Windward Horizon news & patch notes

Ahoy, Captains!

As promised, the (admittedly long overdue) raid update is now here and to celebrate the game will be 30% off for a limited time!

Jump back in to continue the game's story, unlock a new faction, gather your friends and test your skills with the new high-challenge raid missions where you will be able to earn new powerful artifacts that can greatly change your play style and even unlock entirely new ones!

While this content is meant to be experienced in co-op together with your friends (and is indeed scaled with this in mind), it can be beaten solo for those of you that prefer the additional challenge -- just don't expect to be able to achieve this impressive feat until you've gathered enough raid items to make it possible.

Speaking of raid items, once the night time falls, defeated enemies will have a chance to drop unique loot that you may find incredibly useful for surviving the horrors of the night. Since you don't need to complete the raid in order to start earning the rewards, your power will gradually increase even if you ultimately fail. Here are just a few examples of the gear you might find:

So how does one unlock the ability to start raids, some of you might ask? Well, first you need a very powerful ship -- any one of the ships you've had to unlock will do. Next, you have to be max level (30), and average item tier of 6 (Legendary) or above. You also have to complete certain stories. Once you've done all that, Elvanora Mitrini might have something for you that will let you continue the Guiding Fate story -- with both the new faction and the ability to start raids getting unlocked at the end of it.

Of course if you are simply playing online, such as on the public Tasharen East Coast server, and only care about gearing out your ship, you can skip most of that by simply joining raids hosted by other players.

And with that, I wish you luck and I hope you'll have fun!

-Aren

Ahoy, captains!

The raid update is now in its final testing phases, and I wanted to give everyone the opportunity to try it out early (as in, now) and offer their feedback prior to the update's full launch which is currently scheduled for January 2026.

To start a raid test, a handy /raid command has been added. It's usable while outside any province's sphere of influence, but only ships with a combat score of 2500 or higher will be able to start one. Challenge-wise, it's a tier above 4-skull, and is designed for 3+ players, ideally with all roles being covered (tank, healer, dps).

As you sink enemies in raids, you will be awarded unique raid-only loot that may drastically change how you use your skills, and may open up new pathways for combo and chained abilities. Ever wished that your Water Barrel could cleanse debuffs? How about firing powerful Volleys from both sides of the ship at once? What about taking that one step further, and having Volley automatically trigger a Rampage? Well, all of this and much more is now possible thanks to raid loot. There are many, many different combinations available for you to discover and use in your own builds! Here's my SotL's Fix 'er Up skill, for example:

And before you ask, yes, everything you earn now, you get to keep.

So grab your friends and have some fun! And if you can offer your feedback (ideally via discord.gg/tasharen), that would be most appreciated.

Happy holidays!

-Aren

I've been posting some tidbits on discord about the coming raid update, including what kinds of items to expect from the coming top tier challenges, but I know a lot of you aren't in there so I figured I'd share some here as well! In short, raids are being designed for groups: with specific roles that must be filled in order for the raid to succeed (tank, healer, DPS). There are certain mechanics in the raid that have to be countered, or players will start dying. With the inherently long respawn timer, if everyone is dead, the raid fails and has to be started over. I don't expect anyone to complete the raids successfully on their first try, but failing is a part of the design: you don't need to win to start getting the rewards. Like uncommon drops from any ship you sink elsewhere, you will find random items in raids that don't exist anywhere else that may alter the way you play. As you fail and acquire these items, you will become stronger, and the challenge presented by raid encounters will become easier to deal with, until eventually -- you will win. While the drops from actual victory aren't set in stone at this time (aside from cosmetics), the drops you can find from participating in the raids have been shown in discord.gg/tasharen. Here are some examples for effects you may be able to find on crews or mortars:

There is a lot of variety, and as of this update, all of this is fully moddable. You can set your own rules by defining what's possible via the text-based configuration files. The raid mechanics testing is scheduled to start soon, but the actual update release is still undecided. You may have noticed that Q3 and Q4 this year are extremely packed with various game updates and releases. Unfortunately, Windward Horizon got no press coverage for its launch, and this update will be the game's last chance to get noticed -- and I'd rather not rush it or launch it when it will have an all-but-guaranteed chance of getting buried once more.

And now, for the patch notes leading up to (and including) this small update:

• Added an XP bar to arfifact items that have stats that haven't yet been maxed out.

• Added a variation of an offense crew that buffs haste, hull and damage.

• Added support for cannons having variable firing rate. Adjusting this value increases the delay between shots, but also increases the damage of each shot.

• Tweaked the observer's code a bit to ensure that it applies the correct buff/debuff even in duels.

• Added support for combo buffs: buffs that improve skills. If a buff that improves some skill is present, the associated skill will be highlighted.

• It's now possible to add effects that trigger on skill use. For example: using Volley applies a buff that improves the next Water Barrel.

• Added support for instant proc effects that don't apply a buff/debuff. For example, water barrel cleansing negative effects on hit.

• Added a Limited Immunity effect that prevents debuffs from being applied (ideally going on crews and triggered from Walk It Off).

• Added a new type of a buff for raid items that records damage taken, and then automatically launches a mortar dealing a portion of it back to the enemy.

• You can now bind multiple target-able skills (such as mortar and chain shot) to the same key and they won't conflict.

• Kraken's swirl now does anywhere from 75% to 150% of ship's hull in damage over its duration, determined by the Defense specialization.

• Tentacle attacks now have a visible 0.75 sec preparation animation, and the damage can be mitigated by physical resistance.

• Tentacles now do 200% of the ship's hull as base damage, reduced down to 100% with 50 points in Defense, and further mitigated by physical resistance.

• Items that have skills on them will no longer hide events on the item combine screen.

• Added a chase camera option (right-click your ship with the mouse or hold (X) on controller with the virtual cursor over your ship).

• Added seasonal pumpkins to halloween.

• Made mortar hits trigger useful debris.

• Hovering over a stat now shows a properly halved value over first mates on the Caravel and SotL.

• Choosing the "quit to desktop" option now force-saves immediately before shutting down the application.

• Item names are no longer saved with their localized version, and are now instead localized only when examined.

• Province gossip entries such as trader transactions are no longer saved in their localized state, and will instead be localized on each client.

• The "Edit Provinces" world option now also allows choosing the next workshop in NPC-established provinces.

• Fixed the swirly red mortar attack bypassing resistance. This was not intended. Resistance skills and buffs (such as Brace for Impact) will now mitigate its damage properly.

• Pirate kings should no longer spawn as temporary mobs (which was causing them to disappear when the player disconnected). This will likely also resolve the issue with them despawning.

• Added /export and /import to export/import specific player data from one world to another.

• Fixed the ship control key binding buttons showing "Any+Key" instead of just "Key".

July brought a quieter patch cycle as I focused on improving core systems and prepping for major upcoming content, but it wasn’t without some big updates.

The biggest addition this month was the introduction of optional nighttime, along with new world visual settings, better performance with reflections disabled by default, and improved UI and visibility systems. I've also added more anti-aliasing options, fixed lingering issues with ship swapping and continued improving the world map's dynamic features.

Here’s what that shipped in July:

Patch Notes

• Added an optional night time to the game. It can be turned on via world options.

• Added new options to world options: day length. This is only visual, and is separate from the in-game day duration (which is always 6 minutes).

• Unified game's day length and visible day length to match one another. Before they did not.

• Various effects now provide night-time light sources, even if only temporarily (explosions, fireworks, grog, etc)

• Fixed the town UI's player inventory becoming invisible after swapping ships with inventory open.

• Ships won't share sight at night (unless they are near a light).

• Sight distance is reduced at night.

• Added the ability to ask in town gossip for "story" to see if anyone in the world needs to speak with the player.

• If reflections are turned off, they will still render the skybox to fix water reflections at night.

• Wind particles will no longer be affected by the wind past a certain distance from the player, saving a bit of performance.

• Added more anti-aliasing options, including temporal AA.

• If holding shift while building a tower, only allow the largest possible tower to be built.

Looking Ahead ːsteamthisː

Next month is shaping up to be the biggest yet. New raid content is in the works, and I'll be sharing details very soon. Thanks to everyone who has been submitting bug reports and feedback; it has helped guide every step.

Until then, enjoy the calm waters... while they last.

2025-07-04.0

2025-06-29.0

June’s been a huge month for Windward Horizon. Since launch, we’ve been updating the game almost daily, introduced modding tools, patched major bugs, added Steam Workshop support, and are laying the groundwork for the upcoming raid content.

Here’s everything we rolled out this month:

Steam Summer Sale - 10% Off

Perfect time to join the crew or gift a copy to a friend

Steam Workshop Support - Now Live

You can now browse, install, and share your mods directly through the Workshop. From skins, gameplay tweaks to full-blown community localizations. Some community members have already started working on some interesting projects, and I'm eager to see how they turn out!

New commands like /extract, /newmod, and UI support for mod selection have also been added to make creating and managing mods easier

Full Modding Guide

Browse Workshop Mods here:

Patch Notes

2025-06-27.0

• Added Steam Workshop / modding support.

• Made the /extract command extract the actual game's files rather than the current data (which may include modded values).

• Added a new /newmod command that creates a blank mod without any data.

• The game now makes a backup of the player's save file before mods are enabled.

• Fixed the grog's projectile barrel not having the proper color, the way the explosive barrel projectile did.

• Choosing a different language now enables the legible text option by default.

• Language selection is now correctly persistent when re-launching the game.

• Added a way to replace entire config nodes, not just append to them.

• Increased the movement speed of the virtual cursor when the controller stick's direction is maxed out.

• The ship config file can now specify a default (starting) ship rather it being hard-coded to be the sloop.

• Changed how and when the world config gets reset/updated to make it work better with mods.

• Mods that include textures are now marked as having game assets, and mods only tie to the player if they modify the relevant configuration or alter conversation files. Mods with assets or textures don't force the player to be marked as modded.

• Fixed player showing up under their old name in chat after choosing a new character on a public server.

• Fixed the mod manager not calculating the mod hashes correctly.

• The starting location is now more randomized and is no longer in the middle of the world.

2025-06-19.0

• Added an /extract command to extract all of the game's config, conversation, and localization data into a brand-new mod. Use this to see how the game works. Change anything you want, or use it as a guide for your mods. Guide coming soon (next week).

• Non-artifact items will now gain XP twice as quickly.

• Fixed the message of the day not showing up upon joining the server.

• Added a mod selection dialog window that shows up if you have mods available.

• Skills that apply buffs can now be used even if the buff is already active (which will refresh its duration and/or increase the number of stacks)

2025-06-17.0

• Added the option to replace the handwritten-looking fancy font with a clear, legible one.

• Added a way to set the message-of-the-day with the /motd command available to server admins.

• Slightly improved SotL and Frigate's base turning rate.

• Added a more obvious way of editing existing campaign settings.

• Some more tweaks to /rename to make it work better.

• Your ship will now automatically anchor while fishing, diving, in a conversation, or interacting with a town.

2025-06-16.0

• Fixed ship type not being tied to the region's position properly in co-op type instances with level scaling disabled.

• Removed bosses from co-op missions on lower-tier difficulties in Solo mode.

• Added a slider to world options that controls the speed at which provinces will grow their population, letting you raise it up to 10x the base speed.

• Boss-tier NPCs will no longer have the ability to repair themselves out of combat.

• Fixed a bug in the networking code that was causing oddities and was potentially the cause of the strange tower issues. (Server admins should update their server executable.)

• Made the /rename command work in multiplayer as well.

2025-06-14.0

• The SotL unlock story is now in.

• Provinces under a trade embargo may now offer a quest to lift it.

2025-06-13.0

• If the player is awarded loot with full inventory, it will now drop in the ocean next to the player's ship.

• Projectiles that explode near the ship can now be reflected by Giant Net as well.

• Instances will no longer show up for anyone until the owner has finished creating the region.

• Instances will no longer show up for anyone not on the same version as the host.

• Fixed the shipyard price not reflecting the ship's actual cost properly.

• Cleaned up the Alvana/Rowdy/Silvano story flags, simplifying them. If your progress is stuck, use /resetAlvana to restart it.

• Fixed one option in Alvana's story (be better than your father) that was causing the story to reset to a much earlier state.

• All ships will now be removed at the end of the Coups.

2025-06-10.1

• Fixed a long-standing bug that was messing up world map pathfinding and many other things (which was just the most obvious symptom of the bug).

• Greatly improved the performance of the world map.

• Stratospheric clouds will now properly fade out in foggy conditions.

• You can now turn off the error sound on use for your skills by right-clicking any skill.

• The server's admin can now rename provinces and towns at will.

• Dropped the quick-leave timer from 60 sec to 20.

• Items gifted to other players and then passed back to the owner will now restore their vendor price value.

• Using the /rename command no longer creates a different profile and will now keep your reputation, unlocks, and story progress.

• Another fix for AI fog usage.

2025-06-08.2

• Halved the amount of XP needed to level up higher-tier non-artifact items.

• Opening a UI window while in port will no longer anchor you if there is an active conflict in the region.

• While trying to settle a province, the world map will now show actual resource icons rather than just (?) marks.

• The navigation dialog now has the option to remain in the region, and will also always show your home province as one of the choices.

• Added separate icons for different lumber types.

• Fixed the 'Establish New Province' quest failing upon establishing a province if the limit is set to 1 province.

• Added a way to voluntarily reset your own stories for romance-able characters, in case you want to try different choices: /resetSonya, /resetAlvana, and /resetLani.

• Reduced story progression wait timers down to 10 minutes at most.

• Fixed the dye mixer not working with the click-and-move approach to moving items (it only worked with drag and drop).

• Tweaked Alvana's conversation a bit to make it more obvious that you're making the wrong choice and screwing up her romance.

• Reduced the amount of wrecks you need to salvage to get freebie late-game ships.

• Limited AI to use fog only once every 30 seconds, regardless of cooldowns.

• The game will now back up player ship saves every 30 minutes. Just in case.

• Battle progress timer should not advance while the game is paused.

• Reduced the snare effect on crit from offense spec talents.

• Added accuracy to being hit for basic Useful Debris.

🎵 Original Soundtrack Now Available

The Windward Horizon Original Soundtrack is now live on Steam! Over an hour of music from the game, ranging from calm exploration tracks to high-tension naval battles.

Composed by Finn MK, it is available on all major music platforms.

Featuring 20 tracks, including bonus exclusive ones! Take the Windward journey with you everywhere you go!

What’s Next? - A storm is brewing.

The first major raid content is well underway. Expect new high-tier encounters, unique loot, and instanced combat challenges

For now, prepare your best gear.

2025-06-27.0

2025-06-19.0

2025-06-17.0

🌴 Summer Sale Ahoy! Windward Horizon 10% Off Until July 10

Windward Horizon is part of the Steam Summer Sale!

From now through July 10, the game is available at 10% off.

If you’ve been waiting to jump in or want to bring a friend aboard, now’s the time to set sail.

⛵ Get it here

🎵 Original Soundtrack Now Available

The Windward Horizon Original Soundtrack is now live on Steam! Over an hour of music from the game, ranging from calm exploration tracks to high-tension naval battles.

Composed by Finn MK, it is available on all major music platforms.

Featuring 20 tracks, including bonus exclusive ones! Take the Windward journey with you everywhere you go!

⚔️ A Storm is brewing...

More to come soon... Can you guess what's on the horizon?

Thank you all for your support thus far.

2025-06-16.0

2025-06-14.0

2025-06-13.0

2025-06-10.1

2025-06-08.2

2025-06-05.0

2025-06-03.0

2025-06-01.0

2025-05-31.0

Here’s a full breakdown of every patch shipped during May:

🛠️ May 16 – Version 2025-05.16.1

• Quest monetary rewards (and the associated value of quest reward items) is now scaled by the player's power rating, resulting in much higher value rewards at higher levels.
• Added an indicator showing the expected combat power rating.
• Combat power rating now includes the reduced item level based on highest combat stats.
• Fixed P2P (multiplayer via Steam) not working unless the player went on a public server first.
• Made Escape open up the menu.
• Fix for importing docked ships resetting player gold (demo).
• Fishing no longer generates items if the window is closed and re-opened without catching the fish.
• Fixed a bug related to stored ships causing crowns to reset to 0.
• Several other minor fixes.

🛠️ May 17 – Pre-Launch Balance and Improvements

• Ships in provinces that differ too much from the player's current power rating will now be automatically despawned to offer a more appropriate challenge.
• Starter quests will no longer generate quality 0 items. Instead, anything with a quality of 0 will be replaced with dye, sail pattern, or town supplies.
• Reduced the number of guaranteed new province quests. They now require security of 75% or higher, and 2 guaranteed ones are only if the province is size 10 or higher.
• Capped security at 95% in regions below size 5.
• New player province choices will now be based on the highest security rather than influence of that faction so that new players begin in safe regions.
• El Mitrini's quest can now be failed, since it can just be picked up again.
• Reduced the price of the Sloop of War by 20%.

🛠️ May 18 – Version 2025-05-18.1

• Added screen resolution and anti-aliasing options to the menu.
• Province settling quests are now limited by the player's reputation with that faction. The higher the player's reputation, the more regions they can settle.
• Demo is now correctly capped at +3 as the item quality from drops. This can be raised to +4 by gaining XP.
• Fixed left/right trigger icons being backwards.
• Added a star to the primary stat, given the chosen talents as a hint to the player.
• Marked mortars (swirly red things on the water) now bypass one-shot protection.
• Fixed slightly incorrect pricing when buying/selling ships.

🛠️ May 22 – Version 2025-05-22.6

• Fixed docked ships becoming invisible after logging out, with a chance of losing them later if relogged.
• Added a warning about Steam Cloud being disabled. Game needs it on to save properly.
• Fixed the steam migration not happening if you join by clicking on a friend instead of via the server select/singleplayer.
• Made the settle new province quest reveal all valid resources near you on the world map as you explore, not just those near the source province. Still only allows settling near a province of that faction though.
• If a player gets into combat while missing pieces of gear (such as after taking it off to move it to another ship), default gear will be instantly installed.
• Fixed selling ships not actually granting the sale value.
• Added more info to the loading screen to help track down where it gets stuck where some people try to connect. If you get stuck on the loading screen connecting, please submit what you see in the bug reports channel.

🛠️ May 23 – Version 2025-05-23.4

• Changed priority of non-essential sounds to remove them from audio queue. This should help audio work properly in high-pop instances.
• Fixed the Bilander quest not consuming gathered items.
• Added clarification to the starter dialog that the initial choice is for the starting location, not player faction.
• Possible fix for NPCs getting stuck on the world map.
• Galleon quest is no longer shared with others upon entering the province.
• Lani's lockbox fishing quest drop chance now goes up by 10% every time you fish/dive to help players find it faster.
• Players now start as Free Navy rather than Independent, so the FN faction rep buff will be applied properly.
• Starter regions now have base security of 80% instead of 0%, making them a lot more chill.
• Decreased pirate incursion chance by 75%, making all regions safer.
• Increased the number of towns players can settle (towns, not provinces!)
• Starter regions in new worlds will now be large size rather than medium, giving you more space.
• Back-end network packet reduction for ships traveling the world and their pathfinding.
• Lani's quest now gives both fishing and diving skills for those doing it.
• Several story conversations will now automatically trigger follow-ups with the correct NPC without you having to seek them out first.
• Salvage recovery free ship reward no longer requires you to have an empty quest log.

🛠️ May 24 – Version 2025-05-24.0

• The game will now automatically pause when you open inventory, town UI or world map in single player.
• Added a /limit # command that will limit the number of people able to enter your instances. Default limit is now 16, value 2 to 32.
• Added a /uisize # command, where # is a value you want your UI height to be. For example 1080 will force it to 1080p regardless of resolution. '0' to reset.
• Fixed 4-skull kings not spawning in higher tier ships, and instead matching your own.
• Fixed connecting to friend's game via P2P not working until you opened the server list, agreeing to the disclaimer.
• Added a ship sale confirmation dialog to prevent players from accidentally selling ships.
• Combat instance icons will no longer show on the world map if they can't be entered anymore (due to limit being reached).
• Added player count/max indicator to the combat instance tooltips.
• Increased quest reward monetary value for mid to high level players, making quests more lucrative.
• Grog effect particles now get automatically reduced when there are a lot of players to help improve performance.

🛠️ May 25 – Version 2025-05-25.0

• Cannon projectiles will now harmlessly pass through allies. This should help in crowded instances.
• Added a context menu option to Volley, Mortar, Rampage and Grog skills to always show their radius/firing arc.
• The game will no longer pause on the world map if your ship has a destination set.
• Ship customization screen needs the game to be unpaused for the preview to function properly, so the game will not be pausing while the your customization window is open.
• FPS counter is no longer affected by paused time.
• Fixed UI scaling not persisting after switching regions.
• Whether the game will pause while in the inventory/town screen is now an option in the menu.
• Setting /limit now works while already inside an instance.
• Auto-shrinking windows on 1080p screens now work while the game is paused.
• Made the game show a warning about steam cloud not being enabled.
• Fixed one of Alvana's paths allowing you to skip a step.
• Instance bosses will now always drop loot for players, even if the player is dead or far away.
• Commodities dropped by ships will now always be something that the closest province wants.
• Variety of network back-end tweaks.
• Fixed explosion AOE damage not applying adequate damage.
• Water barrel can now also be right-clicked to show its range.
• Added new defensive type captains and mates.
• Improved the Bilander's layout.
• Fixed the power rating indicator's value and associated power calculations/logic.
• Fixed one path where Alvana's story could get stuck, unable to progress.
• Increased the chance of 3 and 4-skull challenge quests.

🛠️ May 26 – Version 2025-05-26.0

• Fixed a bug that was saving players that join others via Steam's friends list under the wrong name (Guest), making it seem like the progress was not being saved. The game will rename the file for you automatically if it can.
• Fixed the Galleon. Its mortar multiplier and cooldown was incorrect. It was erroneously set to 400% haste while doing 100% damage. It's now correctly set to double haste, half damage, which brings it in line with other ships in the game, rather than an overpowered god with magical unicorn powers.
• Turned off HP and damage scaling of ships outside of instances. This was causing power balance to be completely out of whack in some regions on the server.
• Once a player pings the map, the ping audio from that player will now be muted for 10 seconds, and the name of the player will appear in chat.
• You can no longer swap ships while you have an active bounty quest.
• Ships can no longer sell for more than the amount you've paid for them in the first place.
• Added an in-game way of adding friends via /friends . Both players have to add each other to friends before they get the perks: see each other's sight on the world map, see each other's private instances, and a unique color on the minimap to help them stand out.
• Added a /help command to chat listing available commands and what they do.
• Added /limit and /scaling info to chat upon entering an instance in multiplayer.
• Fixed the "primary stat" indicator not marking the stats properly when the player multi-classed and had more than one primary stat as the result.
• Pirates spawned to attack the player (for quests and such) will now always be of the spec that's vulnerable to the player's current spec to make it more fun.
• The chance for pirate attacks will now fall off more rapidly as the province's security goes up.
• Removed code that was making pirates stronger as the player's item level was going up.
• Fixed the combat power indicator being stuck around 1630.

2025-05-30.0

2025-05-28.0

2025-05-26.0

2025-05-25.0

Reminder I'm running a Gleam Giveaway

2025-05-24

2025-05-23

2025-05-22

Buy now:

• Your ship, docked ships, and vault all carry over in full,
• Your reputation carries over if you've earned at least 1000 rep in any faction,
• Carried-over reputation is capped at 2500,
• No story, unlocks, or achievements carry over. You can choose different options this time if you like.