By After the initial access launch and triumph of Dead Cells, the developer Motion Twin made a return to Steam early access last year for its newest action roguelike, Windblown, which aims to exit early access in 2026. The team always intended to pursue early access once more, designers Yannick Berthier and Thomas Vasseur convey to GamesRadar+, and they recognized that expectations have risen since the earlier days of Dead Cells, partly influenced by runaway early access successes like Hades.
With an increasing number of games releasing each year, and the same handful of perennial titles capturing more player focus and funds, it becomes more challenging for new games to penetrate the noise and connect with gamers. One repercussion of this is heightened standards. If you possess limited time or funds for a select few games yet face, conservatively, 15,000 options, your choices will be more deliberate.
I inquired with the Windblown designers regarding their perception of early access expectations today. Berthier states, “the standards are elevated now compared to five or six years ago, in terms of the overall volume of content and polish in every case.” With this perspective, Motion Twin’s ambition for Windblown’s initial launch was to present something that felt complete, even if it wasn’t entirely finished – something Vasseur describes as “a genuine game.”
Vasseur contends that “the essential point is to avoid crafting a paid demonstration for the players. They truly desire a genuine game. Even if it’s incomplete, the content should feel complete, though it isn’t. The limited content available from the start must be impeccable for them. If not, it’s a paid demo, and no one is satisfied with that. So I suppose, yes, expectations are exceedingly high right now given numerous games in the past, like Hades, setting a high standard right from the beginning of early access, so you need to produce something distinctive.”
Berthier observes that “you will encounter players who will express dissatisfaction that the game lacks certain content or isn’t entirely complete. There is a bit more skepticism, I believe, now, which is reasonable because, in a way, they are purchasing the game. Thus, it falls upon us to meet their expectations. But we are only nine individuals, while we were seven for most of the production. It’s always, always challenging to stay aligned with what they want, because they continuously desire more, right?”
Windblown has been progressing quite steadily in early access, gathering over 8,000 89% positive user reviews on Steam. Berthier and Vasseur highlighted revisions to the game’s cooperative death mechanism, which was previously much more severe, and its two-weapon “Alterattack” system as noteworthy modifications influenced by player feedback.
“If what you put out initially during Early Access is truly unsatisfactory, that can pose a significant issue,” Berthier remarks. “We saw several studios that encountered considerable difficulties when they kicked off early access because players disapproved of their creations, and after that, it’s immensely challenging to shift their perspective. Moreover, receiving adverse reviews can undoubtedly affect the game. Fortunately, we didn’t experience those challenges with Windblown. It has been overwhelmingly positive for us, the feedback thus far.”