Castle Crashers News

[p][/p][p]This year, the big chicken asks you to consider nominating Castle Crashers for the honor of Steam's Labor of Love Award! Interested in learning some quick history about all the love we've poured into our second-ever game baby? Read on!
[/p][h3]Where it all began: the Castle Crashers demo at Comic Con 2005![/h3][p][/p][p]We first shared a playable demo of Castle Crashers at San Diego Comic Con back in 2005! Running on a GameCube dev kit, this early version had slightly different designs for our four brave champions and was codenamed “Ye Olde Sidescroller.”

After three years of hard work, Castle Crashers was officially released for the Xbox Live Arcade in August 2008, taking the world by storm with its hilarious animation, colorful world, and addictive beat ‘em up combat! Our co-op arcade adventure was further developed with downloadable content in the form of playable characters, weapons, and animal orbs before receiving its first port for PlayStation 3 in 2010.

Two years later, Castle Crashers became our first title available on Steam, where you’re reading this post right now! Woah!
[/p][h3]Back Off, Barbarian![/h3][p]

Back in 2015, we released the Barbarian Makeover on Steam, introducing the Back Off Barbarian mini game, an ultra graphics setting, and loads of bug fixes and improvements! This version was later released for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and the Nintendo Switch as Castle Crashers Remastered, with the latter receiving a physical release in 2023 – our first physical copies of any game since Alien Hominid back in the early 2000’s!
[/p][h3]Fast forward to the first DLC in 13 years:[/h3][p][/p][p]In August 2025, we launched the Painter Boss Paradise DLC to add a longtime requested feature to the game – custom character capabilities! Featured after the game’s iconic Painter Boss, the DLC also added a TON of new art throughout the game, quality of life updates, and a new official character in Paint Junior.

Thanks to community contributions in the Castle Crashers Steam Workshop, almost 40,000 custom characters are available for DLC players to choose for their co-op adventure!
[/p][h3]Here’s just a handful of the amazing custom knights you’ve made:[/h3][p][/p][p]This year, we’re celebrating 17 years of crashing castles together! Thanks to your unwavering support, our (small) big chicken indie dev team continues to follow our passion of making games of all shapes and sizes for you to enjoy. If Castle Crashers has made a lasting impact on you after all these years, we’d be honored to have your nomination for this year’s Labor of Love Award!

By the way, all of our games are on sale this week, including Castle Crashers at 70% off, AND we’ll be streaming tomorrow on YouTube and Twitch to celebrate our love for Castle Crashers at 2 PM PST. See you soooooon![/p][p][/p]

[p][/p][p]Happy November, knights! Can you believe it’s been three months since the release of Painter Boss Paradise? We hope you had an amazing Halloween, but it’s time to move on to a VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT we’re sure you’ve all been excitedly anticipating. Cheeks. Are. Back!!!!!
[/p][p]You heard that right. Alien Hominid’s butt cheeks are BACK in today’s patch, along with a myriad of updates and bug fixes for both the Global version of Castle Crashers and the Painter Boss Paradise DLC! Let's get right into it, shall we? [/p][p][/p][h3]Mac[/h3]

• [p]Fixed an issue with text getting cut off in the Manager menu[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue with vibration/rumble for controllers on Mac[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue with Steam Input recommended configs not working with Mac[/p][p][/p]

[h3]Input[/h3]

• [p]Fixed an issue with push-to-talk key not working when there are only gamepad players[/p]
• [p]Fixed inverted left analog stick for PS5 controllers when Steam Input is not enabled[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue with Steam Input not working when controller is plugged in after boot[/p]
• [p]Added native support for PS5 DualSense controllers[/p][p][/p]

[h3]Painter Boss Paradise[/h3]

• [p]Fixed an issue with re-uploaded characters not appearing in online games[/p]
• [p]Fixed visual bug with dear Herbert’s portrait (we love you Herbert)[/p]
• [p]Fixed various visual bugs with Fresh Beefy character art[/p]
• [p]Added FRESH Blacksmith Beefy art[/p]
• [p]Added new skeleton art for Necromancer projectile magic in Fresh mode[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where the defeated Painter Boss body would disappear after defeating from underneath the chest[/p]
• [p]Updated Skeleton’s portrait art[/p]
• [p]Updated Necromancer’s Skeleton magic art[/p]
• [p]Updated Main Menu vignettes to reflect new Skeleton art[/p]
• [p]Fixed visual art bugs in the attract mode[/p][p][/p]

[h3]Global[/h3]

• [p]Fixed some visual glitches in the Final Wizard Battle[/p]
• [p]Fixed attack power being overridden when being hit out of tornado attack[/p]
• [p]Fixed visual art bugs in Beefy uppercut animation[/p]
• [p]Fixed a visual bug when grabbing chickens in the` Beefy arena[/p]
• [p]Added SFX to shield blocking[/p]
• [p]Implemented various text and translation fixes[/p]
• [p]Implemented various optimizations[/p]
• [p]Last but not least: Alien butts have been recheeked!!!!!!!!!!!!![/p][p][/p]

[p]Hopefully we never have to spend a playthrough with cheek-less buttocks ever again.[/p][p][/p][p]Searching for characters to download? Look no further than The Behemoth's Found Fortunes Vol. 2, a collection of recreated Castle Crashers characters for you to enjoy:[/p][p]
[dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

[p]Chick-or-treat! We’re back with our annual Behemoth Halloween Art Contest, Painter Boss Paradise edition! This year, you’ll need to choose ANY character from our games, then dress them up in a costume found in the Castle Crashers Painter Boss Paradise DLC Steam Workshop.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]For example, you could dress up Hatty Hattington as a BOTTLE OF RANCH, or Red Knight as a GREEN KNIGHT PLUSHIE! Three (3) winners located in the USA will receive a Skeleton Figurine and Necromancer Plushie! Winners outside of the United States will receive a Steam gift card. Entries are accepted until the end of Monday, October 27th.[/p][p][/p][p]For full details on how to enter, visit our blog here. 🪦[/p]

[h2]A lucky 13 years ago today, Castle Crashers landed on Steam! 🍰[/h2][p][/p][p]This game baby of ours has seen a lot over the years, like a remaster through the Barbarian Makeover Update back in 2015, to a new DLC in 2025! Thank you to everyone who has picked up a copy (or more), told a friend about it, or left a review over the years; it truly means a lot to our small but Behemoth team and it helps us continue to Make Games![/p][p][/p][h3]Here's what the menu looked like way back when for a little dose of nostalgia:[/h3][p][/p][p]Much love,[/p][p]The Behemoth Team[/p][p] [/p]

[p]Happy Monday, knights! How have your Painter Boss Paradise adventures been treating you? We hope you’ve been having a grand time playing as Paint Junior, creating custom knight skins for the Steam Workshop, and enjoying all the new art the DLC has to offer![/p][p][/p][p]Today we have a few bug fixes to deploy, including fixes for the double/overlapped body piece and achievement tracking for Custom Characters. We appreciate your patience as we tackle these issues and thank the community members who have reported bugs to our support team![/p][p][/p][h3]Fixes[/h3]

1. [p]Removed the doubled/overlapped body piece for Custom Characters[/p]
2. [p]Issued a fix for the Hawkster princess fight auto-heal softlock[/p]
3. [p]Fixed "Bomb A" Custom Character magic option to use standard XXXY damage when not replacing Gray Knight [/p]
4. [p]Issued a fix for arena stats achievement tracking in save data for Unique slot Custom Characters[/p]

[p][/p][p]That’s all for now!!! Searching for characters to download? Look no further than The Behemoth's Found Fortunes Vol. 1, a collection of Workshop skins we used on stream last week:[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p][/p]