… Oh, and the bandits. Those lovable, opportunistic, cowardly scavengers. Not so much a 'faction' as a bunch of dangerously far flung splinter groups stealing, looting, and killing for sheer pleasure. They are as every bit as dangerous as that sounds.
- Krinkels: Bandits + The kickstarter needs your help!

Bandits are a new type of enemy unit featured in the game MADNESS: Project Nexus. They are cowardly, opportunistic scavengers who neither have singular leaders nor permanent loyalties.

Bandits are weak and poorly-armed enemies fought primarily outside Nexus City's gates or along the rooftops of abandoned apartments. Most of their dialogue is threats to cannibalize the heroes, and complaining about their diet of "literal garbage" in the words of Sanford.

Units

Bandit

The first Bandits encountered in Story Mode, regular Bandits are very weak and poorly coordinated assailants that rely on ambushes and large numbers. They are prominently found outside Nexus City's walls, but at a distance to avoid getting shot by the Sheriff's Snipers stationed there.

Survivor

Survivors are a variant of Bandits that inhabit the Residential Sector of Nexus City and defend themselves from Zeds. They are led by Bandit Brutes and wear darker clothing than their outskirts variant, along with nails on their heads. They still make generic cannibalistic quotes, but they can actually speak proper English. They love smoke and keep on trying to produce it within their turfs in the city buildings.

Bandit Brute

Bandit Brutes are G03LM Bandits who wear trash bag shrouds, rags and car parts as improvised armor. As to be expected, they have more health and hit harder than normal Bandits. They are the alphas for the many splinter groups of Survivor Bandits, using their imposing statures to bully lesser Bandits into compliance. Much like other G03LM-type enemies, Brutes will begin to swing wildly with a flurry of punches if they are hit 5 times at close quarters. If this attack dodged, this will tire them out, leaving them open to a takedown attack from behind.

Mag Bandit

Mag Bandit — it is a huge specimen that underwent the Augmentation process at an unknown date. Although it is unknown exactly when Mag Bandit was discovered, it appears to be Hungry Boy fully embraced the Bandit lifestyle. Mag Bandit wears a larger, darker version of the regular Bandit rags, as well as a belt and shoulder pad made from a large tire and some nails. On the hands of Mag Bandit two makeshift gloves attached to fingerless gloves forged from a sheet of steel with an obscene number of nails driven into it. On the head of this huge beast is a large, bandana-like mask with a cartoon mouth drawn on it. Among other nails and unknown gizmos is a small camera-like lens painted Bandit green, presumably how Mag Bandit sees its surroundings.

Trivia

• The reason Survivor Bandits wear nails on their heads is to avoid Zeds biting them, which is shown to be ineffective, as Survivors can still be killed and zombified by Zed bites.
• It is highly implied that the Bandit Brutes are what's left of the G03LMs bought by common residents before the Zed invasion of Nexus City. It's possible that the brutes are ex-butler G03LMs that ended up taking the cannibalistic and aggressive nature of their owners and eventually overrode their manners and took the owner role.
• Concept art shown in MADNESS: Project Nexus' Kickstarter showcased that there was planned to be a Bandit called the Bandit Berzerker, which would have been a hyper-aggressive form of the Bandit that was significantly more dangerous. This Bandit's concept was then repurposed for the MERC Zerker, who sports similar behaviors.
  • The concept of the Bandit Berzerkers seem to be similar to the Psychos from the Borderlands series.
• The Cyber Bandits are a backer reward from the MPN Kickstarter, and are planned to have upcoming DLC.
• A Bandit and a Survivor can be found on the Climb! level in the Nexus Core's Science Tower. They are both nailed at the shooting range, which can be found in the room after encountering Gestalt. They can be killed by any of the weapons used by the player, and will not attack.

Gallery

BETA

Concept Art