Viral pirate survival game Windrose has a release date, and it's very, very soon

Everyone dreams of being a pirate at some point in their lives. Perhaps it was singing sea shanties in Assassin's Creed: Black Flag that got you going, or the chaotic shenanigans of Sea of Thieves. For me, it was the original Pirates of the Caribbean game, inspired by my love for the movies and many a childhood trip to Disneyland. I've been waiting for a game that captures that true sense of lawlessness chaos; I hoped that Skull and Bones would manage it, but that simply wasn't to be. While the Black Flag Remake feels somewhat inevitable at this point, Windrose is, perhaps, the thing that'll finally fill that skull-shaped void in my heart - and it finally has a release date.

Having gone viral earlier this year as part of February's Steam Next fest, Windrose markets itself as a "PvE survival adventure" set during the Age of Piracy. Playable both solo or with up to four pals, it's your job to carve out your own Tortuga, grow your crew, and give the likes of Blackbeard a run for his money. You'll be exploring dungeons, adjusting to different biomes, and battling it out both on land and the high seas, with a whole arsenal of perks and weapons at your command.

At its core, however, Windrose is a survival game. You'll be building your own base from scratch, recruiting new NPCs to help with daily tasks, and trading with the world's myriad factions in order to establish a foothold. Combat is souls-lite; bosses will kill you, and you'll need to keep an eye on your stamina as you fight. No one said a pirate's life was easy.

Windrose certainly has an exciting premise, even if the survival genre feels like it's full to bursting. With over 1.5 million wishlists and 850,000 players taking the Next Fest demo for a spin, it's currently ranked eighth on Steam's Most Wishlisted chart, beating out the likes of Pragmata, Total War: Warhammer 40k, and 007 First Light. Not too bad debut.

The wait for a launch date is over, however. Windrose will launch in early access on Tuesday, April 14 - that's less than a week away. You can wishlist it here to ensure that you're first in line when it drops.

The team's been busy implementing a series of post-beta changes, informed by "over 12,000 completed surveys and 7,500+ reviews." Your friends will now be able to man the cannons during naval combat, loot has more variety and has been redistributed, there's a new FOV slider, and the team is looking to increase multiplayer from four to eight players. Plus, the sea shanties are going to sound a bit gruffer, which realistically is the most important change on that list.

With mere days to go until launch, I can't wait to live out my Jack Sparrow fantasy all over again. Watch out, Ubisoft, Black Flag may be the seminal pirate game, but I have a feeling Windrose is going to be a banger.