Halo reveals Grunts without armour and I wish I'd never looked

Halo has given us some of the coolest extraterrestrial enemies in gaming, period. However it’s also given us some of the most disturbing, like the monstrous Flood, barbaric brutes and the frankly disgusting grunts…

Anyone who’s played a Halo game will recognise grunts, as you’ve likely mowed down hundreds of them throughout the campaigns.

The grunts now have their own dedicated Firefight mode in Halo Infinite, as part of the game’s recent update

While they look and sound very silly, and pose a minimal threat as long as they’re not charging you through two plasma grenades in their hands, they’re scarier than you’d expect.

For starters you’re seeing the grunts from Master Chief’s perspective, keep in mind he’s almost seven foot tall, so while they look short in stature they actually have a height of around five feet.

Aside from being short kings, they’re also covered in armour sporting vibrant colours for us to look at while we bludgeon them to death with a gravity hammer, take the armour off though and they’re hideous…

Official artwork depicting the grunts without their armour have been making the rounds on Halo subreddits and forums for years now, and if you haven’t seen it yet you’re about to.

Take a look at this Reddit thread by hotrod9p from when Halo Infinite first released (feels like it was yesterday no?) and see the horror of a naked grunt for yourself.

Their enormous arms and chubby legs don’t look half bad, even a bit menacing as it looks like they’ve got a thick hide that actually has some power behind them keeping in mind they’re almost as tall as humans.

It’s when you get to the torso and face area that they start to get a bit more monstrous, as frankly they look like mutated tortoises without shells, horrendous.

Fortunately Halo games are going to keep the armour on, hopefully, but the image is going to live rent-free in our minds for a while now I fear.