From Feedback to Improvements
Hi everyone!
First of all, thank you to everyone who played the demo, left a review, shared feedback, or joined us on Discord.
Since launch, thousands of players have jumped into Wind Runners. It's been amazing to see so many people discovering the game, and it genuinely warms our hearts whenever someone tells us they've been following Wind Runners for a long time.
We've spent the last few weeks reading your comments, watching gameplay videos, and taking notes. Today, we'd like to go over some of the major feedback you've shared with us, and walk you through the improvements we're already working on to address it.
Enemy Balance
Your early feedback led us to increase the health restored per block after defeating a boss, from 40HP to 100HP. We've kept listening since, and we're continuing to work on further improvements.
We're also making some balance adjustments, especially on the first planet. A few enemies had more health than intended, making early encounters feel slower than we wanted. We're tweaking those fights to keep the action fast while preserving the challenge.
Bosses are one of the pillars of Wind Runners, so we've been paying close attention to your feedback. We're reviewing the balance of several encounters to improve their pacing and overall feel. The goal isn't to make them easier, but to make every victory feel fair, satisfying, and worth mastering.
Improving the Tutorial
A lot of you told us the tutorial felt too long and too slow. We also noticed that some players weren't using certain mechanics, like the lock-on, which told us the tutorial wasn't teaching them clearly enough.
Looking back, we realized it was more confusing than it needed to be. We're reworking it with a few clear goals: reduce the number of steps, keep it as lean as possible, and cut down on dialogue. The goal is simple, get you into the core gameplay faster, without unnecessary detours.
Revisiting the tutorial was already part of our Early Access roadmap, and your feedback confirmed it was the right call. Our goal is to help new players feel comfortable more quickly without slowing down the pace of the game.
SFX Improvement
We've also received a lot of feedback about the game's sound, especially the lack of impact on explosions, hits, and shots, as well as the lack of feedback when secondary weapons are refilling. We hear you, this is something we want to improve.
We're doing a full pass on audio balance, especially SFX versus background music, something we already had planned for Early Access.
But your feedback also sparked additional discussions internally, and we're now looking at ways to push this even further for Early Access, beyond just the audio mix.
Settings access
Many of you asked for more ways to customize your experience and resize key HUD elements like cooldowns and the boost meter.
Key mapping is planned for Early Access, along with multiple control options so you can set things up the way that feels best to you. We're also making constant improvements to the HUD, and we'll keep exploring additional settings to give you even more control over your Wind Runners experience.
To give you an idea of this ongoing work, here's a before/after look at the HUD
from its 2025 version to what it looks like today:
Flight and control
Finally, many of you shared your thoughts about the way the ship feels to control.
Feedback here is mixed: some of you love it as is, others feel the brake makes flight feel "unnatural," and some don't enjoy having the ship always in motion.
This is a bigger discussion for us. It goes beyond simple balancing and touches the core philosophy of Wind Runners. We've been talking about it a lot internally, and while we don't have anything to announce yet, your feedback is an important part of that conversation.
Looking Ahead to Early Access
We're already hard at work preparing the next stage of Wind Runners: two additional pilots, four new planets, and four new bosses that go beyond what was in the demo, on top of everything you've read here.
The improvements we've talked about today are only part of what we're working on for Early Access. Over the coming months, we'll continue refining the game, sharing new features, and giving you a closer look at what's coming next.
Over the coming months, we'll continue refining the game, sharing new features, and giving you a closer look at what's coming next. The Rebellion is only getting started!
Join our Discord to share your thoughts, report your discoveries, and talk directly with the developers:
👉 Discord: https://discord.gg/CGSNH9XrJK
Follow us and stay tuned for the latest news, behind-the-scenes content, and exclusive sneak peeks:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/windrunnersgame/
Discord: https://discord.gg/CGSNH9XrJK
See you among the stars, Wind Runner.