17 Years Later, A Classic Co-op Beat-Em-Up Is Getting A Surprising New Feature
Crash the party your way.
In the golden era of indie games and smaller projects flourishing on digital platforms, Castle Crashers was one of the biggest games of its time. First released in the summer of 2008, the hand-drawn 2D hack-and-slash brawler was a love letter to the timeless simplicity of moving right and beating up bad guys with a few friends. Castle Crashers was a reminder that smaller games could still pack a punch at a time when most developers were aiming for the stars with big-budget productions.
Some 17 years after its release, Castle Crashers is adding the perfect excuse to return to this indie hit with a few friends: an all-new expansion called Painter Boss Paradise adds new characters, updated art assets across the entire game, and a robust custom character creator for endless replayability. And it's all available now on Steam,for the price of a cup of coffee.
It’s not often that we see games get support nearly two decades after it’s initial release. But Castle Crashers is breaking this mold for good reason. Painter Boss Paradise is adding the game’s first new playable character since 2011, named Paint Junior. Paint Junior is a mage capable of using their artistic prowess to fire fearsome (and adorable) drawings from his imagination at enemies. Developer The Behemoth teased that Paint Junior has other hidden powers that will unlock as they’re leveled up, imploring players to hop in and discover them.
Going with the theme of the new character, The Behemoth also added a new Fresh mode, which remixes all of the menu art, including the character and level select screens. The most impressive new feature, however, is the character creator. Here, players can design their own creations, draw each angle of their 2D character, and even forge their weapon and magic of choice.
It’s a neat addition that brings the modern-day player’s obsession with skins and player customization to a classic well worth revisiting.
If you’re not as creatively inclined, The Behemoth added Steam Workshop integration so players can see what other players in the community are creating and import them into their own games. Behemoth has already uploaded 29 custom characters created by the team for players to check out. That number will surely grow in the weeks to come as players add their own to the Steam Workshop pool.
The Bethemoth has already released several new characters its made with the game’s new custom character tool.
“Our team thanks you, the community who makes it all happen for this little chicken indie studio, for the outpouring of love, excitement, and anticipation you’ve shared for the Painter Boss Paradise DLC,” the team said in a message to the fans on their website. “Your support means the world, and we are beyond excited to share this fresh version of Castle Crashers after almost 17 years of crashing castles together!”
Castle Crashers is a four-player co-op beat-em-up that’s perfect between sessions of more mentally taxing and involved games like Marvel Rivals or the upcoming Battlefield 6 Beta. Its cartoonish style and slapstick action are the kind of timeless fun that still looks and plays as good as it did when it was released. These days, it goes for just $15 on Steam; a steal for what is one of the best indie games of all time.
