In order for us to remain surprised about the campaign story and characters it would be awesome if 343i tricked us.
How ?
by making us think they revealed the new evil but the one they reveal is actually a less important new evil that is not the main one.
the main one being a surprise ( like the flood was )
and the “fake new evil” being a sort of new enemy race along the lines of something you might see in the ranks of the covenant; something to whet your appetite and make you think you knew what was going on, but then they drop the big one that their is something even more evil than the new race you encountered.
A parallel example could be something like this:
The “fake” new evil could be something like the Geth From Mass Effect ( red herring )
and the “Real” New evil which is a closely held plot secret end up being something super-powerful and terrifying such as the “Reapers”
Now these are just examples to give you an idea of the scale and significance and difference between the two.
Of course I wouldn’t want the new enemies in Halo 4 to be just like Mass Effect’s/
What do you think ?
Personally I don’t think this would happen.
My guesses are that there will be multiple factions of humans that become allied with the great enemies, you grow closer to the elites as allies, and the new enemies are faster smarter, and MUCH more powerful than the flood.
I am guessing the main new enemies will have Rank Tiers and variation to give you a variety of challenges.
I am also guessing they could be a biological Hybrid of AI’s and fleshy creatures to mix things up a bit.
It’s difficult to tell but my guess is that it could be
A. Flood Infected Forerunners
B. Precursors ( obvious one )
C. Rampant AI’s
D. A combination of the Above
E. Plain and simple, “A new threat” - something we Havn’t seen before. something that draws inspiration from the best of sci-fi novels and art of past.
f. Factioned Humans with selfish Motivations and humans that are somehow augmented to be more powerful such as being infused with technology like AI’s or something that gives them extraordinary power. Something that seduces them into seeking the power for their own selfish will to control that the enemy uses as a walking weapon.
HOPEFULLY…
There are some new characters ( new to the game ) that we already know from the Canon of the books etc…
That would be awesome if Chief was about to get his -Yoink- kicked by a rampant Cortana aligned with the Precursors and then suddenly Chief Mendez jumps in or Maybe another Spartan.
Personally I would love to see another Spartan Fight along side Chief as an NPC for at least a few Missions.