Windrose In-Game Chat: Voice Chat, Proximity Chat & Discord

Updated 2026-10-19: Corrected this guide: Windrose has no built-in text chat and no G-key ping wheel (G opens Discovery in the default controls). Text chat is a player request marked Proposed on the official feedback board; a Nexus mod adds one.

Windrose chat at a glance

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Does Windrose have voice chat?

No. The Steam page sells Windrose as co-op for up to 8 players on self-hosted or dedicated servers, but nothing in the game carries your voice to your crew. On October 19 we searched every official Windrose announcement on Steam, through patch 0.10.0.9, for chat: none of them mentions it. The only "voice lines" in the notes are ship crew barks.

So treat external voice as part of the setup, not a fallback. Pick the Discord channel before anyone sets sail, turn on push-to-talk if someone streams or shares a room, and keep the game audio loud enough to hear your ship take fire under the chatter.

Is there proximity chat in Windrose?

No, and nothing official points to one. Proximity voice isn't in the build, isn't in the patch notes and hasn't been announced. If you've seen a list that says it's "planned", that list is guessing. The nearest thing to a plan is the player request below, which asks for "text chat and/or in-game voice" and hasn't been picked up.

Screenshot: Steam store page

Does Windrose have text chat?

Not built in. Kraken Express runs an official feedback board at windrose.support, and the request "In-game chat and player board in the server" sits there marked Proposed with more than 200 upvotes. Proposed means players asked for it; it isn't on a roadmap and it has no date.

The comment thread under it reads like a list of everyone this hurts. De-bor-ah, whose friend has no mic, has to hit Escape and switch to Discord just to type a message. Garan Braddock writes about "deaf and hearing impaired friends who can't ever join on voicecalls". Caazego takes the opposite view on voice and still wants text: "Text chat would be nice. I'm happy if there is no in-game voice." Another commenter, DeeDee, asks for text chat "along with the ability to ping locations on the map that are visible to everyone", which tells you shared pings aren't in the game either.

The text chat mod

If your crew needs to type, the Windrose Text Chat mod by DABIN is the route. Its Nexus summary is one line: it "adds text chat to Windrose". It went up on July 25 and was last updated on September 4.

We haven't installed it, so read the mod page for the install steps and whether every player (and a dedicated server) needs a copy before you build a session around it. Mods are unofficial: a Windrose patch can break one until its author catches up, so back up your save first. The Windrose mods guide covers how mods and dedicated servers fit together.

What about pings?

Older versions of this page told you to hold G for a ping wheel. That was wrong. In the default keyboard controls G opens the Discovery menu, and the list has no key for chat or for marking a spot for your crew. Until that changes, a callout has to go over voice or through the mod chat.

Screenshot: Steam store page

How to run a crew without in-game chat

1. Pick the voice channel first. Start Discord before the host launches the world, so nobody has to alt-tab out mid-fight to find the invite.
2. Keep the party small. The game takes 8, but the host lobby warns that more than 4 players may significantly impact performance. Four is also about as many voices as a callout channel can carry.
3. Agree on three words. "Group" (everyone back to me), "clear" (safe to loot) and "abort" (stop opening chests, head for the ship). Short words survive a busy channel.
4. Name the place, not "there". Without a shared marker, "north camp, Journal objective" beats "over here" every time.
5. Give your non-talkers a way in. Install the text chat mod, or keep a Discord text channel open on a second screen.

For the rest of co-op setup (Shared Quest Progress, roles, who sails), the Windrose multiplayer guide and the co-op setup guide go deeper. The Windrose leveling guide explains why a crew should call out quests before splitting up.

Our take

We'd set up Discord before the first session and stop waiting for Kraken Express to fix this; nothing on the official feed suggests chat is close. If anyone in your crew is deaf, mute or plays next to a sleeping kid, install the text chat mod and test it on a throwaway save. And if you want native chat, go upvote the request on the feedback board: it's the only official place the studio is tracking it.

References

• In-game chat request on the official Windrose feedback board: status, votes and player comments
• Windrose Text Chat on Nexus Mods: the fan mod that adds typed chat
• Windrose on Steam: co-op player count and official announcements

Related Reading

• Windrose Complete Guide Hub: every Windrose guide in one place.
• Windrose Multiplayer Guide: party roles and shared objectives.
• Windrose Co-op Setup Guide: hosting, joining and server settings.
• Windrose Best Mods: what to install and how.
• Windrose Pirate Camps Farming Guide: camp routes for a crew.
• Windrose Naval Tactics Guide: ship fights and boarding.
• Windrose Beginner Guide: the first hours, solo or with friends.