You guys remember Mutons from XCOM: Enemy Unknown, right? You’d be merrily blasting sectoids apart with rocket launchers or punching stealth squids in the head, and suddenly these great big b**s would lumber round the corner, plasma rifle blaring.
Makes me angry just thinking about it. And it sounds like they’ll be even more of a danger in XCOM 2 – the aliens have been experimenting with human DNA, resulting in a smarter, deadlier Muton. Gulp.
“Our field recon has informed us of several skills available to the new and improved Muton,” reads a new post on the game’s official website. “They are able to use Suppression against targets to reduce their Aim, while also providing a free reaction shot should that suppressed target decide to move. Additionally, Mutons still possess the Alien Grenade, allowing them to deal damage to groups of soldiers. So, be mindful of your soldiers’ spacing in the field!”
Mutons are also close-combat beasts, packing bayonets and a special counter-attack move, which lets them both ignore damage and retaliate against your Ranger trooper’s strike (Rangers are the new, melee-focused class in XCOM 2, who favour big old machetes). I hate them already.
As you can see from the screens above, they’ve received a bit of a visual overhaul, too. They’re much more lithe and sinister than before, but they retain at least some of that imposing green bulk. Can’t wait to snipe them from halfway across the map when XCOM 2 launches this November.