Does anyone else have a suspicion that the Prometheans (shown at E3) aren’t the only new enemy class you’ll encounter in Halo 4? In various interviews, 343 has said their biggest inspiration for Halo 4’s campaign is Halo: CE. They’ve mentioned that they want to bring back the sense on wonder and “unknown” that the original game instilled in players.
A large part of that “unknown” was thanks to the build up to, and introduction of, the Flood. We know the Flood aren’t returning in Halo 4, but will there be another “surprise” enemy class? Perhaps the Precursors? (Or at least some sort of Precursor tech/A.I.?) Some of you are probably thinking, “The Covenant remnants are the established enemies and the Promethens are the new threat.” That’s true, but it still doesn’t rule out the possibility of “surprise enemies.” I’m not talking about the Didact, he is a Promethean.
According to 343, the level shown at E3 takes place about one third of the way through the campaign and introduces the Prometheans. While there will most likely be a build up to this encounter by seeing other Promethean-oriented Forerunner tech in action (like that giant sphere/cryptum,) this early-campaign reveal will only ask more question than it answers. This is why they teased it at E3 and this is why I don’t think it will be Halo 4’s “Flood moment.” The Flood’s reveal in latter part of Halo: CE’s second act answered many questions and led directly into the action taken in the third act.
From a narrative perspective, there has to be some sort of greater reveal to the player further into the campaign. From a design perspective, there has to be something that challenges the player’s established strategies in the latter half of the campaign. It’s entirely possible that the big narrative reveal could simply lead to encountering new types of Prometheans or allying with other Forerunners/Forerunner A.I.s, but I think there will be more to it than that.
As far as the Covenant forces on Requiem are concerned, 343 said they will be “the least of your problems.” Based on that comment and the fact that the Covenant as a whole is all but dismantled, it’s likely that those Covenant forces are more of a ragtag group of stubborn troublemakers who would rather die than make peace with Humanity. Ex-Covenant species will surely have a part to play in this new trilogy, but I don’t think the remaining Covenant forces will stay oppositional for long. In other words, I don’t think the big reveal will reestablish the Covenant as a major threat.
Whatever Halo 4’s “big reveal” is, it will need to function as a narrative set-up for Halo 5 and 6. The Didact will obviously be involved, but I suspect it’ll be related to the Precursors somehow. They’ve been hinted at in the Forerunner saga, but are still shrouded in mystery. With two campaigns worth of terminals and three books dedicated to Didact’s story, the Prometheans aren’t nearly as “unknown.”
Thoughts? Wild speculations?
