MADNESS: Project Nexus 2 / Characters

This is a characters sheet for Madness: Project Nexus and MADNESS: Project Nexus 2. For tropes on the returning cast, see here.

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Status Quo (S.Q.)

S.Q. as a whole

S.Q is an organization whose main purpose appears to be preservation of order and stability of Nevada. It's unknown if the organization has any leaders, but Doc seems to be the closest one there is, as he is S.Q's dispatcher and recruiter.

Status Quo Is God: Enforcing this is effectively their main goal.
Quality vs. Quantity: Leans heavily on the Quality end of this scale, Status Quo's preference for small teams of badasses over waves of grunts aside, even the more expendable troopers are decently well equipped and all have TAC-bars, and fairly decent combat capabilities.

Hank J. Wimbleton

See here.

Sanford

See here.

Deimos

See here.

Doc

See here.

Arena Player Characters

In General

Tropes applying to all versions of the character:

Amnesiac God: The learning and experience capacity of Gen-01 Nevadeans is stated to be "divine", and with how quickly the Player Character trains themselves into multiple different kinds of badass, as well as using Phobos as a reference, it's little wonder why.
Ascended Fanboy: His trophy for Slaughter Time consists of a grand tour poster, a replica of Garret Goyle's mask, the microphone Goyle uses in the announcer's booth, and a note that simply says "Goyle <3", suggesting that he became a superfan the moment he saw him.
Blue Is Heroic: While the highlight colors on his starter clothing varies between imprints, he's most heavily associated with blue. The very first text you see after creating your character is a blue notification regarding the successful Imprint, the Agent Origin - being the most standard one next to The Noob - wears a blue tie and glasses, his bedroom in the Loft is kept dark with a blue television to light it, and the city streets outside Status Quo's HQ are primarily a night-time blue with different neon highlights.
Character Development: As you level up his Core skills, his animations change to reflect his experience.
- Unarmed and Melee animations have a sizable delay starting out as the player character balances himself before each swing, and attempting to block causes him to put his hands up in a panic. After taking the first Core Skills for both, this wind-up essentially vanishes and his blocks are all business. His unarmed stance changes to reflect that he has martial arts training, and he wields melee weapons with a more confident stance.
- Gun Handling animations start out with your character holding pistols sideways, and awkwardly clutching two-handed ones. After taking the first Core Skill, it's specifically noted he starts holding them upright and uses his off-hand to properly brace against recoil, and gains the ability to fine-tune his aim.
- Athletics, being tied to dodging, running, and your TAC Bar, means that the animations starting out have your character remain flat on his stomach for agonizingly long amounts of time after a combat dodge (and the "dodge" looks more like he tripped), running with their hands flailing around in a panic, and having absolutely zero tactical sense. When first unlocked, the Tac Bar activating has his dodges look purely accidental and terrified (fair enough, he's being shot at). Taking the Core Skill for this allows you to recover from combat dives faster, maintain proper running form, and allow for the smaller shifts and adjustments that the TAC Bar requires. Maxing the Core Skill out changes the combat dodge into seamless flips, his Tac Bar dodges are calm and regular, and makes his sprint twice as fast, reflecting that he's at peak form and his reflexes are accordingly inhuman.
Deadpan Snarker: The Player Character has a bit of a sharp tongue with him.
Dump Stat: With the exception of the Noob and Magiturge, all the Origins have one Weak Skill that doesn't grant them a stat boost when upgrading, though they can still benefit from the unlocked skills and level them up to a certain extent.
Fighter, Mage, Thief:
- Disquieted One, Project Creber and The Massive are Fighters, the Disquieted being able to teleport to make up the distance between themself and their target, while the Massive soaks up curtains of bullets and hits like a truck. Meanwhile, Creber swarms the enemy with a mass of clones. All focus on CQC.
- Undercover Agent, Asylum Patient, Tinkerer and Magiturge are Mages, the Agent bringing a spare handgun mag and having low encumberment, Asylum Patient being able to summon an imaginary friend on low health, the Tinkerer having extra mags for all guns and incredible modding potential but being poor at hand to hand combat, and the Magiturge having their own spells and wands and a horribly low weight capacity. Agent and Tinkerer also focus into ranged weapons.
- Terrible Experiment and An Offering are Thieves, the Experiment being something of a Fighter-Thief hybrid that does poorly with guns and the Offering having poor Endurance but making up for it by being able to heal Corpus Blocks. Both focus on acrobatics and thrown weapons.
Gathering Steam: Every single time they enmesh themself with the Nowhere, they gain an imprint of their previous loop, becoming stronger and more skillful in further loops.
"Groundhog Day" Loop: He's firmly stuck in one, and is initially unaware of it. Finding the Mandatus and defeating the final boss causes him to wake back up on the operating table before his Identity is set by Doc, starting the whole adventure all over again. He and Doc retain their knowledge of events from the past loop, and he pre-empts questions and orders out of impatience. While he could choose to not initiate the Enmeshment, it will certainly cause Nevada to fall; as the Maker puts it, his sacrifice is the reward since it means he avoids Nevada's apparent doom after he falls.
Hello, [Insert Name Here]: You can name your character whatever you want.
Hero of Another Story: While Hank, Jeb, and the others are fighting the Nexus Core and stopping Project Nexus, the Player Character (aka you) is doing their own thing. They even get involved in their own world-ending plot and meet God-like beings tied to Nevada and its origins.
It Has Been an Honor: After defeating the Grand Steward, the Player Character can return to the H.Q. and say goodbye to Bossman and Chopper Dave before enmeshing himself, both of whom thank the Player for taking them in and looking after them.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The Player Character is arrogant, dismissive of others, and, like every other Madness Combat protagonist, kills people by the hundreds, but bits of dialogue show he isn't that bad of a person. The Player grows to like and respects the people he works with, like Bossman, who says he deserves a medal, and Chopper Dave, who thanks him for being kind to him and his boys, showing that he's a good boss. After enmeshing himself for the first time and meeting Bossman again, he'll still say he deserves a medal.
Last of His Kind: Inverted and Played With. While there aren't many G01s left, there are a few that are still around, such as Director Phobos. However, the player is the first G01, making him the oldest mortal Nevadean in the Madness Universe.
Locked Out of the Loop: They have no idea of the bigger things occurring in Nevada. The plaques of the trophies in the loft imply they don't even know who Hank is.
Multiple-Choice Past: Literally, as while every character option is the same guy, the choices reflect what past he had before arriving in Nevada. This is done to provide a cover identity so the Machine doesn't find him until it's too late for it to interfere with the Enmeshment. It's also shown in The Reveal that the player has no past, as he was the first Grunt to be fired into the marshmallow, and was stuck in there until Doc gave him an imprint.
One-Man Army: As the game progresses, the Arena Player Character grows stronger and can battle against large numbers of enemy units, reaching the same level as Hank or other main characters. The player (the one playing the game) can also choose to fight without help from their hirelings if they wish.
Private Military Contractors: He's fine doing just about any job imaginable as long as it involves shooting/stabbing/punching guys.
Protagonist Without a Past: The only info you're ever given is that you teamed up with Doc to enmesh yourself with something called The Mandatus. Other than that, you are given no backstory or reason. Later, it's revealed you are the first G01, as well as the first Grunt fired into the marshmallow in Marsh-Mellow-Madness and was stuck in there until Doc found him, making it quite literal that the Player has no past.
Rags to Riches: His goal, as given by Doc, is to start a PMC empire using nothing but a near-abandoned building and his own two fists. Thanks to some connections you get through Bossman and the Sleepwalker Experiment pod he kept, things pick up speed very fast.
Really 700 Years Old: After the first Imprint, you can snoop through Doc's computer files to find out about information about Generation 01, which are the first Generation of Nevadeans, and how they are implied to have a strong connection to the world of Nevada. However, it's implied that the First of the G01 would appear as well, and when the time came he would help with fixing the Machine. Later, it's revealed that you, the player, are actually the First of the G01, and that your duty is to prevent Nevada from falling to ruin due to the Machine. The reveal at the end of the Magiturge origin likely insinuates that the Arena Player Character predates much of Madness Combat itself.
The Reveal: At the end of the Magiturge origin, it's revealed that the Arena Player Character was pulled from The Nowhere, or the original Madness Combat animation, Marsh-Mellow-Madness. This in turn pins the Arena Player Character as the second-oldest character in the series period.
Took a Level in Badass: He goes from being just barely more capable than a typical grunt to being as capable as the typical Madness Combat protagonist.
You Have Researched Breathing: The Athletic's core skill, wherein your character effectively has to learn how to get up after falling over, learn how to get up after intentionally falling over, and learn how to run.

Noob

Today is the first interesting day of your life.

Just some guy. Not particularly notable, he has no upsides or downsides.

Action Survivor: Especially compared to the other Imprints which at least imply some sort of combat training or fighting ability. In comparison, this Origin has absolutely no skills and stats and is basically as normal as you can get in Nevada, but by the end of the game can become an inhumanly strong and agile fighter.
Boring, but Practical: He lacks passives and can’t learn any of the final three specialist skills, but he also has no negative passives or skill drawbacks and evenly distributed stats, allowing him to be a solid choice that can do anything reasonably well without any of the advantages or weaknesses more specialist origins have.
The Everyman: In a sea of identical Nevadeans, the Noob stands out by being employed by Status Quo. Other than that, that's pretty much it; the Noob is no different from the average joe you see on the street.
From Nobody to Nightmare: The Noob goes from your average joe with no combat abilities in a sea of identical-looking Nevadeans to your typical, one-man army, Madness Combat protagonist.
Jack of All Stats: The Noob is the average-rounded character with a balanced 5 in each stat that the player can mold into whatever they wish; they can be a deadly close-combat tank that uses their hands or blades to smash through enemies, a long-ranged gunner dodging bullets, or a mix of both. Anything goes.
Master of None: No drawbacks, but no bonuses either. He doesn't do anything particularly well or horribly, and in time he can be just as good in any given category as the other characters. That said, he's locked out of certain skills on account of him not having any skill focuses and he has no Origin-unique abilities.
Ridiculously Average Guy: Working for S.Q. was apparently the first thing of note that occurred in his life. Not only that, he's indistinguishable from the Grunts.
Took a Level in Badass: Doubly so for the Noob. Compared to the rest of the Imprints, the Noob is an average joe with no combat experience to speak of. He's a blank slate who eventually becomes a force to be reckoned with in Nevada.

Undercover Agent

You're employed by one of Nevada's shadowy Agencies. There are only a few of them that anyone knows about, but those are not the ones to which you belong. It's not all martinis and casinos though; if people knew the work you've done, they would curl into little balls of horror and despair. Today, you're disguising your involvement in this new "Enmeshment Program" endeavor by going undercover as a transfer from another department.

An employee of a shadowy agency, this soldier prefers handguns and has a few tricks up his well-dressed sleeves to get ahead in the game.

The Alcoholic: Implied by one of his passives, where it states he's gotten used to drinking vodka while on the job.
Balance Buff: As of update 1.05.b, he can now stunlock enemies when using pistols and further ignore their Tac-Bar's by one step once he has the Sweet Spot skill.
Crutch Character: His ability to have an extra handgun magazine is heavily valued early on, since handguns are very cheap compared to the other types of guns. As the player accumulates more money to purchase more guns, however, the Agent's ability becomes less relevant as stronger mooks appear, and his encumbrance penalty means that it will be harder to equip armor that gives extra magazines, even with encumbrance-reducing equipment. He was later given a buff to mitigate this, being able to stunlock enemies with pistols and dealing more Tac damage when shooting in the sweet spots of guns.
Functional Addict: His origin description and one of his passives imply he's addicted to drinking and possibly gambling, yet it's never stated this negatively affected his ability to perform his job before or even while working at S.Q.
Glass Cannon: Enforced by his negative passive, which decreases his encumbrance capacity by 35%, meaning you're forced to wear less protective equipment ^note, and the passive ability that lets fire non-automatic weapons faster – letting you kill enemies before they kill you. Still downplayed in comparison to the likes of the Tinker and Magiturge.
Handguns: These are his (initial) specialty. He gets a extra magazine for pistols. His firerate passive works for all non-auto ranged weapons, though.
Stealth Expert: As he's deliberately dressed as a dude in a suit who resembles all the other similarly suited mooks in Nevada, in infiltration-based levels enemies will only attack him once they catch him being violent, giving him chances to do stealth takedowns and set up for a fight.
Suddenly Voiced: Uses the same voice bank as the AAHW & Nexus Core Agents.

Terrible Experiment

You were born in a test tube, grown in a vat, and spent most of your life surrounded by glass and cryo-fluid. You were the plaything of countless unscrupulous experiments, which left you with scars, mental instability, and a bubbling hatred for your tormentors. And then one day they simply let you walk out of the facility where you were constructed... but why?

An artificial Nevadean and a horrific creature that runs about the battlefield and slashes heads with both his claws and throwing weapons.

Absurdly Sharp Claws: The most obvious sign of his origin is his sharp claws. They can be hidden with gloves, but they do increase his unarmed damage and cause enemies to cut into pieces with the heavier attacks as the unarmed skills are increased.
Artificial Human: As his bio shows, the Experiment was artificially created and further developed as part of scientific research. He's let out of his vat for reasons known only to his creators.
Combat Parkour: As the Athletics-focused character, he focuses on improving his dodging and acrobatic skills to stay alive while on a rampage.
Mook Horror Show: His origin skill causes random mooks to flee in terror after performing a takedown or execution, purely because of how vicious the Experiment is.
Sickening "Crunch!": An innate quality of the Experiment's melee attacks due to his claws is that every single hit sounds like it's cracking something in the guy you're hitting.
Weak to Fire: His main drawback is getting 25% more damage from fire than the other origins.

Ronin Mercenary

You were once a bodyguard to an important Nevadean bureaucrat, until your master was slain on your day off (bodyguards need weekends off, you see). Now you are a traveling warrior. A hired blade. You wander from city to city, offering your muscle to the highest bidder. Fellow fighters are drawn to you, and you allow them to bask in your mighty aura. Just make certain that your spotlight doesn't become theirs.

An egotistical hired blade that enjoys the spotlight, but is willing to let others work for him with a little bribery and keeping to the backdrop.

Every Man Has His Price: A special trait allows the Mercenary to, instead of kill enemies with his execute, pay them off to turn on their buddies and work with him instead.
Green-Eyed Monster: His drawback describes him as a guy who does not like being upstaged and "a real skinflint when it comes to other people with real talent". This translates to never being able to hire squadmates that are of a higher level than him, purely because the Mercenary refuses to be anything less than the best operative in the building.
I Work Alone: His drawback is a 20% decrease to a squadmate's maximum level, half because of the Mercenary adhering to this trope and the other being he hates being outshined.
Money Multiplier: His bonus is a 10% increase to money earned from missions.
Only in It for the Money: His allegiance is to whoever offers him the fattest paycheck.

Escaped Patient

You were once an esteemed researcher in the employ of one of Nevada's leading scientific bureaus. You obeyed directives and toed the line without question for years. It seemed as though your meteoric rise through the bureau would continue unabated forever...until a dangerous thought landed you strapped to a bed in a padded room, where you remained for an incalculable amount of time. Recently you were ejected from the sanitarium and issued a clean bill of health. Perhaps they should have examined you more closely.

A sanitarium patient who is most definitely not crazy at all. With the power of his best friend and his fists, he'll crush all that stand before him.

Assist Character: His Imaginary Friend. He's a light-blue, glowing, translucent Grunt similar to the Specters that appears whenever the Patient loses a Corpus Block to help out, either unarmed or with a melee weapon or a gun.
Good Old Fisticuffs: His origin skill and stats encourage an unarmed playstyle where you pound enemies to death with your bare hands, eventually upgrading to a Bare-Fisted Monk style as you improve his unarmed skills.
Not-So-Imaginary Friend: Insists that he has one that helps him out of tough spots. Not as imaginary as you might think, however, seeing as his friend manifests to help him out when he loses a Corpus block.
Overshadowed by Awesome: Suffers from a bad case of this compared to The Massive. While the Patient can actually move faster and take points into dexterity or tactics, he's much more vulnerable to groups of melee enemies staggering him out of his attacks and lacks the Massive's many size-related advantages to other fighting styles.

Disquieted One

All of Nevada's citizens share a bond. You see this more clearly than anyone, which is why you alone know this terrible thing. That bond is slavery to a machine that only you have glimpsed, an algorithmic system that puppeteers the actions of the oblivious masses. There is only one solution. One way out. You must sever the bond with your fellow Nevadeans, one life at a time. There is definitely something terribly wrong with you. Welcome to Nevada...you're going to fit right in.

A Nevadean who knows the truth, the slavery that all beings blindly serve to the machine, and aims to free them from its tyranny... with a knife through their facial crosses before the poor suckers can even notice his arrival.

Ax-Crazy: Is described as being the reason the neighborhood's outdoor pets became indoor pets, and their stated goal is to kill literally every person in Nevada to defy a system they have apparently perceived. Not to mention they know the dark secrets Nevada holds, on account of being a New Game Plus only character. A perfect fit for Nev ada indeed.
Doesn't Like Guns: His main drawback is a 20% decrease in damage dealt with ranged weapons.
Guns simply lack the personal touch of a fine blade.
Lightning Bruiser: Pairs high starting stats in Strength and Endurance with the ability to teleport himself right into someone's face and start swinging away with his bonuses to melee weapons. Although evading or retreating from a losing fight becomes a bit more difficult with his low starting dexterity and not being able to level it as much.
Psycho Knife Nut: Their insanity manifests as a passive increase to all slashing damage by 20% and allowing them to instantly execute any enemy with any vaguely knife shaped, one-handed object they have in their hands at the cost of the weapon itself.
Teleportation: One of his special skills is being able to teleport to an opponent if he has a melee weapon in hand (once the Positioning skill is bought, which is a early skill).
White Mask of Doom: He starts off with a crude and unnerving mask that he absolutely refuses to take off at any point, ostensibly to hide his identity from the machine he saw. In-game, the mask can never be removed from his equipment, not even for another kind of face covering. That being said, you can customize it using any color palettes you've gotten from "The Fence", alter the texture pattern, and even swap out the mask for a shrunken version to minimize clipping issues with any hats you want to put on.

An Offering

You were built for sacrifice, taught to find joy only in giving of yourself to a nightmarish cause. Every day of your upbringing was supervised by elders of your infernal cadre for the grand ceremony that would culminate in your expiration. When the day arrived to give yourself over to the Higher Powers, your tribute was rejected. Oh, they were all too delighted to relieve you of your life. But your shell, no longer a suitable host to their demonic essences, remained behind to perpetuate their dark bidding.

Born and raised to be given to the Higher Powers, after he was rejected, he became an undead abomination capable of weaponizing the life energy of those who fall prey to his barrage of blades.

Dem Bones: His dialogue grunting consists exclusively of the bone clattering noises that skeletons make.
Fragile Speedster: Even moreso than the Agent. While the Offering has a benefit with a minor bonus with strength and dexterity, alongside a focus on acrobatic skills, they have the lowest amount of HP in the game, not being helped by their low Endurance and Tactics, which makes it harder for them to wear heavier armor, but also makes it so that it's harder to dodge bullets as well, though the aforementioned focus in acrobatics can somewhat mitigate this through leveling the Endurance stat, and the fragility issue can be addressed through Life Draining.
Human Sacrifice: He was the sacrifice. The Higher Powers rejected the cultists offering him and the man in question as a tribute, but they still killed him and left his undead rotting corpse behind.
Life Drain: Has the ability to recover Corpus through performing non-stealth takedowns on dizzied enemies.
Mook Horror Show: One of his origin skills causes random mooks to flee in terror after performing a takedown or execution. It turns out seeing your coworkers horrified screaming soul get viciously ripped out and consumed by an undead monster and then his body exploding into flaming chunky bits does not inspire confidence in the survivors.
Necromancer: Can sometimes resurrect a dead enemy as a ghost, which includes G03LMs.
Our Liches Are Different: In this case he's a powerful undead cultist warrior that lacks a Soul Jar, being instead powered by demonic magic left behind by the Higher Powers, and is operating in a modern-ish city setting as a private military contractor.
Pumpkin Person: Wears a pumpkin for a mask, even if the Offering wears a helmet.
Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Their grenade slot weapons can pass through enemies when they lose a corpus, allowing for multi-kills.
The Voiceless: He is the only origin that doesn't have voiced lines, instead simply sounding like the crunching of bones.
Your Soul Is Mine!: When an enemy is dizzied, An Offering can perform a rather disturbing execution where he levitates and sucks the screaming soul out of his helpless victim.
Zombie Gait: Walks like any other zed in the game.

Project Creber

Everything changed that day you dropped that canister of RSG (Replication Support Gas) on yourself. The next morning, you discovered that you had grown a foot... literally. The day after that, a new arm (what are those?). By the end of the week, there were two of you. Now, the shadowy agencies of Nevada want what you have, so you've taken your gift on the road. Good thing you enjoy your own company, because you're going to have a lot of it.

Thanks to a freak accident, this one unlucky Nevadean grunt would become two unlucky Nevadeans... then three, then four... and now they've got a score to settle.

Ascended Fanon: Creber was originally from the fanseries Project Creber where he was an AAHW grunt who, thanks to an accident during Hank's attack on a cloning facility, gained mysterious cloning powers, prompting the Agency to conduct horrific experiments on him, until he was rescued and began his own campaign against them. With some directive input from the fanseries' creator, the Project Creber origin was canonized in Project Nexus.
Adaptational Wimp: In the original fanseries, Creber spawned clones very often as backup, replacing them whenever they got killed. Here, Project Creber spawns clones much slower. It helps that the original Creber could spawn clones instantly, whereas his origin self has to grow the clones over a period of time. That said, Creber's clones went down far faster in the original, while these clones can take a few hits before dying.
Adaptation Deviation: Project Creber's backstory is mostly an abridged version of his fanseries self's, but with a few differences. Here, he dropped the RSG canister instead of Hank accidentally knocking him into it during a raid. It also skips over the Agency torturing him for two months, although it does note that various agencies are after his unique gift. The cloning process is also explained as the clone's parts growing out of the original Creber over the course of a week until they eventually split off into a new Creber, whereas the original depicted Creber as spawning clones instantly, although in gameplay it's mostly the same as in the original series when the clones respawn midbattle.
Expendable Clone: If you die as Creber, you instead switch control to another living Creber clone if there is one, and the Creber that died will be replaced after a while. They also gain a bonus to hireling healing time.
Face Death with Dignity: Creber clones do a small salute before dying whenever the round ends or when the player moves to another area during the Bus Missions.
Glass Cannon: They're even worse with health than Offering, since they're stuck with one corpus the entire game, switching between bodies every time they take too much abuse. Luckily, they come with up to three elite clones at a time on their side that are just as powerful as they are. However, since the clones regenerate, Creber can technically regenerate corpus blocks by proxy, and unlike the Offering they don't have to do anything for it.
Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Instead of gaining corpus blocks, Creber gains a clone that respawns some time after death. If the player controlled Creber dies, control will switch to one of his clones if any are alive.
Me's a Crowd: Thanks to being directly exposed to cloning material, Creber gained the odd power of growing clones out of his body.
One-Man Army: A literal example. Thanks to Creber's cloning abilities, he can become a single-man army with three more versions of himself fighting his battles with him.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: Creber got visible, fully red eyes after the accident that made him what he is, and he leads a violent campaign against the Agency. Here, he still carves a bloody path through every enemy in his way.
They Killed Kenny Again: Creber had an astronomical amount of deaths in the original series, thanks to his cloning making it easy to recover from. Here, death is practically inevitable given his low corpus count.
Took a Level in Badass: According to his description, this Creber grows his clones from his body, unlike the original Creber, who could spawn them in a plume of black and red smoke. But when playing as him, Origin Creber summons his clones the same way as his original counterpart. From a story standpoint, you could say Origin Creber's powers evolved, or he eventually mastered them.
Zerg Rush: The bad news? They don't gain any corpus blocks. The good news? They gain an infinitely respawning clone for every corpus they would gain, allowing them to swarm enemies far more easily.

Tinkerer

Oh boy, do you love guns. You really, really love guns. I mean, there are folks out there who say they love guns, but they don't hold a candle to your unconditional infatuation with guns. When you're not busy lobbying to overturn the marriage statute banning the union between a Nevadean and their gun, you're playing with guns. Taking apart guns. Tweaking guns. Putting guns back together again. You never leave your house without your guns, and when you come home, you cannot go to sleep until you've said goodnight to every gun in your possession.

A Nevadean with an obsessive, almost unhealthy, interest in firearms. Knows them in and out. Even how to make new ones out of old ones. More efficient guns, much better at killing people than the older ones.

Ace Custom: The entire point of choosing this origin. The Tinkerer has access to literally EVERY SINGLE possible gun customization for every gun the moment he can interact with the workbench. He even has access to dissonance-based weapon modifications from the get-go, allowing him to make the strongest weapons in the game for a fraction of the cost.
BFG: He can make some absurdly large guns with the right modifications.
Bully Magnet: If the description for his drawback (which decreases his resistance to unarmed attacks) is to be believed, he used to be one.
You never did quite get over being pushed around by bullies.
Gun Nut: Obviously.
Magikarp Power: At the start of the game, the Tinkerer is at a disadvantage since they don't get access to the workbench until after the first two story missions. Eventually, once they gain access to the workbench as well as the funds to modify their weapons their potential truly awakens.
Mix-and-Match Weapon: He is able to apply gun parts to different weapons at the workbench.
More Dakka: Encouraged by the Tinkerer's passive, which gives him an extra universal magazine for all his guns.
Weak, but Skilled: The Tinkerer gains no attribute points from leveling up Unarmed skills and even takes more unarmed damage from other enemies. He makes up for this however, with a whopping 15 in Tactics in the beginning.

The Massive

What a big fellow you are! While all the jocks were busy pumping iron, you were finishing your plate (including the greens!). They got big, sure. But you got bigger. And bigger. And bigger. Now you're out in the world, seeking the next herculean feat to best. After all, no physical challenge has hindered you yet.

A gigantic, hulking Nevadean whose size even rivals that of Generation 03 Limited Editions, he'll crush heads like eggs in his massive fists.

A-Team Firing: His Origin skills invoke this, as one penalizes the rate of fire of non-automatic guns by a whopping 50%, and another gives him a general accuracy debuff of 40% with all guns. So if the player wants/needs to shoot something, they're forced to pull the trigger of an automatic gun and pray.
Charles Atlas Superpower: How does the Massive get so... massive? His description says that he was finishing his plate while other people were working out, and in gameplay he gets bigger every time he upgrades a skill, even if it's for weapons. He's a normal Nevadean everywhere else, even if he rivals Half Mags and G03LMs in size.
Doesn't Like Guns: In two ways. His fingers were not made for pulling triggers, and he has a natural disadvantage at firing speed. He also sucks at getting Dexterity and Tactics due to only being able to get Strength or Endurance when unlocking skills, and since Dex and Tac translate to Senses, he misses out on several gun related stat boosts.
Dumb Muscle: His brain is literally made out of muscle, if the explanation to his Dizzy resistance is to be believed. This also applies in gameplay; he cannot upgrade the more mental Dexterity or Tactics, only the physical Strength and Endurance.
Dump Stat: While every Origin (bar the Noob and Magiturge) has trouble upgrading the stats of the skill they're deficient in, the Massive literally cannot upgrade Dexterity or Tactics. He can only choose to upgrade Strength or Endurance when upgrading a skill, and Dexterity and Tactics only have a pitiable 1 each at base while Strength and Endurance have 15 points each. Imprints help combat this, though.
Good Old Fisticuffs: He specializes in Unarmed combat, bolstered by his ever increasing Strength attribute that allows him to effortlessly pummel through early arena waves, but falls somewhat due to low damage output and lacking melee's ability to hit multiple enemies. Thankfully, he does better than other unarmed focused characters due to his access to the Mag's Megaton Punch move and versatility.
Implacable Man: Once he reaches sufficient size, the Massive becomes immune to the stagger of lesser attacks and force enemies to use different, often weaker takedown attacks on him. In fact, the Massive is even strong enough to parry a Half-Mag's dash punch, an attack that would easily launch any normal-sized combatant.
In a Single Bound: His fully-charged unarmed attack has him leap a great distance. It deals no damage even if he lands on someone, but it allows him to jump over gaps in a level and, more importantly, jump over cover and up to other floors (so long as he has a clear arc and doesn't slam into an Invisible Wall).
Jack of All Trades: The Massive's primary specialization in fisticuffs aside, he can also dual wield larger melee weapons like the Binary Sword and Door Breacher or carry heavy weapons like the Minigun and Zucker Rocket Launcher without penalty, while being able to reach up to tier 3 perks on both melee and ranged weapons.
Large and in Charge: Being the figurehead of Status Quo like all the other origins, The Massive also ends up being the single-largest combatant in their midst.
Magikarp Power: More than any other origin, the Massive benefits immensely from having more Imprints past his unlock, as the stat bonus pushes his otherwise nonexistent Tactics and Dexterity up to more serviceable levels.
Megaton Punch: Any charged melee attack he does becomes this (even with wielding a weapon), same as some Half-Mag/G03LM enemies. This attack pushes him forward, sending other enemies flying along with him, and dizzying many enemy types and opening them up to a finisher.
Mighty Glacier: His benefits are having higher strength and endurance than the other characters, and every Core Skill upgrade (asides from Ranged) makes him larger and tougher... while his drawbacks prevent him from increasing anything but those two stats while leveling up, and every aforementioned upgrade also makes him slower as well, rendering him Unskilled, but Strong. His only options for defense is armor and blocking/dodging attacks, but he can wield the heaviest weapons in the game without issue plus he gets a whopping ten Corpus blocks compared to the standard four. That said...
- Lightning Bruiser: He can still learn the Zip-Dodge move to skirt around the battlefield pretty quickly and using the above-mentioned Megaton Punch can let him cross from one end to the room to another in a second. Additionally, fully charging said punch lets you leap massive distances to where your cursor was placed, further increasing his mobility though both moves can send you flying off the map if you're not careful.
One-Handed Zweihänder: Being as big as he is, the Massive can dual wield a lot of large, impressive weapons. Notably, he's the only one who can effectively dual wield Binary Swords without being locked into the slower "encumbered" animation set.
Play as a Boss: The Massive is the size of a G03LM or Half-Mag, and has the latter's Megaton Punch as well and a bevy of health thanks to having 10 maximum Corpus Blocks. For added effect, since his Megaton Punch damages hirelings, the player is slightly encouraged to not use them, and yet the results are still just as devastating.
Sizeshifter: The Massive starts out at only slightly taller then an average grunt. However, with each skill and stat increase, he becomes increasingly taller and bulkier. With all available skills unlocked, he is about the size of an average G03LM.
Suddenly Voiced: While the character could clearly talk in previous runs of the Arena mode, this is one of the three Origins that actually vocalizes during gameplay as all the other Imprints (except Undercover Agent & The Magiturge) use grunts or yells at most. It also seems to use to same voice bank as any G03LM character and even changes your font to match the same ones they use.
Super-Strength: The Massive is a playable Halfmag, and he has the strength to match.

Magiturge

The universe whispers its secrets to you in eldrich tongues. But... you've never cared for conversation, so you rarely pickup its calls. Instead, you have taken to cracking the grand mysteries of Nevada through brute force and sheer willpower (of which your reserves are unlimited). You've already seen what lies at the ephemeral borders of this plane. Just a little further until you see what waits for you beyond it... Some may call you "wizard". That's cute. Maybe it's because you're very smart and only use big numbers. Or maybe it's the pointy hat. That's their mystery to solve; you've got plenty of your own.

The one who knows the true nature of reality, and warps it to his whims. Tiring of questions without answers, he sets out to find his true past and why he is here.

Black Mage: A wizard that uses purely offensive magic to destroy his enemies.
Bottomless Magazines:
- Downplayed with his true wands. He CAN run out of ammo for them, he just happens to also have unlimited reloads. Justified as he's a wizard using magic to power them.
- Inverted with actual gun magazines, however, as he has a negative passive which gives him two less total magazines.
- Subverted with his throwable weapons. He IS the only class in the game able to increase the number he can carry on him by a large amount, but it still isn't bottomless.
The Comically Serious: He has all of the same serious discussions and sarcastic wit of the other origins while he wears an increasingly out of place fantastical wizard outfit.
Deconstruction: The Magiturge deconstructs wizards and magic. The Magiturge is a byproduct of the player applying their knowledge they've picked up over their imprints, learning how to ask the big questions and see what he couldn't before see. He knows how to apply his reality warping intelligence in the form of magic flavored weaponry. It's stated that the Magiturge is only perceived as a wizard by those who don't understand their knowledge thanks to their intelligence and Wizard Classic styled clothing, while they officially go by the Magiturge.
Doesn't Like Guns: More specifically, does not like gun magazines. His pockets are for reagents and spell components, not bullets, and he has 2 less extra mags as a result. This makes guns less effective for him by consequence, as he'll have to make do with a single magazine until he can get three mags worth of boosts, and considering his encumbrance limit severely dampens using armor for mags, it limits him to bring guns that either have so many magazines on their own that 2 less doesn't matter much or guns that outright can't have extra magazines.
Elemental Punch: Via his Ring Sets, which give his punches Burn, Cold, or Shock damage.
Genius Bruiser: A powerful and intelligent wizard that knows the secrets of Nevada to a far greater degree than any other origin, and an expert Unarmed and Melee fighter that can physically beat down all but the toughest opponents without with his magic.
Glass Cannon: His negative passive decreases his encumbrance capacity by a whopping 75%. Meaning you're likely only going to wear his low to no encumbrance wizard items unless you have a ton of Imprints. In exchange, he can use Wizard Staff's with 100-300 durability, modifiable True Wands with unlimited reloads, Tomes that can incinerate or Doom most enemies in 1 or 2 shots, Ring Sets that resist and inflict elemental damage, and wear wizard clothes that give him additional pockets for throwable weapons, including up to 21 grenades.
Grenade Spam: While other classes can throw out a number of Frags, Flashbangs, (Sticky) Nailbombs, or Dynamite sticks in rapid succession, he's the only origin that can do this without immediately running out of them because he has unique armor that allows him to carry more than seven explosives at a time, maxing out at twenty-one explosives when wearing all wizard clothes.
Jack of All Trades: The Magiturge has no focus or weak skill, meaning they can reach tier 3 abilities on every skill and earn attributes from every ability they unlock. Furthermore, they can use staffs and wands for both melee and ranged, can get extra throwables with their unique clothing, and can use special rings to enhance their unarmed attacks, giving them their own specifications for each skill. That said, they still have a downside to guns, and have a much poorer encumbrance limit.
Joke Weapon: The Gnarled Knock-Off Wand and Formal Knock-Off Wand. They deal low damage, have short range, a slow rate-of-fire and projectile speed, poor accuracy, zero vs. recoil, one "battery" charge that can never be increased, and cannot be modified since they're not real wands. They're pretty much outclassed the second you can loot a melee weapon off a Tough's corpse.
Kung-Fu Wizard: He's a powerful wizard that can train his Unarmed skills all of the way up to Tier 3 (only lacking the final three specialist skills) and even has magical rings that add elemental damage to his punches.
Magic Knight: Not at first, when he's just a wizard. But he can be trained to become a Melee weapon master able to slice and smash his enemies to pieces as easily as with his magic.
Magikarp Power:
- Since his magazine and encumbrance penalties make any long term viable gun usage impossible, he's forced to rely on his fists, melee weapons, and throwables before he has the equipment, stats, or skills to make good use of them and without any of the passive advantages other origins have with such extreme restrictions. ^note With each Boon Token he gets, the Magiturge can increase his armament of magical items that have bonus effects no non-magical weapon or equipment in the game has and as he has no drawbacks he can raise all of his skills to Tier 3 and gain stat boosts from each of them. By the time Magiturge is storming the Nexus Core Facility he's on par with An Offering, The Massive, and Tinkerer for just how easily he can mow down droves of enemies.
- Downplayed with his Imprints. His encumbrance penalty is so extreme that even with twenty Imprints and two different skills to raise his endurance stat he will still struggle to reach an encumbrance of ten. That being said, imprinting can still add enough additional stats to allow him to raise his endurance enough to wear some high armor-per-encumbrance equipment alongside his wizard clothes.
Magitek: A lot of the Magiturge's arsenal is based on the idea of using Sufficiently Advanced Technology to further augment his arcane power, and vice versa. His wizard attire provides bonuses that lend themselves to grenades as much as they do spell books, his wands can be made of plastic and steel alongside bone and wood, and he gains the exclusive right to purchase weapons typically only found in the hands of robots.
Mechanically Unusual Fighter: He has access to a lot of special equipment, in exchange for having less gun magazines and encumbrance. He can even increase how many throwables he can bring, something that nobody else can do, and they exclusively can access the space between Nevada and the Nowhere, and buy weapons and equipment from the Gambler. Also, they can mod weapons before completing "The Job," even if it's wholly limited to wands.
Mind over Matter: Uses telekinetic magic similar to Jebediah to slam his enemies into a fine paste.
Omega Ending: The Magiturge has been stated to be the last key to the story. Simply playing as him allows the Gambler to help you more personally, and upon walking into the Nowhere, you get an extra scene which reveals that you predate Madness Combat in its entirety, being the first person fired at the Marshmallow in Marsh-Mallow-Madness.
Power at a Price: A less drastic example than most. True Wands have infinite magazine reserves, but on reload you suffer a penalty of some kind based on the material it's made of. BoneMeat wands cost corpus integrity, Steel wands send you careening into the air, Wood wands increase the difficulty of nearby enemies, and Plastic wands inflict you with Dizzy.
Reality Warper: Heavily downplayed, but he can access the space inbetween the Nowhere and Nevada and his magic only resembles magic due to being able to warp space.
Robe and Wizard Hat: He comes equipped with a massive wizard hat by default.
Smoke Out: When the Magiturge's corpus runs out, he teleports back to headquarters in a puff of blue smoke provided he wasn't being actively gibbed by the attack.
Squishy Wizard: A high encumbrance penalty means he won't carry much in the way of armor. That said, his wands, staves and tomes give him the ability to rival with the Tinkerer, when it comes to firepower.
Suddenly Voiced: As with the Undercover Agent & Massive, the Magiturge is one of the only Origins that actually vocalizes during gameplay, and speaks in an extremely nasally sounding voice, befitting of a know-it-all wizard.
Wizard Classic: Their special outfits and weapons are robes and wands, and he wears a wizard's hat. That's not getting into his access to magic.

Victor

An ex-employee of Burger Gil's. He was originally Employee of the Month after the management found out they couldn't make a non-employee (Rich) Employee of the Month, but things took a turn for the worst when the Zed outbreak occurred, leaving him to become a hardened survivor. He can only be played in Co-Op mode as an extra character, along with Doc.

Cowardly Lion: He absolutely despises the constant fighting for his life, but he fights tooth and nail just like everyone else.
Nervous Wreck: Victor is very high-strung likely due to his paranoia and the fact he's always fighting for his life. If you play as him during the "Legacy of the S-3LF Eater" DLC, he's always freaking out in his dialogue; it doesn't stop him from being a tough fighter, mind you.
Only Sane Man: Victor is what would happen if a regular person was thrown into Nevada and forced to fend for themselves. You get a nervous wreck who freaks out at the madness and bloodshed; compare him to the other protagonists who don't bat an eye to the chaos and killing, and you can see the difference. Just look at his dialogue during the DLC.
(Seeing the Cyber Bandit after inspecting the shrine) Who sent you?!
(After being told he should've messed with the shrine) What? WHAT? WHAT DID WE DO?!
(After the Cyber Bandit gets killed) I knew this was gonna happen! WHY DOES THAT ALWAYS HAPPEN?!
Properly Paranoid: He tends to be convinced something bad will happen at any given time. Considering the state of Nevada, he's usually completely correct.
Satellite Character: If it weren't for being mentioned as an employee in the Burger Gil ARG, his relevance to anything would be purely defined as an extra body for Sanford, Deimos, and Doc to work with.

Pink Hank & White Hank

Alternate versions of the series protagonist, offered as backer-exclusive costumes for Hank during the Kickstarter campaign for Project Nexus 2. While their motives and skills are identical to his, they have their own... eccentricities that set them apart beyond just their clothes.

Agent Peacock: Pink Hank is the same One-Man Army as usual, but wearing bright pink and having a bubbly, seemingly-clueless personality.
Alternate Self: What they end up being in missions that give them a chance to speak.
Beware the Silly Ones: Pink Hank is all smiles and giggles, but they are by no means ignorant to what's happening around them and can kick just as much ass as the black-clad Hank.
Quintessential British Gentleman: White Hank is written as a sporting, more openly friendly person with the mannerisms of a British duelist.

Bossman

An ex-employee of Nexus City's power grid, who was fired after Rich started doing a better job than any other employee there. He became a squatter, living in an abandoned building, until you stumble upon him sleeping. He's the first recruit to your PMC Organization, and is responsible for recruiting hirelings.

Defeat Means Friendship: After defeating him in the first encounter, he concedes and becomes the player's recruiter.
Take This Job and Shove It: Hank can find a note that Bossman left behind in the Power Grid. In said note, Bossman expresses his frustration over Rich being so good of an employee that he's taken over everyone else's jobs, effectively putting Bossman out of work. As a result, he left the Nexus Core and moved to Nevada Central, setting the stage for him getting hired by the Arena Mode player.
Warm-Up Boss: The very first enemy encountered in Arena Mode, and is easy enough to introduce players to the new mechanics in Arena Mode.

Chopper Dave

A half-drunk, half-crazy pilot who ran into trouble with the Tough's leader, Sweet Tony. After saving him, he offers his help to fly you to different locations in order to complete missions.

Ace Pilot: Always gets the player to their destination.
The Alcoholic: Is always liquored up, despite his occasional assurances that he isn't.
British Stuffiness: Speaks in a stereotypical posh English accent. He's also dressed like a WWII-era RAF flying ace.
Distressed Dude: The first contract sees him held captive by the Toughs, and it's the player's objective to rescue him.

Bert

Bert is an arms dealer, recruited by Bossman in exchange for cash. He is responsible for selling weapons, armor, and other cosmetics.

Arms Dealer: His role in-game. He provides (Most of) the numerous weapons and armor you can equip for yourself and your squadmates.
Only in It for the Money: Bossman recruited Bert on the promise of the Player Character paying him for his services.
Oop North: Speaks in a thick Glaswegian accent.

Chef Pava

One of the three chefs encountered in the contract "The Goods". In actuality, he specializes in the Black Market and isn't a top-tier chef. At first, he serves as a boss fight alongside his fellow chefs, but after the fight, he helps the player smuggle the parts back to base, and from there he's recruited as the S.Q.'s Black Market vendor.

Arms Dealer: Like Bert, only in Pava's case, he sells modified weapons, and the Black Market is the only place where you can acquire heavy weapons (i.e. the Dissonance Lancer).
BFS: Wields a meat cleaver that looks like it's sized for Mag Agents like a greatsword during his fight in "The Goods"
Color-Coded Characters: He and his cohorts all wear chef toques colored after one color of the Italian flag each.
Defeat Equals Friendship: After defeating him at the end of "The Goods" alongside Chef Carre and Chef Don, he later shows up to help the player smuggle the parts back to base, and from there he sets up the Blackmarket.
Disk One Nuke: It's possible to buy some of the most overpowered weapons of the game from him, including Dissonance weaponry, provided that you have both money and RNG on your side.
Rambunctious Italian: Subverted. While the other two chefs speak like stereotypical Italians, Pava doesn't bother with the lingo at all and tells them to stop wasting time with the act. Once he decides to join up with you, it becomes clearer to see that he does use some Italian slang, but not nearly to the degree of Carre and Don.

Skinner M.D

Skinner M.D is a G03LM who always wanted to be a doctor, but never had to chance to achieve his dream. Now, with your PMC Organization, he is finally able to fix you right back into shape if you die in a mission, along with your hirelings.

Back-Alley Doctor: Despite the "M.D" suffix, it's not fully clear if he actually got his license, particularly because he never got the chance to become a doctor before Bossman found him. Nonetheless, he's not only perfectly capable of life-saving surgeries and operating cloning tanks, but he's even learned how to do hair styling by thinking of it as lots of tiny, precise amputations.
Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: He doesn't require any money to resurrect you since, being a GO3LM, he just loves helping people. Even with the Cloners he uses to bring back your Hirelings, it's implied to be purely a maintenance cost.
Gentle Giant: An absolutely friendly and helpful G03LM, although a little unethical at times.

Nexus Core

Nexus Core as a whole

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A group of soldiers, scientists and experiments dedicated to Project Nexus. They were led by Director Phobos but the group keeps operating even after his death.

Early-Installment Weirdness: Project Nexus (Classic) has their grunts look virtually identical to the AAHW, implying that they are an division of them. Project Nexus 2 would later give most of the Nexus Core members an red-and-black coloring to most of their units, differentiating them from the AAHW.
Hijacked by Ganon: Though Phobos was killed by Jebediah, he's been pulling strings from the Other Place to guide his staff through the process of turning Project Gestalt into his new body.
Immortality Seeker: Their experiments primarily deal in various ways to bring people back from the dead by drawing their S-3LF Energy from the Other Place. The Zed virus, the Abominations, and the Sleepwalkers are all byproducts of this.
Just One Man: The Nexus Core may have better technology and resources than the A.A.H.W. at this point in the timeline, but that makes them blind to just how dangerous Hank is. They consider an entire organization dedicated to killing just one guy the most tremendous waste imaginable considering they haven't even succeeded, and the higher-ups are genuinely baffled by how the idea was deemed necessary to start with.
Know When to Fold 'Em: The above "Just One Man" idea quickly caves in at the end of the mission "Climb!", as the rest of the Nexus Core realize that for Hank and Sanford to get as far, they had to have killed hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of men to get there. As such, the final hold-out decide to cut their losses and abandon the tower.
Putting on the Reich: They definitely have a Nazi-esque aesthetic about them, and their original flag was essentially the Swatstika banner being replaced by the Nexus Logo.
The Remnant: They're struggling to stay afloat comparatively, but all that means is that they're on par with the other factions as opposed to overwhelmingly powerful in their own right.
Villainous Legacy: The Nexus Core carries on in memory of Phobos, to the point of having a statue erected in his honor in their main lobby.

G03LMs

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Massive artificially-created soldiers. Stands for Generation-03, Limited Model.

Artificial Human: Generation 3 of Nevada is entirely made up of giant Nevadeans whose bodies are composed of the flesh of other Nevadeans, injected with S3LF energy to animate them.
Beware the Nice Ones: They may be friendly And asking politely for you to stand down, but if you melee them enough they go into a brief rage state that lets them grapple anyone standing infront of them for big damage, but leaves them open to a takedown from behind. There's even a sound of breaking glass to signify their patience running out.
Body Horror: The sequel reveals that their scars aren't limited to their faces, but also around their body as well.
British Teeth: They have yellowed teeth that are visibly crooked and chipped.
Degraded Boss: The G04LM appears among the horde of enemies in the later waves of Arena Combat, although this is arguably subverted as they are still just as powerful.
Elite Mooks: The G03LM Mk4 (alternatively G04LM), a stronger version decked out in a black suit of armor with red trimming that carry miniguns and huge battle axes.
Elite Zombie: The zombie G03LMs that are exclusive to the zombie mode of Arena Combat are the Brute type, possessing all the physical power and durability (plus the ability to disarm you with melee strikes) that regular G03LMs do.
Expy: As soldiers that are made to tower over their allies and enemies and prove a much bigger challenge to fight, it wouldn't be hard to see them as Project Nexus' version of the MAG Agents. The difference is that MAG Agents were normal Agents that went through an enhancement process to become stronger, while G03LMs are artificially created in their current state, with S3LF injected into them to bring them to life. The G03LMs also serve a more mini-boss to Boss in Mook's Clothing role, while MAG Agents are much more dangerous enemies that, in Project Nexus, are bosses rather than recurring enemies.
Face of a Thug: Zigzagged. G03LMs are predisposed towards a patient, kind and friendly personality, even despite their gigantic, toothy mouth and deep voice. However, Generation 3 was made as servants, serving their masters above all else. Numerous enemy G03LMs permeate the game as a result. The biggest aversion to this trope is Garret Goyle, who's been stated to perhaps be the most heartless, cruel G03LM in Nevada.
Facial Horror: Their faces are absolutely grotesque to look at given the multiple scars across their heads and lipless faces, and the fact that they have no vertical line on the facial cross that nearly every character has implies that they don't even have noses. Subverted come the sequel, in which they have proper facial crosses.
Faux Affably Evil: Their speech is very eloquent and robotic, but it's used to highlight their detachment from even remotely feeling bad about turning people into red smears on the floor.
Flesh Golem: Assembled from various body parts, Frankenstein's Monster style, and injected with a S-3LF to animate them.
Fun with Acronyms: Stands for Generation 03, Limited Model, but the acronym also bears a distinct resemblance to "Golem".
Gentle Giant: While they're barely-humanoid genetic experiments that kill any and all enemies of the Nexus Core and AAHW without hesitation, their dialogue for addressing allies reveals that G03LMs are shockingly well-adjusted, and will gladly celebrate the accomplishments of their peers. Word of God says that they're predisposed to be kindly and gentle, although personality reprogramming can avert this, such as with Garret Goyle.
Giant Mook: G03LMs are bigger than most characters, but not as big as Mag Agents, and use appropriately oversized weaponry.
Heavily Armored Mook: Full-body armored G03LMs are impervious to any form of attack. To damage them, you have to knock their helmets off and shoot their exposed heads.
Immune to Bullets: At least, their armor is.
King Mook: The G04LM encountered at the end of level 1G functions as that level's boss.
Kung Fu-Proof Mook: By the time you encounter one, you may have forgotten that the Dash Attack even exists. Even once you knock off it's armor, you'll still have to aim for the head if you want to deal any damage.
Non-Standard Character Design: They possess visible mouths and only the horizontal line of the facial cross that nearly every character has. Subverted come the sequel, in which they have proper facial crosses.
Quintessential British Gentleman: They speak in a slow, deliberate tone with the vocabulary of an Englishman noble.
I concur.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: The G04LMs are distinguished from their inferior brethren by the black armor with red trimming that they wear.
Sophisticated as Hell: While they never resort to crass dialogue, they will say things with eloquent prose, and then resort to "Easy peasy, lemon squeezy."
Teleport Spam: The Dissonance G03LMs really love to do this.
That Makes Me Feel Angry: When experiencing pain, one of their major dialogues is simply "Painful."

Riot Guards

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Riot Guards in Madness: Project Nexus Classic

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Riot Guards in MADNESS: Project Nexus

Heavily armed and armored guards for Project Nexus, Riot Guards are equipped to handle any situation that pops up.

Achilles' Heel: Unlike most Nexus Core units in Episode 1.5, they die in one hit to Christoff's Nexus Bolts after he gets the halo. While they will attempt to dodge them if they see it coming, they cannot do so while wielding their clubs.
Carry a Big Stick: Riot guards are always equipped with billy clubs as backup weapons. In the sequel, they instead wield shock batons.
Cool Mask: They wear metallic protective masks with red visors, which not only protect their heads/faces but also make them look more intimidating.
Elite Mook: Similarly to the AAHW's ATP Soldats. They are very fast and agile, capable of dodging gunfire, and equally competent at gunplay.
Fast-Roping: How they usually make their entrance. Rappeling down from the ceiling, to take care of any threats.
Lightning Bruiser: They're very agile, have huge Tac-Bars and can be quite the problem especially if you don't take care of them right away.
- Mighty Glacier: They are a lot slower in Project Nexus 2 when using their shields, but are still a big threat if not dealt with quickly.
Heavily Armored Mook: Not only does their armor offer protection against attacks, but they also have gigantic Tac-Bars, meaning they will take a lot of firepower to bring down.
Logical Weakness: Their shields may block all attacks from the front, but it doesn't protect them against attacks from behind, or from grenades either.
Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Their strategy in the sequel. They carry shields at all times, which allow them to block all attacks from the front.
You Don't Look Like You: Received completely new outfits in the sequel. They are also sometimes referred to as "Coremen".

Abominations

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Abominations in Madness: Project Nexus Classic

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Abominations in MADNESS: Project Nexus

Grotesque, deformed undead experimental failures, Abominations are an unfortunate and dangerous by-product of Project Nexus.

Body Horror: Abominations' main defining feature is their body sporting patches of skin that appears to have been torn off, exposing raw flesh. The sequel ramps this up, reducing their face to a small patch of skin strapped on with their headset while having a visible, Zed-like mouth and sharp claws.
Go Mad from the Revelation: Abominations are the failures of the Sleepwalker project, having gone insane from absorbing too much information too fast.
Lightning Bruiser: They're fast, can soak up quite a few bullets, and are capable of dealing a lot of damage if they get close. In Episode 1.5, they're even smart enough to occasionally dodge bullets.
Personal Space Invader: After their arms are freed, Abominations attack by grabbing their victim and beating and tearing at them. They have to be shaken off by mashing the movement keys.
Scary Teeth: In the sequel, they sport mouths with sharp teeth, which they'll absolutely use to bite you.
Too Many Belts: In lieu of straight jackets, they instead have belts wrapped around their body to restrain them.
Turns Red: Abominations start out with their arms tied down, which restricts their killing ability but allows them to knock the player down. Once they take enough damage, their arms will break free, allowing them to grab the player and deal damage at an alarming pace.
Wrestler in All of Us: While bound, they can perform a flying dropkick attack.
Use Your Head: Their grapple move is to hold you in place while they violently headbutt you over and over again.

Odium

The very first fusions of the Sleepwalker and Enmeshment experiments, and just as messed up as that implies.

Body Horror: They have a single, spiked arm replacing their normally free-floating hand.
Combat Tentacles: They can use their arms like giant whips, complete with a pronounced crack noise as it hits the strongest point of its motion.
Continuity Nod: The Odium shares its mutations and general size class with MAG Hank, particularly its single chitinous arm, implying that the reason the Odiums exist is because the S-3LFs they were Enmeshed with ran astray of the thing that mutated Antipathy Hank.
Psycho Prototype: They're this to the Abominations, which are already themselves prototypes for the Sleepwalkers.

Sleepwalkers

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Bandaged experimental subjects whose mask gives them unnatural staying power.

Bandit Mook: Sleepwalker patients have the unique ability to snatch guns out of the player's hand and use it themselves.
Cool Mask: They have a cycloptic mask over their faces that gives them their revival ability.
Defeat Equals Explosion: If killed three times, the sleepwalker patient's mask will malfunction and explode instead of reviving it.
Giant Mook: Sleepwalker experiments, a larger and tougher version of the sleepwalker.
Instant Expert: Their purpose as explained in the sequel: they're subjects trapped in an induced dream-like state while they absorb implanted memories, such as those of a particular Arena subject. When they wake up, they'll have all the experience that those memories would grant.
Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain: Decapitating a sleepwalker will destroy its mask, preventing it from reviving. This is the only way to take down the larger sleepwalker experiments, as they can revive infinitely.
Reviving Enemy: Sleepwalkers' masks will revive them on death, though it only works twice for the regular version. Sleepwalker experiments, on the other hand, can revive any number of times until decapitated.

MAG Agent: N

A mysterious Mag Agent fought at the end of Episode 1 of Project Nexus (Classic), who was presumably a member of the Nexus Core.

Cool Mask: N wears a combination of some kind of gas mask and red tinted goggles.
Damage-Sponge Boss: Since N lacks any actual armor, and the fact the all of his shots are telegraphed, most of the threat comes from wearing down his health while dodging every shot. As expected of a Mag Agent, he soaks up a lot of bullets before going down.
Disc-One Final Boss: Serves as the final boss of Episode 1 of Project Nexus (Classic).
Little Useless Gun: Well "little" is stretching it, considering it is a magnified PPK, but for the most part, compared to other Mags in the series, N seems to have been given a pretty useless weapon in comparison.
Plot-Irrelevant Villain: N's only purpose is to be a boss fight for the player to fight. N may or may not be a backup to Project Gestalt, but Phobos is finally defeated alongside Gestalt, making it unlikely that he'll restart his plan with N as his vessel.

Patients

The patients of Nexus City's asylums and laboratories, who are completely bonkers and desperate to break free.

Ax-Crazy: If the maniacal giggling wasn't a dead giveaway that they've lost it, then the fact that they'll attack anyone they come across should be.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Abominations, since they act in a very similar matter. Made even more strange by the fact that Abominations appear in MADNESS: Project Nexus as well.
Too Many Belts: Like Abominations, they've got belts around their wastes in lieu of straitjackets. Once they've been damaged enough, they break free of the belts.

Orderly and Harmacists

The doctors and nurses of Nexus City's asylums and laboratories.

Evil Brit: Speak with British accents and engage in medical malpractice.
Giant Mook: Harmacist Jr., a G03LM in the doctor's outfit.
The Grappler: The Orderly's sole move is to pick up the nearest enemy and toss them across the room like a sack of dirty laundry. Not entirely threatening on its own, but since he can trap you in a corner by doing it constantly or toss you directly into an open pit, things can get dicey very fast if he's not dealt with quickly.
Mad Doctor: They're more than willing to harm their patients in order to keep them under control.
Mushroom Samba: Harmacists are armed with guns that shoot needles at the protagonists. Getting hit by said needles causes the surroundings to become more colorful as a result of getting drugged, and whoever got hit moves slower.
Uncertified Expert: Medical malpractice aside, they're still operating despite the fact that no one is supposed to even be there anymore.

Unfinished Mags

MAG Agents that haven't been fully prepared due to them being released early in order to stop intruders.

Ambiguous Situation: They seem to flip-flop between being aware if they're finished to being unaware, as some of their quotes have them question if they're finished, while another of their quotes is "You can't harm the unfinished!".
Giant Mook: While slightly smaller than a finished MAG Agent, they're still pretty big.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: They sport goggles with red lenses, and they're very dangerous.

Robots

Also known as Generation 05, the robots are machines built by Nexus Core for various purposes.

Logical Weakness: They take extra damage from shock weapons.
Non-Standard Character Design: They don't look anything like Nevadeans. Hell, they even have arms!

Ghoul

A bug-like robot that Sanford and Deimos fight as they take the Monolift up to Nexus City's Central District in The Last Leg.

Alien Blood: Despite being a robot, this thing bleeds green blood upon getting defeated.
Boss Arena Urgency: Every time a corpus block gets knocked off, the player needs to trick Ghoul into slamming one of the loose panels of the Monolift to make it vulnerable again, reducing the area they have to fight in.
Degraded Boss: Black-colored versions of it are encountered in The Rush, albeit with less health.
Hell Is That Noise: This thing tends to shriek a lot, and said shrieking is anything but pleasant to listen to.
Tactical Suicide Boss: Ghoul could be a lot more dangerous if it didn't insist on smashing the arena apart.

The Hive

A Nexus Core MAG that Deimos and Christoff fight at the end of Shakedown.

Grumpy Old Man: It's got a vague resemblance, and its sickle blades are essentially walking crutches. Concept art shows The Hive yelling "GET OFF MY LAWN!" as well.
Heavily Armored Mook: Is covered completely in armor, serving as its means of protecting its vulnerable gut.
Lightning Can Do Anything: When its battery is depleted, it hobbles over to the power lines on either side of its room to recharge by jamming its crutch-sickles into them. Aside from a brief involuntary spasm where it opens its gut plate, it's fully charged and ready to go afterwords.
Logical Weakness: The battery pack on the Hive's back indicates that it can only do so many attacks before it exhausts itself and needs to recharge. Simply outlast said attacks, and once it's exhausted, its gut will open, and that's when Christoff and Deimos can strike it.
Mook Maker: From its gut, the Hive spawns miniature voodoo doll-looking creatures called "Hiveslugs" that explode with Dissonance Energy if they grab the player.
Plot-Irrelevant Villain: Like MAG Agent: N from the original, The Hive's only purpose is to be a boss fight for the player to fight.
Sinister Scythe: it wields a pair of sickle blades that it uses to maintain its balance while walking, as well as attacking anyone that gets too close.
Squishy Wizard: Despite what it's massive, corpulent frame and bullet sponge properties would suggest. While it has no shortage of long-range firepower in both its missiles and Hiveslugs, it takes increased damage from melee attacks and has very limited options for close quarters manuvers, save for a point blank missile blast if you take a corpus off it while it's not reeling from losing power.
Taking You with Me: Attempts to do so upon defeat. The Hive will send out one final barrage of missiles for Deimos and Christoff to dodge, and if the player is unsuccessful in dodging the missiles, they'll be forced to restart the fight.

Dr. Jebediah Christoff

See here.

Dr. Hoffnar

See here.

Dr. Crackpot

See Fanatics.

Dr. Gonne (spoilers unmarked)

Full name Dr. Herman Gonne, he's the chief scientist of the Robotics Department and head researcher in charge of Project Kobold, an attempt to perfect Generation 05 for full mass production and create soldiers using the fragments of Prime Code given to the Project by The Employers.

Anime Hair: A strange mix of a pompador, a cowlick, and a mohawk.
Cessation of Existence: Implied. No trace of Dr. Gonne was found after he kickstarted his project. Only the Cyber Bandits and the Prime Sword remained, and his notes were so scattered and uncomprehendable that no one bothered to try and duplicate his research into anything other than the Generation 05 robots. It's not clear if this is because he was caught, or if something else happened as a result.
Deader than Dead: If the S-3LF Eater got him, he most assuredly is this, as S-3LF is essentially a soul in terms of Nevada's metaphysics.
Go Mad from the Revelation: A subdued case. While his logs indicate he's perfectly fine at a glance, it's clear that something about him is slipping from how other people write about him, both Nexus Core investigators and the Cyber Bandits who guard his secrets. If his notes consisting of ritualistic scrawls hidden across Nexus City weren't enough indication, the mixture of having statisically Absolutely zero room for error in his calculations and being chased by a literal engine of destruction once he fully understood what he was looking into probably weren't doing him any favors.
Punny Name: Dr. Gonne is just that; Gone.
Uncertain Doom: Gonne is completely absent by the time you find both his Robotics Department and the area where you forge the Prima Blade, with notes saying that it's as if he simply completely vanished. It's plausible that either the Machine or the S-3LF Eater deleted him, but it's highly unclear and ambiguous where he went.

Towerguards

G03LMs decked out in medieval knight-themed armor.

Alien Blood: The Yellow Towerguard bleeds yellow blood, similar to the AAHW's ATP Engineers and Soldats.
Butt-Monkey: Downplayed for the Maroon Towerguards when it comes to two cutscenes in the Story Campaign. In "Base Jumping", the Blackguard's Fast-Roping entrance knocks down two of them, and in "Showdown", two more are crushed by Project Gestalt as it crashes out of a window.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Each one wears a color related to a major district in Nexus City. The Blue Greatsword-wielder for Residential, the Yellow flail-wielder for Industrial, the Maroon Sword-and-Shield wielder for Mining, and the Blackguard for the Central Tower.
Cool Helmet: All Towerguards' helmets are kitted with colored highlights and two forward-facing plumes, which add to their medieval knight looks. The Blue and Yellow Towerguards' visors even glow!
Epic Flail: The Yellow Towerguard uses a Morning Star flail as his melee weapon. You can take it from him after he's defeated.
Eyepatch of Power: Doubling as an Electronic Eye, the Yellow Towerguard has a yellow cybernetic monocle in place of his left eye.
Graceful Loser: The Blue and Yellow Towerguards hand out combat compliments upon losing enough health, and even take their demise in stride; the Yellow Towerguard's final words are pretty much him declaring he's been bested.
Heavily Armored Mook: This is a given for medieval knight-themed G03LMs.
In a Single Bound: Maroon Towerguards will jump high into the air to close the gap between you and them.
Lightning Bruiser: Like G03LM MK2s, Towerguards are adorned with heavy armor that makes them immune to damage and helmets that must be broken off to expose their heads. They are equipped with shields and BFSs (or an Epic Flail for the Yellow Towerguard) that hit like a freight train, and they can charge after you. They endure three takedowns at most, and they throw you down if said takedown isn't a lethal one. As for their enraged state? Instead of attacking around them while standing in place or trying to grab their attacker and dish out their frustration, they dash forward in a straight line while rhythmically slamming their weapon on the ground. This attack does respectable damage to your Corpus block should you get caught in it. The maroon variants can even leap In a Single Bound!
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The two remaining Maroon Towerguards in the Blackguard's arena turn tail after they witness his defeat.
Maroon Towerguard: G...Guhhh...!
Shield-Bearing Mook: Towerguards wield big shields that protect them from direct gunfire and sustained attacks. They also use these to Shield Bash at the tail end of their dash attack.
Rule of Three: It takes a total of three takedowns to kill each Towerguard.
Ye Olde Butchered English: They speak like medieval knights.

The Blackguard

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blqackguard.png

The highest ranking Towerguard of the Nexus Core.

Dark Is Evil: Wears black and red armor, and is affiliated with Project Nexus.
Elite Mook: The highest ranking Towerguard.
Fair-Play Villain: Subverted. He openly says before the boss fight begins that he cannot promise a fair fight. Said warning is validated once he pulls out a minigun on his last corpus.
Heavily Armored Mook: By virtue of being a G03LM/Towerguard, he's covered completely in armor. Said armor is so tough that only dissonance-energy and C4-related explosions can penetrate and destroy it.
Large and in Charge: Absolutely.
Lean and Mean: Unlike his fellow G03LM's, he's actually very skinny underneath all that armor.
Lightning Bruiser: Despite his size and his equipment he's shockingly agile and is capable of performing agile air combos with the Dragonslayer.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: Just look at his armor.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: His armor brings to mind the G04LM due to the black-and-red color scheme. He also has similar weapons of choice (A bladed weapon and a minigun).
Villainous Breakdown: Once his armor has been completely removed and he's reduced to his final corpus, he drops the medieval knight act and pulls out a minigun.

MAG Agent: Gestalt/Project Gestalt

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gestalt1.png

^{Click here to see his appearance in MADNESS: Project Nexus}

A magnified abomination.

Adaptational Villainy: In Classic, Gestalt was simply a MAG abomination that served little more than a boss fight. In Project Nexus, however, it's revealed to be the keystone of Project Nexus entirely and Director Phobos's plot, effectively becoming the main antagonist.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Downplayed, relative to the trope title. While Gestalt is a MAG Agent, that name somehow manages to undersell his size. MAGs come in at around 2.5 times as large as a typical Agent, so somewhere along the lines of two stories tall. Gestalt is so large even they can't hope to meet him eye to eye.
The Brute: Absolutely.
Disc-One Final Boss: His fight in MADNESS: Project Nexus, which is proceeded by Phobos.
Dumb Muscle: Subverted. Although he acts quite feral, Krinkels has revealed that Gestalt is fully sapient, and his feral act stems from having too much going on in his head to function properly.
Heavily Armored Mook: Is covered almost completely in armor. In MADNESS: Project Nexus, his armor takes on a more bestial theme.
The Heavy: Serves as this in the second game due to being the most active and dangerous threat. Then there's the reveal he was being controlled by Phobos.
King Mook: A magnified abomination wearing specialized armor.
Lightning Bruiser: Despite the fact that Gestalt is one of the largest characters in the series, he is surprisingly agile, easily able to catch up to a speeding minecart, body slam it, then come back again within 10 seconds.
Make My Monster Grow: When Hank and Christoff first encounter him in Deep Storage, he's the size of an unfinished MAG. With every encounter afterwards, Gestalt becomes bigger and bigger, likely as a result of absorbing S-3LFs.
Made of Iron: To an extent, literally; Doing enough damage reveals that his skull is reinforced from the inside with a solid rebar cage.
Meaningful Name: Gestalt is German for "an organized whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts", which is in according to how Gestalt was created; a combined mass of S-3LF Energy in one form, which is the Madness Universe's equivalent to souls.
Mini-Boss: His role in the original Project Nexus game, being faced towards the end of the Muto-Labs.
My Skull Runneth Over: Gestalt, being an amalgamation of S-3LF Energy shoved into a normal MAG Agent, has thousands and thousands of experiences running through his head all at once, and his brain can't even remotely keep up with it all.
Plot-Irrelevant Villain: While Gestalt is an intimidating creature, in Nexus Classic he doesn't have much bearing on the story outside of being a MAG that Dr. Christoff fights before taking on Phobos. It's later revealed that this is because his role begins after his master is dead.
Power Gives You Wings: It sprouts a pair of wings in response to being blasted with enough Dissonance energy to send anything to the Other Side
Soul Jar: Of the Person-Shaped Can variety. Contains a large mass of S-3LF Energy in his body, and has all of the experiences each S-3LF had in their lives in his own memory. Naturally, this wasn't very good for his sanity, and has reduced it into a feral berserker of a MAG. Which makes it perfect as a destructive super-soldier. That is, if that story wasn't just a cover made by Phobos. As, in reality, it wasn't made to be a super-soldier, this soul-jar property was the purpose of his creation, as Phobos had always intended to possess it with his own S-3LF, and then use this ability to absorb the Other Place and fulfill his ambitions of godhood.
Sequential Boss: Its first phase is Gestalt on its own, with Hank, Sanford and Deimos trying to power the Divergence Engine and blast it. The second phase has it mutate into "Apothic Gestalt", growing wings and launching Dissonance blasts at the tower. Its third phase has it vomit up Director Phobos to try and bring everything under control directly. Its final phase is merely breaking its helmet open and blasting it in the face with every weapon at your disposal until its brain is destroyed.
Wrestler in All of Us: One of Gestalt's main attacks in Classic is body-slamming whoever he attacks. Even if this misses, the fact that he generates a small earthquake if he lands is enough to disorient anybody nearby.

Director Phobos

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/phobos_8.png

Voiced by: William Harmar

The leader of Nexus Core, overseer of Project Nexus, and self-proclaimed "God Emperor" of Nexus City.

A God Am I: His main goal is to use the S-3LF Energy from Project Nexus to turn himself into a god, but he was killed by Jebediah before he could succeed. He later comes Back from the Dead after Gestalt is defeated, but he is then defeated again for good, ending his plans.
Badass Cape: Phobos wears a cape with a stand-up collar, emphasizing his view of himself as a "God Emperor".
Big Bad: Of Madness: Project Nexus (Classic), being the last enemy faced. He also fills this role in MADNESS: Project Nexus's Story Mode by coming back through Project Gestalt.
Cool Helmet: Phobos wears a fairly intimidating one-eyed helmet with a glowing red eye, and his mouth is covered in bandages, completely hiding the rest of his face.
Cool Sword: Wields the very same binary sword sported by Jesus in the videos.
Climax Boss: Is fought again in MADNESS: Project Nexus as he comes close to ascending into godhood with Gestalt as his vessel, only for Hank to turn on the rest of the cast after his defeat.
The Dreaded: Phobos is not only feared due to his position as Director of Project Nexus, he's also feared because he is an extremely skilled fighter. So skilled in fact, that the reason Christoff even beat him was due to the Keystone Fragment giving him the ability to shoot bursts of Dissonance Energy that pierced his defenses, and even then he only barely won the battle. It's a reason that it took a plan of 15 years in the making to actually take him down.
Evil Sounds Deep: He speaks in a very deep, baritone voice, with an added Power Echoes effect.
Faux Affably Evil: Phobos always makes sure to keep on a nice facade to have people trust him. Even when the main group faces him, he speaks politely.
Final Boss: The final enemy faced in Project Nexus 1.5. He's also the second final boss of the second game.
Final Boss Preview: He first shows up in the Chapel to taunt Christoff, with the encounter showing off his near-invulnerability to attack. Fortunately, he leaves after being successfully hit just once.
God-Emperor: Is certainly viewed as such, as the Towerguards refer to him as "God Emperor Phobos" and in his office he has a large painting of himself with a plaque underneath it that reads "God Emperor Phobos".
Golden Super Mode: Once he steals the Keystone Fragment, his S-3LF and corpus blocks turn gold.
Guilt-Based Gaming: Implied. When pausing the game, a blurb with an image of Phobos in the background will appear, with the blurb being an insult (calling you a coward, telling you that watching you play the game is painful, etc). It's unclear, however, if the blurbs are actually Phobos himself berating the player, or if it's the game itself.
It's All About Me: Throughout the game, propaganda and statues of Phobos completely litter the ruins of Nexus City. It's to the point that there is a gigantic statue of him in the sewers.
King Mook: In Project Nexus Classic, Phobos effectively fights like a beefier version of the Riot Guards. The same tactics that defeat Riot Guards will also work against him as a result.
Knight of Cerebus: Phobos and his actions are always played serious and whenever he appears things get darker.
Large and in Charge: Phobos is noticeably larger than most other characters, and he leads the main antagonistic faction of the Nexus Core, and helms the titular Project Nexus.
Lightning Bruiser: If his battle in Project Nexus (Classic) is anything to go by, not only is he bigger than a G03LM, but he can dodge and block bullets at inhuman speeds.
Meaningful Name: Phobos in Greek mythology is the personification of fear, which is how he rules over Nexus City.
Parrying Bullets: While he has the binary sword out, Phobos can deflect nearly any bullet that comes his way.
Posthumous Character: Phobos has been dead for 15 years prior to the game actually starting, yet his influence still lingers and even grows through the Nexus Core. He doesn't intend on staying that way for much longer.
Rank Scales with Asskicking: Practically a prerequisite for any "leader" position in Nevada, but Phobos stands out. He is the Director of Nexus Core, "God Emperor" of Nexus City, Overseer of the titular Project Nexus, and is likely one of the oldest Nevadeans in the setting. And he certainly has the power and prowess to back all of that up. Enough so that Jeb has stated that if he didn't have the Halo/Keystone Fragment, he would've been the one who died in their fight instead of Phobos. And the second game shows that, in true Madness Combat fashion, actual death has done jack all to slow him down in a fight. And it takes the combined efforts of all four protagonists to put him down for good.
Really 700 Years Old: While we don't technically know how old Nevada is, Phobos himself has been around since its very creation as a member of the first Generation, which possibly explains why the Employers chose him specifically to be the leader of Project Nexus. Too bad he had to screw it all up for godhood.
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Phobos is the twin brother of Deimos in Greek mythology, but there isn't actually any relation between the two characters, and that Krinkels simply chose the name "Phobos" because "it sounded cool".
The Sociopath: Phobos has a very clear god complex and is more than willing to sacrifice all those around him to get what he wants.
Jebediah: Do not deny that you would sacrifice every single person between yourself and godhood to do it.
Tactical Suicide Boss:
- In his first encounter, you simply have to damage him once to progress. The encounter also spawns Sleepwalkers, whose death explosions can damage Phobos, and unlike your bullets, he can't block the explosion.
- In his actual fight, Phobos switches between a TMP and the binary sword. While using the gun, he can do acrobatic dodges that make him nearly impossible to hit, and while using the sword, his main defense is parrying attacks with his enormous Tac-Bar. The catch is that Christoff obtained the halo a short while ago, letting him fire Nexus Bolts that can't be parried.
Thanatos Gambit: Despite his posturing about becoming a god through S-3LF Energy, he is cut down by Jeb before his plan could come to fruition. The sequel however shows that this was exactly his plan. As now his own S-3LF pilots Project Gestalt, and plans to use its unique ability to absorb S-3LF and Dissonant Energy to return to the Other Place, absorb the entire plane, and through this ascend into true godhood. Fortunately, despite his foresight, he did not seem to account for his enemies just killing Project Gestalt as well.
Tin Tyrant: Wears a face-concealing metal helmet, speaks in a more distinctly verbose tone than most, is literally named due to ruling through fear, and wields a sword as his signature weapon.
Villain Forgot to Level Grind: In his first encounter in Nexus Classic, Phobos's skill with the binary sword and huge Tac-Bar make him nearly impossible to hit, such that the challenge of the fight is hitting him just once. On the other hand, when he's fought for real, Christoff has the halo and thus has the option to just blast him with Nexus Bolts, which he has no defense against.
Villainous Legacy: Phobos, despite being long dead, is still venerated by his minions, who keep bringing on his plans. It's also likely he was giving out orders through the Other Place or Project Gestalt, making sure they follow his plans to the letter.
Voice of the Legion: His voice in MADNESS: Project Nexus has a noticeable reverb to it. Said reverb is present even before he shows up in S-3LF form.

Subject 1v02P_6

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/subjectla.png

The Player Character of the Arena Combat Mode in Madness: Project Nexus (Classic), and the first S-3LF of Project Nexus.

From Nobody to Nightmare: He went from a regular Grunt in a sea of identical-looking Nevadians to a skilled fighter on par with Hank. The Nexus Core knew this and used his memories to create an army of super soldiers by overriding a person's experiences with 1v02P_6's, leading to the creation of the Sleepwalker Patients.
Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: The Subject takes a puff on a cigarette after starting a wave while unarmed. While he ended up meeting his fate, he took far longer to die than most other smokers in Nevada.
Hello, [Insert Name Here]: The Subject can be renamed to whatever the player desires.
Posthumous Character: Maybe. He's possibly long dead by the events of MADNESS: Project Nexus. His journal can be found in that game, and Dr. Christoff mentions in "Sleeping Labs" that 1v02P_6's combat memories were collected and used in the training of the Sleepwalkers. In addition, the arena mode player character of the second game gains an imprint from him to help get in fighting shape faster.
Resurrective Immortality: The Nexus Core revives him by cloning him and putting his S-3LF in his new body. PN2 reveals he's canonically died a whopping 2691 times.
Uncertain Doom: His death counter in his room is stopped at 2691, meaning that they either stopped testing after that or they just viewed him as too dangerous to be left alive and was executed. Either way, he isn't seen in the sequel, and he's referred to as if he died.
Villainous Legacy: He's implied to have long since passed by the events of Project Nexus, but his combat memories were used as the template for the Sleepwalker program.
Villain Protagonist: Your efforts in helping the Subject get far in Arena mode go towards making the Sleepwalkers in the sequel become skilled agents of the Nexus Core. Oddly enough, though, he can get Hank and other members of the main squad as allies.

Other Enemy Factions

AAHW

An organised unit of agents led by the Auditor who's main purpose is to oppose Hank J. Wimbleton.

Alien Blood: ATP Engineers and ATP Soldats, who still have yellow blood.
Demoted to Extra: The Grunts, who are reduced to appearing exclusively in Arena Mode, and even then exclusively if you return to the Sleepwalker Training and fight above Round 4 and in Murder Room.
- The AAHW in general has a much less felt presence throughout the game than in the animations, where you'll be fighting factions who still live amongst Nexus City's remains. The Nexus Core, while looking similar to the agency, are completely different from the AAHW.
- However, they still get featured exclusively in the Arena Mode level Fast Track, where they even introduce a new AAHW unit, the Half-Mag, which downplays this trope.
Elite Mook: ATP Soldats, and they show it. Sporting a high Tac-Bar and 2 Corpus blocks whereas most AAHW units have just 1 corpus block, they certainly don't go down easy.
Giant Mook: MAG Agents, naturally. Big, slow, carrying a huge gun, and 3 Corpus blocks to empty.
Leitmotif: AAHW, a menacing theme that accompanies the AAHW when they ambush Hank.
Made of Iron: ATP Soldats and MAG Agents are the toughest units of the AAHW, sporting more than 1 corpus block and being able to absorb a lot of damage.
Put on a Bus: Once Hank, Sanford and Deimos infiltrate Nexus City, the AAHW disappears from the plot as the city is outside of their jurisdiction.
- The Bus Came Back: They make their return in Climb, in which the Nexus Core calls for their assistance against Hank and Sanford.
Starter Villain: The very first enemy faction encountered in Story Mode.

Half-Mag Agents

A new AAHW unit appearing exclusively in Arena Mode. As the name suggests, they are agents who are half-magnified.

Badass in a Nice Suit: They wear suits used by the other A.A.H.W Agents, though with extra armor padding.
The Big Guy: Half-Mags are roughly the same size as G03LMs.
Canon Foreigner: A newly introduced AAHW unit that hasn't appeared in the series prior.
Cool Shades: Like their fellow Agents, they wear black shades.
Facial Horror: They have literal cracks on their faces, implied due to the magnification process halting halfway.
Flash Step: Their main gimmick. They charge up a dash attack and zip a great distance. Those unfortunate enough to get hit by the attack become vulnerable to takedowns and at worst lose a corpus block.
Lightning Bruiser: Take the raw power of a Mag Agent, and combine with surprising agility.
Made of Iron: Half-Mags have the high pain tolerance and strength that come with being magnified.
Meaningful Name: As their name implies, Half-Mags are units that undergo the process that turns them into Mag Agents, only to stop midway during the procedure.
Scars Are Forever: They're cracks.

Bandits

Bands of (inexplicably Scottish) muggers and opportunists left over from the Zed outbreaks, looking to cause trouble in the deserts of Nevada, typically using whatever random bits of scrap they can find from larger scuffles. They have no singular leader due to both a lack of education and a reason to follow orders beyond being stronger or weaker than a given individual.

The Brute: The aptly named Bandit Brutes that appear in the Residential Sector.
Cannibal Clan: Members make repeated mention of wanting to eat their opponents, and over the course of the credits, demonstrate that they're not picky about eating Zeds either.
Creepy Souvenir: They'll often call dibs on the bones of anyone they target before moving in for the kill.
Pet the Dog: They nursed the MAG bandit back to health and took him in as their own, and refer to him as their "baby boy". The credits shows them desperately trying to find him, putting up wanted posters and asking anyone passing by.
Underground Monkey: The Residential Sector gives the Survivors (aka City Bandits) while Arena mode adds the Cyber Bandits.
Violent Glaswegian: For some reason, every bandit speaks with a Scottish accent.

MAG Bandit

A rogue MAG Agent that was taken in by the Bandits after he was wounded and abandoned. Since Bandits are primarily focused on finding their next meal, the MAG Bandit has an appropriately endless appetite and will chase down anything that looks tasty.

Big Eater: Constantly, ceaselessly talks about how hungry he is.
Made of Iron: Due to being a MAG Agent, he can take a lot of physical abuse before he falls, and even then him falling doesn't mean he's gonna stay down.
Pet the Dog: His final words before dying for good are a request to "feed [him] to [his] children." Whether that's literal or just other bandits is unknown, but the bottom line is that he cares about them enough to refuse to let them go hungry.

Cyber Bandits

Bandits plucked from the wastes for by Dr. Gonne as subjects for Project Kobold. Though they're generally smarter and having some of the best gear, they're still the same (inexplicably Scottish) brutes at heart.

Cyborg: They've been outfitted with mechanical prosthesis, and infused with bits and pieces of Prime Code that allow them to perceive reality on a different level than most.
Go Mad from the Revelation: Downplayed. The Bandits aren't exactly well off to start with, but being imprinted with Prime Code seemed to make them more reasonable, though only because being imprinted with Prime Code gave them a sobering understanding of just how small Nevada is. It's less that they're friendly, and more that they're not seeing as much of a point in taking part in the conflict anymore.
Only Sane by Comparison: Yes, they're smart enough to realize that the stuff they have on-hand should never leave their tight-knit circle, not even letting Project Nexus in on what they have. No, that doesn't change the fact they're still irradiated cyborg bandits that are treating this act as the formation of a cult.
Plot-Irrelevant Villain: Subverted. While starting out as "Arena Mode"-only enemies, they eventually show up in the post-game quest of the Story Mode "Legacy of the S-3LF Eater".
Secret-Keeper: They've gone out of their way to keep Dr. Gonne's research a secret. As the gang discovers, there's a very good reason it should stay a secret.

MERC

A faction formerly too small to worry about, after the fall of Project Nexus, the Matter & Energy Reclamation Corporation swooped in to take advantage of the leftover equipment to train and inflate their ranks to a credible threat that outshines even the AAHW. They are lead by the Sheriff, who has returned after Hank settled the score with him a long while ago.

Ax-Crazy: Implied with MERCZerkers. They constantly charge at anyone that isn't a fellow employee with clear enjoyment out of getting to kill, and their text that appears whenever they have dialogue has a reddish tint, in contrast to the orange-yellow text of the other MERC members.
Cold Sniper: MERC Snipers.
Dual Wielding: MERC Gunners wield twin rifles at all times and MERCZerkers wield twin melee weapons.
Elite Mook: MERC Captains. They have 3 corpus blocks, high TAC-Bars and the regalia to indicate their authority. The only one who outranks them is the Sheriff.

Church & Jorge

A duo of twin brother G03LMs that were sent by the Nexus Core as both an olive branch and an attempt to get the foundry workers to shut up about their shipments. Often seen fighting together, and are especially resilient. Church wears his hair in a mohawk and fancies close-quarters combat, while Jorge is clean-shaven and uses his strength to wield guns strong enough to reduce people to a fine vapor.

Back from the Dead: After getting themselves killed by Gestalt, MERC brings the two back to life in the credits and the two celebrate with a fist bump.
Bait-and-Switch Boss: They show up in the Nexus Tower with Dissonant Reality weapons demanding another rematch, only for Project Gestalt to arrive and crush the two in mere seconds.
Bash Brothers: Duh. Bonus points for them being literal brothers.
BFG: Jorge's specialty. His first primary weapon is a giant sniper rifle with enough velocity and power behind it to completely bypass TAC Bars and instantly drain a unit of Corpus. His second is a sludge-thrower made to deal poison damage and slow anything hit by it down long enough for Church to close the gap. His third set are a pair of Dissonant heavy weapons.
Borrowed Without Permission: Their final confrontation has Jorge note that they found the Nexus Core equipment they show up in, with Church going out of his way to specify they're going to return it after the fight.
Everyone Has Standards: They refuse back-up during the second encounter because they're off the clock and want a fair match, as opposed to the first fight where it was strictly MERC business.
Church: I am STOKED about the FAIRNESS of our FIGHTING ETHIC!
Fire-Breathing Weapon: Jorge brings a flamethrower to their second battle.
Friendly Rival: They try to be this for Sanford and Deimos. The S.Q. Agents are less than impressed.
Goldfish Poop Gang: The two repeatedly tail the Anti-AAHW crew throughout their journey to shut down the Nexus Project, and are generally shown little respect or paid much mind beyond the immediate threat they pose.
I Shall Taunt You: If Church or Jorge manage to score a knock-down on a player character while they're near eachother, they'll fistbump in celebration.
Leitmotif: "Blood Son"
One-Hit Polykill: Jorge's guns are usually strong enough for the bullet to easily penetrate multiple targets at once.
Recurring Boss: They go up against Status Quo 3 times throughout the game. They attempt to fight the complete team a fourth time at the Science Tower, but they're interrupted by Project Gestalt killing them.
Shock and Awe: Church's initial primary weapon is a pair of metal plates hooked to a generator on his back that he uses as knuckledusters.
Sword and Sorcerer: Church is a melee specialist that diverts attention from Jorge, who provides cover fire for Church.

Zeds

Nevadeans turned into flesh-eating monsters by a bioweapon created during the Nexus Project's development. Due to their animalistic nature, they have no true leader, although certain individuals can control them.

Artificial Zombie: Created by enmeshing a S-3LF to its own corpse, reanimating it but preventing it from passing on.
Ascended Extra: They were mostly just Jebus' minions in the original, the only noteworthy member of their kind being Tricky. Project Nexus' story partially revolves around them, going in depth on how they exist and the barriers between life and death that they subvert. They also have wiped out most of Nexus City thanks to Christoff unleashing them to stop Phobos, are available in more variants and even have a new distinct character and boss in the form of Burger Gil.
Came Back Wrong: Even with the S-3LF returned to its original body, it isn't fully integrated and such can only animate the body. Very few Zeds show anything higher than feral instincts, let alone any semblance of their former personality.
Deader than Dead: Due to being enmeshed to already-dead corpses rather than a living but inert body, the S-3LFs used to animate them are unrecoverable once they're used to create a Zed.
Grapple Move: Zeds can lunge at their targets, and if they don't move out of the way they'll get grabbed. Unless they break loose, the Zed will just keep biting them and hold them down for other enemies to wail on as well.
Monster Clown: Tricky aside, the "Murder Time" gameshow at the end of Sleeper Labs introduces the Honk Zeds, who are zeds with clown hair that comes in different colors, as well as a clown nose that can be either red or purple.
Not Using the "Z" Word: Referred to mostly as "Zeds" in Project Nexus, even though they were usually called Zombies outside of that.
Our Zombies Are Different: Created with what is essentially industrialized necromancy.
Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain: Zeds take increased damage to the head, but reduced damage to their torsos. Plus, destroying their head keeps them from resurrecting.
Reviving Enemy: Zeds can get right back up when killed up to 2 times, unless burned, decapitated, or otherwise obliterated.
Strapped to a Bomb: Honk Zeds have bombs on their chests. Said bombs detonate once the Zed is killed.
Zombie Apocalypse: In response to Phobos giving Crackpot the go-ahead on Plan Zed, Christoff released a Zed from containment and let the dominos fall from there, ending with Phobos and most of Nexus City dead.
Zombie Puke Attack: Swamp Zeds are capable of puking against you, with said puke being able to slow you down and perform a decent amount of damage.

Burger Gil

Gil used to run Burger Gil, a self-named fast food store serving as the primary cafeteria for the Nexus Project's main city before Jebediah set the zeds loose. While most wrote him off as dead, he not only became a particularly strong zed, but maintained a kernel of thought that caused him to become a dangerous cannibal, dragging anything he could find, from other zeds to hapless wanderers back to his restaurant to butcher them for more meat to keep his burger joint afloat.

Affably Evil: He may have become a cannibal making his meat from Nevadeans along with other Zeds, but he's still shown to be happily making burgers to serve the masses. He also doesn't act nasty towards anyone, and refers to Sanford and Deimos as loyal customers whilst attacking them.
Alternate Reality Game: Gil's online ordering service was subject to an ARG leading up to the release of Project Nexus, wherein players had to retrace his steps as he tried to make deliveries during the Zed outbreak.
Burger Fool: Gil's been at his job for so long, even as a Zed his instincts tell him to keep making food.
Expy: Of the Hot Dog Vendor, in terms of a fast food worker who gets wrapped up in things beyond his paygrade and general comprehension. Unlike the Vendor, however, Gil didn't make it out alive. Not as he started out, at least.
Large and in Charge: Oddly enough, the Zed virus wasn't the cause of it; Gil just had the luck of being a G03LM.
Lightning Bruiser: While most Zeds can only barely keep up their running speed, Gil can make it from one side of the room to the other in a single second.
Superpowered Robot Meter Maids: Gil was a G03LM that became a city-famous chef because he had the endurance, speed and patience to run the store as its only chef and delivery man.
Tragic Monster: Gil was someone pretty much everyone respected, even Hank. Unfortunately, Sanford and Deimos are forced to put him down to pass through to the mining sector of the city.

Fanatics

A group worshipping the Zeds and obsessed with finding out more about the Other Place. They are led by Dr. Crackpot.

Cult: They worship the Zeds, believing they are the vessels through which immortality can be achieved.
The Patient Has Left the Building: They are actually mental asylum patients stolen by Dr. Crackpot because he was convinced they were "Prophets of the Other Place" and tried to convince the medical facility to release them. Obviously this did not work, so Crackpot simply stole them without permission.
Resurrective Immortality: Prophets have the ability to get back up twice after enough damage has been dealt, with the third time putting them down for good. This is averted if the Prophet was killed by a takedown or if an attack was strong enough to reduce them to Ludicrous Gibs.
Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Subverted. Fanatics tend to throw whatever they have in their hands at the player in hopes of landing a hit, but chances are high they will miss.

Dr. Crackpot

A former scientist working on Project Nexus, Dr. Crackpot now serves as the Fanatics' leader.

Affably Evil: While overall acting as an insufferable jerk, he's quite affable towards the protagonist of Arena Mode. Then again, knowing him, it might be a case of Faux Affably Evil.
Arch-Enemy: With Christoff. Both scientists hated each other, with Christoff detesting Crackpot's manipulation of the S-3LF and turning Nevadeans into Zeds. Though they never meet each other during the present, Crackpot created the Fanatic cultists simply to spite Christoff and prove how much better he is than him.
Back from the Dead: The credits reveal he's come back as a Zed after being killed by Project Gestalt.
Bitch Slap: Is on the receiving end of one during a flashback to where Crackpot got a promotion after Christoff is fired.
Insufferable Genius: Oh boy is he ever.
Jerkass: He was unpleasant even before being driven mad by the project. A flashback shows him gloating over taking Christoff's position after Phobos fired him right in his face
Mad Scientist: Definitely the least sane of the three head scientists (before Hoffnar's transformation at least), and was responsible for "Plan Zed", the creation of Zeds through S-3LF experimentation.
Manipulative Bastard: He is the leader of the Fanatics, after all.
Necromancer: His meddling with the Other Place resulted in the creation of the Zeds, and he even created an entire religion based off of them. He also gained the power to fire magic bolts from his hands.
Opportunistic Bastard: Sells his employers' barracks supplies out of a run-down van in an alley for the faintest whiff of information about Status Quo's enmeshment project.
Plague Doctor: In modern times, he wears a plague doctor mask.
Punny Name: His codename in Arena Mode is "Fence", because he's fencing his wares to you from behind a literal fence.
The Virus: As the leader of the Fanatics and the creator of Zeds, he's effectively a non-infectious version of this trope. Played Straight when the Credits reveal he's become a Zed himself.
Token Evil Teammate: Under the nickname "Fence," he loads off special weaponry and colors for you in exchange for more info on Status Quo's enmeshment tech. Considering how Zeds come about, it's not hard to assume why he wants that info.

Toughs

A biker gang of street thugs led by Sweet Tony. They appear exclusively in Arena Mode.

Badass Biker: Wears leather jackets and purple shades? Check. Talk in thuggish lingo. Check. Ride in motorcycles? Is that even optional?
Brooklyn Rage: They have pronounced bronx accents, and spout variants on stereotypical phrases heard in the area.
"I'm... no longer walkin' here..."
Fluffy the Terrible: The leader of the Toughs is called "Sweet Tony".
Goldfish Poop Gang: They are complete pushovers, even at the beginning of the game. You encounter them in all contract levels, and with each level you start to wonder how exactly they became a gang in the first place.
Greaser Delinquents: Their attire and voicelines are completely centered around this trope
The Napoleon: Sweet Tony is the leader, as well as the shortest member of the group, and does not take his loss in the first mission very well.
Vampire Hunter: Apparently so, as they also operate in the blackness of night, fighting against the Vampires with stakes, crossbows, and torches.

VendeVice Syndicate

A mafia organization appearing exclusively in Arena Mode.

Easily Forgiven: The first time you meet them, you're raiding their base to steal their tech while killing almost everybody in your way. While Doc specifically keeps you out of the negotiation, SQ and the VendeVice are on much better terms after "Fickle Friends" and work together. Some Toadies even help you out when the Toughs attack, even though the negotiations were cut short by their arrival.
Enemy Mine: Doc negotiates with them during the "Fickle Friends" contract in hopes of locating the Machine, and when the Toughs invade Club Advent, some of the Toadies and Bouncers assist the player in defeating them.
Foil: To the Toughs. The two groups are based on stereotypical gangs, but the Toughs are merely a delinquent biker gang with Italian American accents while the VendeVice are an Italian mafia. The Toughs remain as the player's (rather pathetic) enemies throughout the whole game, while the VendeVice are able to strike an alliance with Status Quo to find the Machine. They also help the player out in different ways in "Fickle Friends," the Toughs carrying the Vampires' weaknesses and the VendeVice directly assisting you when the Toughs invade.
The Mafia: Do we really need to explain this one?

Gudgeons

The enemies of Slaughter Time.

Kung Fu-Proof Mook: Inverted, in a sense. Unlike every other faction, all of the Gudgeon's ranged attackers fire projectiles that ignore the player's TAC-Bar.
Mook: They exist solely to be killed by Slaughter Time contestants. That doesn't mean they won't fight back, however.
- Elite Mook: Bully and Rook Gudgeons, which are first introduced with boss blocks on-screen before becoming infrequent enemies.
- Giant Mook: The Mooshers.
- Mini Mook: The Elves.
Palette Swap: Mooshers are G03LM MK1's with yellow armor instead of grey, armed with an improved version of the Bully's shotgun.
Suicide Attack: Elves will attempt to grab the player or a hireling. Should they succeed, they'll proceed to explode, which could potentially result in loss of a corpus block.
Unusable Enemy Equipment: Gudgeon weapons break upon the death of their holders. You instead get normal weapons through explosive presents.

Demoniac Cultists

A satanic cult trying to unleash armageddon upon the world by summoning demons, appearing exclusively in the Arena Mode mission "The Haunting of Nevada House".

Apocalypse How: Their goal, which they try to achieve by summoning the demons they worship. If they successfully break into the house and perform the ritual, the player and their squadmates will be forced to fight the demons as well. Letting too many demons get summoned will mean Stygian gets summoned and Nevada's in for a Hell of a time.
The Cult: Of the satanic variety. They'll attempt to break into the house in order to perform their ritual to summon the demons they worship. The level's trophy in the Loft also suggests that they worship Stygian.
Dem Bones: Husks, skeletons revived by the cultists that serve as part of the enemies the player must defeat.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: The cultists wear black robes and have red eyes. The Demonstrators wear red robes. And they're all trying to summon demons and eventually Stygian.

Ghosts

The other enemy faction in "The Haunting of Nevada House".

Our Ghosts Are Different: Purple Specters are the standard ghost mook and the easiest to defeat. Green Poltergeists can take more punishment and fire projectiles, and Red Apparitions are tanky and armed with shields, helmets and axes in order to defend themselves.

Vampires

A gang operating on night. They appear exclusively in Arena Mode.

Ambiguously Related: They have the same quotes of the Patients. Whether there's a connection between them or not is unknown.
Expressive Mask: The visors they wear have text scrolls on them, displaying words fitting deranged cannibal lunatics.
Kill It with Fire: The quickest way to put them down is to use fire against them. Fortunately the Toughs often drop torches that can be used against them.
Our Vampires Are Different: In this case, augmentation addicts who modified their heads in order to give themselves fangs. With said fangs, they're capable of turning others into vampires.
Plot-Irrelevant Villain: While they show up in a bus mission and directly lead into the Toughs attacking the VendeVice, neither impacts the plot in the long run and just leads to some delays that are quickly wrapped up by the time Doc comes to pick you up.
Reviving Enemy: Like Zeds, Vampires can resurrect themselves up to twice. Fire and obliteration prevents them from doing so.
Weaksauce Weakness: The Vampires are a giant threat for anybody without either fire or stakes. The level they appear in features the Toughs carrying burning stakes, giving you easy access to the Vampires' main weakness. Lasers also count as fire, and since they revive after death, Dissonant weapons or the Chunky Salsa Rule can negate all chance for them to get back up.

Operational Detachment Nevada 51

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4c53ac3a_cf6d_468f_a39d_a0ee3a327059.png

A mysterious military group that makes its only appearance in the siege arena stage "Hard Sell".

Badass Army: These are professional-level enemies, and it shows; all of their units have armor, TAC-bars, and a significant abundance of military-grade firearms, units having assigned roles similar to Story Mode players, not to mention fighting significantly smarter than the bandits and cultists faced so far; using cover, flanking, and exploiting the environment to their advantage.
Early-Bird Cameo: Their equipment can be purchased long before they make an appearance. Some of it is even early-game gear.
Plot-Irrelevant Villain: They don't appear anywhere outside of "Hard Sell," an Arena Mode stage, and they don't have much of an effect on the plot.

Private Security

A group acting as law enforcement for Nevada Central's private sector. They appear exclusively in the arena stage "The Heist".

Hero Antagonist: They're private security trying to stop you from robbing a bank.
Non-Standard Character Design: Pugilists have uniquely-shaped heads not shared with any other character in the franchise.
Reformed Criminal: The Banditos are bandits that have been deputized by the police, assisting them in trying to stop the heist.
Zerg Rush: Riflemen typically wait outside the bank to serve as a barricade, but if enough of them gather, then they will proceed to launch a full-scale attack and charge in.

Clockworkers

Robots serving The Machine. They appear exclusively in "Mandatus", the final bus stop mission.

Giant Mook: Cog Wreckers are giant Clockworkers with heads that detach into smaller drones when their body is destroyed.
Logical Weakness: Being servants created by The Machine, the entity responsible for reality, weapons that disrupt that reality (Dissonance weapons, or anything that deals Nega damage) are especially effective against them.
Things built of pure reality are easily corrupted by The Other Place.
Nonstandard Character Design: They look more like clockwork BIONICLE figures than Nevadeans. And yet, they still have the distinctive facial cross.

Other Characters

Garret Goyle

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/garrettgoyle.png

A G03LM who serves as the host of Slaughter Time.

Added Alliterative Appeal: His intro to every show uses this.

"It is I, your gallant gatherer of grey goons, the gregarious gameshow G03LM himself... Garrett Goyle!"

Alliterative Name: Garrett Goyle.
The Host: Of Slaughter Time.
Large Ham: He's quite bombastic in his line deliveries.
Non-Standard Character Design: His suit is noticably more colorful and the average Nevadean's outfit, and his mask depicting a smiling face isn't worn by anyone else.
Token Evil Teammate: According to Krinkels in a Twitch Stream, while G03LMs are good-natured by default, Garrett is one of the meanest, to the point that he may even be one of the worst people in all of Nevada.
The Unfought: Due to being the host and his booth being far out of the reach of the arena, Garrett is never fought in Slaughter Time.

The Employers

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/724028e7_aff0_4aac_9a51_87f9ea3584b3.png

The Employers' concept art.

^{Click here to see them in-game (spoilers).}

A mysterious group who put Phobos in charge of Project Nexus.

Bad Boss: Stygian and Conductor openly insult Christoff, while the Auditor not-so-subtly intimates that he will obey them or suffer an unfortunate fate. They also don't seem to be too shy about pulling You Have Failed Me on their underlings.
Big Bad: Not all of them (at least, as far as we know), but the Auditor certainly is, for creating the A.A.H.W and for messing with reality to have Nevada under his complete control, as well as being the main antagonist in the actual Madness Combat series. Plus, all of them do still serve The Machine, so they have some sort of dark side underneath the surface.
Big Good: There were some implications that they hired Hank and the others to destroy Project Nexus. However, the second game seems to disprove this since Doc appears to be the leader of the operation and and at least one of them created the AAHW.
Color-Coded Eyes: Each of the members has a different eye colour to differentiate from each other: Stygian has magenta eyes, Deliberator has white eyes, Conductor has blue eyes, and Auditor has red eyes.
Eldritch Abomination: They predate Nevada by an incalculable amount of years, and if the Auditor is anything to go by, they all are sentient dimensions.
Expy: They almost appear to be similar to the Auditor, being shadowy corporate-themed overlords who preside over the happenings of the story's events. The second game's epilogue reveals the Auditor to be one of them, and shows them to be visually identical to each other barring the colors of their eyes.
- Out of universe, Krinkels notes that they were inspired by the Investors from The Venture Brothers
A Form You Are Comfortable With: Implied. When they first appear, they look like skeletal deer... things before morphing into humanoid forms. It's plausabile that their first forms were their true ones, and their humanoid forms are what they choose to appear as. It's fitting that their first forms also slightly resemble machinery, given their connection to The Machine.
Greater-Scope Villain: They put Phobos in charge of Project Nexus and one of them created the AAHW.
Jerkass: During the second game's epilogue, Stygian is the most overtly brash and rude of the Employers, berating Christoff at nearly every chance he gets and referring to him almost exclusively in contemptuous terms. Conductor is only slightly less of one due to only speaking twice.
The Omniscient Council of Vagueness: Ominous, seemingly all-knowing collective of unknown individuals. Krinkels has even described them as being "custodial" rather than active.
Meaningful Name: According to Krinkels, each one's purpose is reflected by their name:
- The Auditor is indicated to "makes sure things are running the way they ought to", reflecting the real life position's duties of examining something to ensure its accounts are accurate.
- Stygian is stated to serve in a Psychopomp-like role, guiding the dead from Nevada to The Other Place; this fits with him being named after the Ancient Greek underworld's River Styx.
- Deliberator and Conductor's roles have not been explained so far, though Krinkels has said that they can be inferred from their names. Based on their actions, Deliberator seems to be the diplomat and voice of the four - they're the only one to try and negotiate with rather than command Christoff during their meeting, and the one who first references needing to draw up a "new charter". Conductor's role is much more difficult to guess, though it's reasonable to assume they have some level of control over their mortal agents' operations.
Non-Action Big Bad: Downplayed. Krinkels has stated that they all do "business" in Nevada, but the Auditor is unique insofar as he's willing to actively pick fights with mortal Nevadeans. Interestingly enough, a second Word of God by Krinkels says that the Auditor's methods of administrating Nevada are "unwise".
Our Angels Are Different: Krinkels, from a Twitch clip, compares the Employers to angels, stating how their roles are not hands-on and have been explained as "custodial." The Auditor is an interesting case, as Krinkels has also said how he "ruined everything" with his actions.
The Quiet One: Conductor speaks only twice, to tell Christoff that they don't have the time or patience for his "ego" and to warn Christoff that neither Hank nor Nevada are his concern any longer
Token Good Teammate: Heavily downplayed and for a given value of "good". Deliberator is the least overtly unpleasant or demanding of the four toward Christoff when they meet, and appears the most overtly concerned with the unspecified new threat to Nevada.
You Don't Look Like You: Just compare their concept art with how they actually are in-game and you'll wonder if you are even looking at the same people.

The Machine (spoilers unmarked)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_machine_3.png

A mysterious entity that has a sort of bond with every person living in Nevada.

Ambiguous Situation: It's not exactly clear what the Grand Steward is supposed to be. It's either the leader of robots under the Machine's command, an avatar of the Machine itself, or both. Other than those implications, practically nothing is told about it or its existence.
Big Bad: Since the search for the Mandatus is to better understand it or even stop it if necessary and it will destroy the world if the story isn't retold, it can pretty much be considered this for Arena Mode.
Final Boss: Since the Grand Steward is likely its avatar, it fills this role for Arena Mode.
Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: The Grand Steward, somewhat. While the Gambler explains that the Mandatus is the Machine's agent to bring calamity to Nevada, the Grant Steward just shows up after the Gambler explains that you'll have to enmesh yourself with the Nowhere. Given the Gambler says that the Machine knows you're here, it's likely the Steward is the Machine's last attempt to stop you from enmeshing the Mandatus, but nothing is explained and the Steward isn't addressed before or after its battle.
The Gods Must Be Lazy: Somewhat. After you make a new identity after your first run, Doc says that the Machine's system is broken and that, while they cannot fix this system as they are a part of it, they can at least avert its cataclysmic outcome.
Greater-Scope Villain: It's implied the Employers administrate Nevada under its command.
Mechanical Abomination: A mechanical deity who rules over reality and threatens its existence.
Top God: It's stated to be a brother to The Maker, and it has the authority over reality and the Employers to prove it.
Waddling Head: The Grand Steward is a giant mechanical head on spider legs, with armor plating that forms a facial cross overtop a more intimidating skull.

The Gambler (spoilers unmarked)

A mysterious fellow who leads the player to the Machine during the final mission.

Arms Dealer: He essentially becomes this for the Magiturge, selling him powerful magic weapons and equipment in exchange for Boon Tokens.
- He also sells guns only The Machine's robots use, but just for cash.
Chekhov's Gunman: He can be seen observing the player during all the previous missions, but he only truly interacts with the protagonist at the end.
Stable Time Loop: Speaks as if he and the player have met before, even if it's the player's first time playing through the campaign. Granted, since every Imprint will require a full playthrough of the campaign, he and the player will be meeting each other again and again, combining this with Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory, as he maintains the memories of said meetings. When meeting the player in the space inbetween as the Magiturge, he says he has no idea who you are, showing this to be his very first meeting with you on his end, while you've already met him at least 3 times by now, making it likely his progression of time is simply less linear than the player's.

The Maker (spoilers unmarked)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/82b313f7_0c13_47ec_be6f_51e530714f7d.png

A god-like individual who is a sibling of the Machine and had a part in Nevada's creation. He's only named by the Gambler but he can be met in-person with the second imprint just before the Grand Steward's boss battle.

Author Avatar: He likely represents the developers of the game or Krinkels himself.
Breaking the Fourth Wall: Before fighting the Grand Steward the second time, The Maker wishes the Arena Player Character and us (the players) good luck, saying Nevada will not survive The Madness without your combined strength.
The Creator: As his name suggests, he had a role in Nevada's creation. However, the Maker themself and the Gambler say that the Maker isn't entirely responsible for Nevada's creation. Going with the theory that the Arena Mode represents Madness as a real entity, this would mean that the Maker likely used the Machine as their hand to create Nevada somehow.
Nonstandard Character Design: The Maker has a facial cross that is shaped like and made of stars,
Top God: Referred to as "the Highest Power". Played with in that he's not the only one of his rank, as the Machine rivals him and was likely the one to create Nevada itself.

The S-3LF Eater (spoilers unmarked)

The S-3LF Eater is a heavily-armored cybernetic G03LM wielding a giant scythe summoned by Dr. Gonne. Its mechanical nature seems to possess an unexplainable arcane power that enables it to revive itself. It will relentlessly pursue and eliminate anyone who defies its altar.

Ambiguously Related: While most would assume the S-3LF Eater simply killed Dr. Gonne, it's implied by Christoff that it is him, as he ends the situation saying "Until we meet again." However, due to Christoff's way of speaking, it's not clear if he means it literally, or is just considering it part of him due to how he treats the different experiments within Project Nexus as synonymous with their leaders.
Arc Villain: It serves as the main antagonist of the Story Mode's post-game questline "Legacy of the S-3LF Eater", where it's accidentally summoned back by the protagonists.
Barred from the Afterlife: The main reason it keeps coming back is because it's been enmeshed to its own body similar to a Zed, and can't be sent to The Other Place. Unlike a Zed, its body is too durable to do any irreversible damage to it, meaning that until its enmeshment is severed it will keep getting back up.
Damage-Sponge Boss: Despite its fleshy bits, it seems to be made of pure metal, and as such takes heavily reduced damage from pretty much anything.
Deader than Dead: It has this ability, and will use it with minimal provocation. Anyone it kills is summarily erased completely, and as the name would imply, even their S-3LF would be completely dissipated, albeit not literally eaten.
For Doom the Bell Tolls: Whenever it respawns, an ominous bell chimes in the area, which makes one of the party members comment on how sinister it is.
The Grim Reaper: It's clearly supposed to invoke this trope since it's a hooded figure with a scythe that pretty much has an equivalent of a Touch of Death.
"Instant Death" Radius: It tends to swing its scythe in large arcs around itself, and does it quickly and often enough to make melee options a risky endeavor if you're not standing directly behind it.
Kryptonite Factor: The Prime Blade is able to sever the ties that keep it enmeshed, allowing it to be killed normally.
Lightning Bruiser: It's able to close a gap very quickly, even without it's signature dashing grapple.
Mechanical Abomination: A giant, mechanical, immortal entity able to kill about anyone in a single hit.
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: It's called "the S-3LF Eater", and since in the Madness Combat universe the S-3LF is the equivalent of the soul, its name pretty much means "the Soul Eater".
Offscreen Teleportation: If you manage to run away from it, it just sinks into the ground and reappears ahead of you, either from the ground or through the nearest door.
One-Hit Kill: It has a unique grab move that needs to be interrupted by a teammate grappling it from behind. If not interrupted, then it will instantly crush its victim's torso into paste, not only killing them but rendering them incapable of being revived until the next loading screen.
Player Nudge: If you're lost on where to go, managing to kill the S-3LF Eater has it drop scraps of metal that give you a hint on what area to check next.
Recurring Boss: The S-3LF Eater harasses the heroes throughout the overworld; each time the player and the heroes kill it, the monster revives whenever they leave for a new area. The only way to stop the Eater is by using the Prime Blade and beating it in one last boss fight, and only then will it stop spawning, at least until you pull the Prime Blade out of the altar to go through the DLC again.
Sealed Evil in a Can: The S-3LF Eater was trapped inside the Robotronics Labs building shrine but was released when our heroes pulled and broke the Prime Blade from the altar. To beat the monster, they must rebuild the sword and use it to destroy the S-3LF Eater before returning it to the altar. However, this is a short-term fix, as the game warns that it's only a matter of time until someone else finds the shrine and accidentally frees it again.
Sinister Scythe: A giant one, topped with a bleached skull.
Super-Persistent Predator: Once it's unleashed, it will keep hounding you until you finish the "Legacy of the S-3LF Eater" side-story, no matter how far you run or how many times you put it down.

Characters / MADNESS: Project Nexus 2

Status Quo (S.Q.)

In General

Noob

Undercover Agent

Terrible Experiment

Ronin Mercenary

Escaped Patient

Disquieted One

An Offering

Project Creber

Tinkerer

The Massive

Magiturge

Nexus Core

Other Enemy Factions

Half-Mag Agents

MAG Bandit

Cyber Bandits

Church & Jorge

Burger Gil

Dr. Crackpot

Other Characters

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Index

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Characters / MADNESS: Project Nexus 2

Edit Locked

Status Quo (S.Q.)

In General

Nexus Core

Other Enemy Factions

Half-Mag Agents

MAG Bandit

Cyber Bandits

Church & Jorge

Burger Gil

Dr. Crackpot

Other Characters

Previous

Index

Next