use a variety of strikes to succeed.

Of course, being a game about the Golden Age of Piracy, the adventures in Crosswind take place on land as well as on sea. From their ship, players may bombard coastal forts from afar, close in, and engage the defenders in hand-to-hand combat. There are various ships, such as nimble cutters, versatile frigates, huge galleons, and more. Singing sea shanties and boarding enemy ships are both available, too. The MMO features include playing with friends, engaging in faction rivalries as well as endgame PvE and PvP activities, including challenging boss fights. Players may trade, raid, and build their own pirate empire.

If you’ve been intrigued by the description and trailer, the developers are running a playtest right now, featuring the first story arc worth 30-40 hours of gameplay, three biomes, three new playable ships and one merchant ship, ground and naval combat, and an early prototype for the Tortuga social hub. You can request access on Steam.

The store page also includes the current minimum and recommended system requirements (the developers warn that performance will improve as the game is developed).