Large And In Charge - The Behemoth | PAX East 2025

A large amount of my childhood revolved around flash games on sites like Newgrounds and Albino Black Sheep. When I heard that The Behemoth would be at PAX East, I jumped at the opportunity to sit down and talk to them about their new Castle Crashers DLC Painter Boss Paradise and their new game called Behemoth.

Castle Crashers has been a beloved game for the past seventeen years, and it's interesting for them to be coming back to the game after all this time. If you are new to Castle Crashers, the game is a side-scrolling beat 'em up style game where you and three others can travel around a map trying to save a princess while also running into a variety of enemies and some very interesting boss fights. 

They are returning to the game with updated artwork for all of the characters as well as a character creator where you can make your own characters including the different sprite angles so you can get each pose looking great. You will then be able to share those creations allowing other people to enjoy your work. I was able to see some other new characters they have made using this new feature including my favourite: the anaphylactic knight which was basically one of the knights having a serious allergic reaction. Which fits right into the humour I loved about Castle Crashers.

I also got a chance to try a little bit of their new game Behemoth, which was a big feature of the arcade boxes they had on display at their booth at Pax. In Behemoth I played as the titular chunky bird that accompanies their logo. In the game I flew around collecting baby chicks to bring them to a nest while also collecting candy corn and dodging meat and other items trying to stop me from getting those chicks home. This was a cool game to showcase at their booth as it perfectly fit the arcade vibe they were going for.

It was a really cool experience to be able to talk with a game studio that has given me and many others joy for the past 20 years. I still remember playing Castle Crashers for the first time on Xbox 360 and remember playing Alien Hominid, one of their first games back on Newgrounds. If you are interested in Castle Crashers you can pick up the original game now on Switch, Steam, PS4/PS5 and Xbox. And look out for the new DLC coming out sometime this year. You can also pick up Behemoth on Steam right now.