Judging from the ancient human text decoded in the brief trailer provided, which said “Enemy Within”, it seems the flood are returning in Halo Infinite. Zeta Halo, the setting of Infinite (presumably, based on more decoded text), has a history of flood activity. Though carefully guarded by UNSC and Sanghelli forces during Halo 5, Cortana most likely killed those forces, leaving the flood unguarded and unchecked for a year and a half (2560 date found in trailer) at least. Thoughts?
I’d like arriving there with UNSC / Swords of Sanghelios still fighting Created forces, but I don’t know the canon timeline. Did Cortana clear out Installation 07 already? Plus wouldn’t the ring’s natural Sentinel defense systems still target Flood? Unless there’s something I don’t know, like Cortana influencing them, but it depends on the Installation monitors.
I really hope the Flood return in Halo Infinite. It’s been 10 years since we fought them in a mainline Halo game.
After HW2 I’m interested to see what they can do in an FPS, bring em’ on for Infinite!
Bring on the Flood!!
Yeah I think the community collectively agrees that we’ll be on Zeta Halo. Still not 100% sure on the Flood, but we all have our hopes. It’s been almost 11 years since they’ve made an appearance (excluding Halo Wars) so they would definitely have a major impact on the gaming community if they did return.
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> I really hope the Flood return in Halo Infinite. It’s been 10 years since we fought them in a mainline Halo game.
Do the Anniversary Halos count?
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> > 2535416198868046;3:
> > I really hope the Flood return in Halo Infinite. It’s been 10 years since we fought them in a mainline Halo game.
>
> Do the Anniversary Halos count?
No.
I hope they return. I would like to see what an outbreak large enough for a keymind would be like. If the theory that Cortana is being controlled by the gravemind is true, it would only make since that the flood would achieve a larger outbreak than previously possible under her regime
I will be addicted to Halo again of we get long campaign missions with beutiful landscape, flood and brutes like we had in HCE and H2. I will also be addicted if we get a mix between the H: Reach and H5 multiplayer.
I think it makes sense if 343 is returning to Halo’s roots that the Flood would return. And if Cortana is on a Halo, it seems like a logical way to re-introduce the Flood.
I’d welcome the return of the Flood since they’re a vital component of the Halo story. Though I hope we don’t get too many annoying pure forms that have a ridiculous fire rate from across the level…or flood levels with unnecessary bottlenecks (a la H3’s Cortana level).
If the flood return, they need to be updated with a lot of new tricks and surprises. Also, I don’t recommend Spartan charging the flood. Goop on the windshield is not good.
I don’t think Infinite should have the flood right now, they need to prove what they can do. Maybe if this game is good have the flood at the end to tie into what the next game is going to be but for that they need to show us their not afraid of blood, swearing or making an adult game.
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> After HW2 I’m interested to see what they can do in an FPS, bring em’ on for Infinite!
HW2 gave me hope
Personally I don’t want the Flood to return; at least, not in a major capacity.
“Enemy Within” could refer to a lot of things. Nothing is suggesting that it could be the Flood; even the potential locale being Zeta Halo and its previous association with the Flood doesn’t necessarily mean the Flood are still there. Humanity has had a presence on Zeta Halo since 2555 and haven’t reported any Flood outbreaks. All we know is that there are Flood research stations on the ring and areas of the ring covered in inert Flood spores (and watch over by Monitors/Sentinels).
I think the most obvious meaning of “Enemy Within” could be a reference to a potential spy, or even Cortana herself. It could be a reference to Mendicant Bias (I also think that’s unlikely, but technically anything is possible). It could mean the Didact, too. It doesn’t have to mean the Flood.
I am picturing that its installation 07 “Zeta HALO” which in Lore has multiple grave-minds on it… SO BRING ON THE RESTLESS NIGHTS LIKE THE HALO 2 LEGENDARY CAMPAIGN WITH THE CREW… LET’S FINISH THIS FIGHT!!! (p.s. I believe too that Cortona is now the leader of the Covenant )
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> Personally I don’t want the Flood to return; at least, not in a major capacity.
>
> “Enemy Within” could refer to a lot of things. Nothing is suggesting that it could be the Flood; even the potential locale being Zeta Halo and its previous association with the Flood doesn’t necessarily mean the Flood are still there. Humanity has had a presence on Zeta Halo since 2555 and haven’t reported any Flood outbreaks. All we know is that there are Flood research stations on the ring and areas of the ring covered in inert Flood spores (and watch over by Monitors/Sentinels).
>
> I think the most obvious meaning of “Enemy Within” could be a reference to a potential spy, or even Cortana herself. It could be a reference to Mendicant Bias (I also think that’s unlikely, but technically anything is possible). It could mean the Didact, too. It doesn’t have to mean the Flood.
Cortana or Didact? I dunno if ancient humans were aware of either one’s existence, except the Didact possibly I guess. I wouldn’t be so willing to say Enemy Within refers to the flood if it wasn’t written in ancient human text. The ancient humans who lived on Zeta Halo could only have been referring to the flood in that phrase, there is simply no other logical explanation. The prehistoric humans knew nothing of the Forerunner politics or wars prior to their De-evolution. The only large threat available to a non space faring human population living on any Halo, especially Zeta, would be the flood, which as we all know too well, are found in the forerunner facilities within Halo. You also mentioned the fact that modern humanity has had a prescence on Zeta since 2555. That is only five years before the setting of Halo Infinite. The flood have waited longer than five years to seize the opportunity to return, and I do not think that what is left of the UNSC is going to have as strong enough of a prescence as to quell the flood easily. With Cortana most likely having been infected with the logic plague (based on Halo Lootcrate documents and her time with the Gravemind), it seems very likely we will indeed see the flood play a large role in Halo Infinite. Also, why would you not want the flood to return?
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> > 2533274817408735;15:
> > Personally I don’t want the Flood to return; at least, not in a major capacity.
> >
> > “Enemy Within” could refer to a lot of things. Nothing is suggesting that it could be the Flood; even the potential locale being Zeta Halo and its previous association with the Flood doesn’t necessarily mean the Flood are still there. Humanity has had a presence on Zeta Halo since 2555 and haven’t reported any Flood outbreaks. All we know is that there are Flood research stations on the ring and areas of the ring covered in inert Flood spores (and watch over by Monitors/Sentinels).
> >
> > I think the most obvious meaning of “Enemy Within” could be a reference to a potential spy, or even Cortana herself. It could be a reference to Mendicant Bias (I also think that’s unlikely, but technically anything is possible). It could mean the Didact, too. It doesn’t have to mean the Flood.
>
> Cortana or Didact? I dunno if ancient humans were aware of either one’s existence, except the Didact possibly I guess. I wouldn’t be so willing to say Enemy Within refers to the flood if it wasn’t written in ancient human text. The ancient humans who lived on Zeta Halo could only have been referring to the flood in that phrase, there is simply no other logical explanation. The prehistoric humans knew nothing of the Forerunner politics or wars prior to their De-evolution. The only large threat available to a non space faring human population living on any Halo, especially Zeta, would be the flood, which as we all know too well, are found in the forerunner facilities within Halo. You also mentioned the fact that modern humanity has had a prescence on Zeta since 2555. That is only five years before the setting of Halo Infinite. The flood have waited longer than five years to seize the opportunity to return, and I do not think that what is left of the UNSC is going to have as strong enough of a prescence as to quell the flood easily. With Cortana most likely having been infected with the logic plague (based on Halo Lootcrate documents and her time with the Gravemind), it seems very likely we will indeed see the flood play a large role in Halo Infinite. Also, why would you not want the flood to return?
First I think people think 343i needs to prove themselves before touching the flood and second if the writings were written aroud the forerunner time then the writing could mean the forerunners who were experimenting on humans within what they could have thought (I’m not sure) their home.
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> Cortana or Didact? I dunno if ancient humans were aware of either one’s existence, except the Didact possibly I guess. I wouldn’t be so willing to say Enemy Within refers to the flood if it wasn’t written in ancient human text. The ancient humans who lived on Zeta Halo could only have been referring to the flood in that phrase, there is simply no other logical explanation. The prehistoric humans knew nothing of the Forerunner politics or wars prior to their De-evolution. The only large threat available to a non space faring human population living on any Halo, especially Zeta, would be the flood, which as we all know too well, are found in the forerunner facilities within Halo. You also mentioned the fact that modern humanity has had a prescence on Zeta since 2555. That is only five years before the setting of Halo Infinite. The flood have waited longer than five years to seize the opportunity to return, and I do not think that what is left of the UNSC is going to have as strong enough of a prescence as to quell the flood easily. With Cortana most likely having been infected with the logic plague (based on Halo Lootcrate documents and her time with the Gravemind), it seems very likely we will indeed see the flood play a large role in Halo Infinite. Also, why would you not want the flood to return?
I misunderstood the “Enemy Within” writing. I thought it was in English. But as far as I can tell having looked into it, “Enemy Within” is but one possible translation, and not confirmed to be the actual translation. If that ends up being what it says, then most likely it is in reference to the Flood, but that could have just been an easter egg for pointing out the history of Zeta Halo or one possible location, not that we’ll actually see the Flood.
It’s not about whether the Zeta Halo Program could hold back the Flood, but rather that in the 5 years they’ve been there, no reports of Flood outbreak have come from the ring. So in 5 years that the humans have been studying it, they haven’t encountered any Flood. If the Flood had a large presence on Zeta Halo, something would have come up. Ipso facto, any live Flood on the ring are still contained, or there aren’t live Flood on the ring.
The “Cortana Logic Plague” theory is only a theory. Her time with the Gravemind has thus far been explained to be an attempt to induce rampancy in her (didn’t work). The data drop from the loot crate was merely an interrogation by a capture prophet who heard Cortana on High Charity. He brought up the logic plague only to explain how the Flood can affect AI. It doesn’t mean he was suggesting she had it, nor can it be considered proof she has it. Especially not after all the other things that happened to her (rampancy in Halo 4, splitting herself, encountering the Domain). And it doesn’t even make that much sense as a theory. Every entity affected by the logic plague has done things that either knowingly or unknowingly helped the Flood. Cortana, on the other hand, activated a Halo after Chief rescued her, the one thing that could actually stop the Flood. That is hardly helping the Flood. Even if the Flood knew it would come back eventually, it would have no way of knowing when. It would have no way of knowing Cortana would survive rampancy and come to encounter the Domain and be in a position of power against the rest of the galaxy. Too many hand-waving and coincidences for it to be a legitimate theory.
I don’t want the Flood to return for a few reasons. For one, they had their time. They were the true enemy in the first trilogy. Having them come back as the true enemy in Halo 6 would be unoriginal, just rehashing what has already been done. Having the Flood show up as a major enemy in Halo Infinite would allow the story to shift away from properly resolving the Created threat. I also think that explaining Cortana’s change in Halo 5 with the logic plague is lazy and inconsistent with existing canon; it would just be a way to say “she wasn’t in control of herself, and therefore is absolved of her sins”. It would be along the same lines of explaining Cortana by saying it wasn’t really Cortana. I’m tired of the Flood. The fact that 343i brought them back in HW2 seems like nothing but fanservice to me, and I hated how it invalidated the climax of Halo 3. All that crap Chief went through to eliminate the Flood and it didn’t even work. Make’s Halo 3’s climactic ending seem meaningless, similar to how Cortana coming back in Halo 5 made Halo 4’s ending meaningless.
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> > > 2533274817408735;15:
> > > Personally I don’t want the Flood to return; at least, not in a major capacity.
> > >
> > > “Enemy Within” could refer to a lot of things. Nothing is suggesting that it could be the Flood; even the potential locale being Zeta Halo and its previous association with the Flood doesn’t necessarily mean the Flood are still there. Humanity has had a presence on Zeta Halo since 2555 and haven’t reported any Flood outbreaks. All we know is that there are Flood research stations on the ring and areas of the ring covered in inert Flood spores (and watch over by Monitors/Sentinels).
> > >
> > > I think the most obvious meaning of “Enemy Within” could be a reference to a potential spy, or even Cortana herself. It could be a reference to Mendicant Bias (I also think that’s unlikely, but technically anything is possible). It could mean the Didact, too. It doesn’t have to mean the Flood.
> >
> > Cortana or Didact? I dunno if ancient humans were aware of either one’s existence, except the Didact possibly I guess. I wouldn’t be so willing to say Enemy Within refers to the flood if it wasn’t written in ancient human text. The ancient humans who lived on Zeta Halo could only have been referring to the flood in that phrase, there is simply no other logical explanation. The prehistoric humans knew nothing of the Forerunner politics or wars prior to their De-evolution. The only large threat available to a non space faring human population living on any Halo, especially Zeta, would be the flood, which as we all know too well, are found in the forerunner facilities within Halo. You also mentioned the fact that modern humanity has had a prescence on Zeta since 2555. That is only five years before the setting of Halo Infinite. The flood have waited longer than five years to seize the opportunity to return, and I do not think that what is left of the UNSC is going to have as strong enough of a prescence as to quell the flood easily. With Cortana most likely having been infected with the logic plague (based on Halo Lootcrate documents and her time with the Gravemind), it seems very likely we will indeed see the flood play a large role in Halo Infinite. Also, why would you not want the flood to return?
>
> First I think people think 343i needs to prove themselves before touching the flood and second if the writings were written aroud the forerunner time then the writing could mean the forerunners who were experimenting on humans within what they could have thought (I’m not sure) their home.
HW2 makes me believe 343 has a good grasp on how Halo should look and be (minus microtransactions), and we have had enough games without the Flood, so I believe the Floods time is now. If forerunners were experimenting on humans, the flood would be involved too, as their experiments were meant to find a cure or way to combat the flood through genes and stuff.