Get ready to sail the seven seas and survive as a pirate during the Age of Piracy, as the developer over at the Crosswind Crew gear up to launch a Steam playtest of their survival game, Crosswind. In this upcoming free-to-play pirate game, you will build, craft, trade, and plunder, either alone, with friends in your private world, or online with other players.

Set somewhere in the 1700s, you are a freelance captain who was betrayed by your crew and find yourself stranded on an island. After gathering the necessary tools and food to survive, you build back up, get a new ship with crew, and set sail. While on your path to revenge, you find yourself caught in the middle of a conflict between the empire and other pirate clans. Crosswind will feature light survival mechanics similar to those found in games like Valheim, multiple biomes with different enemies and bosses, and a free-building system that lets you claim an island and construct your own outpost or pirate cove.

The Crosswind playtest will go live around mid to late April 2025, and access can be requested by heading to the Steam page and clicking the “Request Access” button. However, it is not guaranteed that everyone will be chosen to participate, as there are limited spots. Also, to minimize latency on its servers, some regions will sadly be excluded. If you live in Europe, North America, or Asia, you are safe, as these have been confirmed to have active servers during the test.

Are you going to try your luck by applying for the playtest?