Brute

The Brute was a large Necromorph composed of multiple human corpses, fused into a single armored mass with extreme physical strength. Its front was sheathed in heavy organic armor, and its size and power made it one of the most dangerous forms a survivor could face. Where a lone Slasher could be cut down in seconds, a Brute could absorb punishment, charge through obstacles, and crush a person like Isaac Clarke underfoot.

Anatomy#

The Brute was almost entirely encased in an armored, spiked exoskeleton made from bone and calcified skin. Its posterior was relatively unarmored, and from it sprouted a pair of vestigial arms used for support if one of its main arms was cut off. Within its chest was a sac that produced highly explosive organic material, the same substance found in its yellow weak spots, along with a hole at the center of the chest from which it could expel these projectiles.

The creature's vulnerable points were marked by their comparatively bright yellow coloration, located just before the shoulder joints and toward the back along both rear legs. When struck there, the Brute would contract within its armored plates to protect itself. Its head, antennae, and the small arms on its back could also be severed, though the head was armored like the rest of the body and could only be removed with an explosive.

Strength and movement#

Despite its heavy armor, the Brute was quick for its size. It could leap acrobatically across objects and along surfaces, moving in a manner compared to a gorilla or ape, and it used this to approach prey silently before landing on top of them to crush them or rear up to smash them with its powerful paws. So great was its strength that it could carve a long tunnel through solid metal. At close range it struck with a devastating punch and a headbutt powerful enough to knock a person off their feet.

If one or both of its legs were severed, the Brute was rendered immobile, but it did not stop fighting. Instead it resorted to lobbing organic bombs from the otherwise rarely exposed hole in its belly, turning a crippled Brute into a ranged threat that could still kill from a distance.

The Enhanced form#

Like many Necromorphs, the Brute had an Enhanced form. It appeared black in color, with glowing reddish-yellow eyes, and was considerably stronger and more durable than the standard variant. Only a small number of Enhanced Brutes were recorded across the early outbreaks, including one aboard the USM Valor, which was responsible for the death of Zach Hammond, and others on the Aegis VII Colony and within Titan Station. The Brute did not physically appear during the events on Tau Volantis, though its roars were sometimes heard in the later parts of that ordeal, and the Alien Necromorph filled a similar role there.