Halo 4

"Wake up, John."

- Official tagline

Halo 4 is the seventh installment in the bestselling Halo franchise for the Xbox 360. A teaser trailer shown at Microsoft's E3 Media Briefing on June 6th, 2011 confirmed that Halo 4 is to be the first installment in a new trilogy of games, which was identified as the Reclaimer Trilogy during Halo Fest at PAX Prime 2011. Set four and a half years after the events of Halo 3, Halo 4 will continue the story of John-117 and Cortana left abandoned on the remains of the. The two survivors drift endlessly towards the mysterious world of Requiem and the ancient evil within. Halo 4 is the first game developed by 343 Industries, the management team in charge of the Halo franchise, and will be published by Microsoft Studios; it will be released worldwide on November 6th, 2012.

Plot
"Set in the aftermath of Halo 3, Master Chief returns to confront his own destiny and face an ancient evil that threatens the fate of the entire universe. Halo 4 marks the start of a new trilogy that begins with its release in 2012."

- Official summary

Halo 4 marks the return of John-117 as a playable protagonist after three Halo games focusing on different sets of characters. Having been lost in space for five years after the finale of Halo 3, John-117 and Cortana, adrift aboard the wreckage of the aft section of the UNSC frigate Forward Unto Dawn, find themselves near Requiem, the Forerunner Dyson sphere first seen in the Legendary ending of Halo 3.

The story of Halo 4 will be heavily focused on mystery, exploration and discovery, and has been described as being grand in scope and scale. Forerunner elements will be featured extensively, including elements in Halo 4's online multiplayer. It has also been suggested that the game will reveal how humanity and the UNSC have adapted to the post-war world, particularly how they have co-opted Forerunner technology into their military devices and assets. The former subject species of the Covenant Empire return in the game, with the supposed Sangheili allies and their former Unggoy subordinates, turned enemies, have banded together and engage with John-117 in combat. However, the Covenant are taking a backseat to an entirely new antagonist, the Prometheans, which has been said to be a "threat beyond anything that Master Chief has faced before." The subject of Cortana's ongoing Rampancy, a year beyond her ideal functional lifespan, will also be thoroughly and prominently detailed in Halo 4.

Unlike Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 4 is designed to be part of a three-game arc from the beginning. In addition, 343 Industries is aiming for more complete connectivity among all of their future media than that of the original trilogy; the Forerunner Saga and Kilo-Five Trilogy novels, and the Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary terminals have been stated as "definitely" having "resonant connections" to Halo 4's story. The third and final Forerunner Saga novel, with the working title of "Silentium", is expected to be released on January 13th, 2013. Frank O'Connor noted that Silentium will be released after Halo 4 for "specific strategic reasons" likely referring to the connectivity of the game and the novel. A live action series, Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, will provide a backstory for several characters set to appear in the game; this series will consist of five episodes totaling 75 minutes. The Halo 4 Collectors Edition will include a 90 minute extended cut of the series.

Discovery
Beginning approximately on July 20th, 2557, four years and seven months after the armistice ending the Human-Covenant War, a prologue cinematic will educate new players to the game and refresh fans on the events leading up to the present day. Cortana, laying silent for years, notices that the ship's intruder alarms have activated and attempts to wake John-117 from cryo-sleep. Cortana notifies him that in his sleep, she rewrote the firmware of his MJOLNIR Mark VI armor, upgrading the HUD, armor capabilities, while giving a new overall appearance. With alarms ringing and the intruders spreading to multiple decks, John slips Cortana's chip back into his neural interface and upon opening a sealed hatch, unpressurized rooms rip him from the deck and send him into the vacuum. After climbing up an elevator shaft, suddenly, a Sangheili swordsman comes charging at the Spartan supersoldier. After a brief close quarters engagement with the soldier, he kicks him down the shaft to his death. John questions the AI construct on why his once-formidable allies have attacked them, to which she has no answer. After fighting the Sangheili and their "repatriated" Unggoy subordinates, John makes his way to the aft observation deck, viewing a large Covenant fleet surrounding the Forward Unto Dawn while multiple boarding crafts dock with the heavily damaged aft section of the frigate.

John and Cortana subsequently make a crash-landing on the Forerunner Dyson sphere Requiem, entering the sphere via an entrance in the superstructure.

Infinity and the Prometheans
"I have long dreamt of this day, Reclaimer."

- Unknown

Days after their arrival on Requiem, a human warship, the 5.6 kilometer-long, enters Requiem's system and is promptly scanned by alien forces who remotely seize its controls. The advanced warship is then dragged down into the planet through its external protective casing and proceeds to crash land. John-117 and Cortana, exploring an arid mountain area, witness the ship breaking through the atmosphere and fly over their position. As the two watch Infinity descend rapidly to the surface, a large sphere known as a Cryptum, a sealed capsule for those who desire to exile themselves, appears before the Spartan and his AI companion. The Cryptum proceeds to scan the immediate landscape and John-117 before quickly pursuing the crashing UNSC warship.

Upon finishing the 78-kilometer journey to the Infinity crash site in a mountainous jungle, John-117 stumbles upon the Cryptum hovering high above the landscape observing the two warring factions hunt each other. The Covenant force, consisting of a Banshee squadron, a section of Phantoms, and small scattered units of Sangheili-led infantry, encircle the crashed Infinity with patrols in the surrounding area attempting to track down and kill its crew. Quickly dispatching a scout team of Kig-yar and Unggoy, the patrol's leader, an aristocratic Sangheili, charges at the Spartan with his sword drawn. His attempts are futile as he walks into the sights of an unknown enemy who disintegrates him sitting high atop the jungle surface; before either of them can identify this potential ally, the combatant translocates from the area. Soon after, John-117 comes face-to-face with a quadrupedal and highly mobile defense construct known as the Crawler, approximately 20 of which engage the Spartan before retreating deeper into their territory.

Pursuing these creatures at full sprint, John-117 is taken by surprise as a large bipedal creature, the Knight, jumps from above the clearing and tackles him to the ground, lowering his shields. The enemy, which displays a predominantly cybernetic structure, has a skull implanted within its helmet resembling that of a human which he uses to intimidate the bewildered Spartan. Eventually after fighting the Knight, John is able to subdue his opponent, though its built-in aerial drone known as a Watcher retreats back to warn others of his movements. Cortana, who instructs John to pick up the enemy weapon, identifies its design and technology as that of the Forerunner, inferring that his slain enemies were the long-exiled ancient race. Venturing further into the jungle, John leaps into a small foggy clearance that appears empty, though upon activating John's visor mode, it is discovered that he is surrounded by eight Knights, one of which tackles the Spartan to the ground and attacks him with its blade.

Characters

 * Armstrong
 * Andrew Del Rio
 * Cortana
 * The Didact
 * John-117

Equipment and technology

 * Active camouflage
 * Artificial intelligence
 * Promethean Crawler
 * Promethean Knight
 * Promethean Watcher
 * Smart AI
 * Cryo chamber
 * Cryptum
 * Kig-Yar point defense gauntlet
 * M805X Forward Acceleration System/Fulcrum Mitigating
 * MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor
 * MJOLNIR Mark VI
 * MJOLNIR [GEN2]
 * MJOLNIR/CIO
 * MJOLNIR/Deadeye
 * MJOLNIR/[G]
 * MJOLNIR/HAZOP
 * MJOLNIR/LOCUS
 * MJOLNIR/Oceanic
 * MJOLNIR/Infiltrator
 * MJOLNIR/Recon
 * MJOLNIR/Orbital
 * MJOLNIR/S
 * MJOLNIR/Soldier
 * MJOLNIR/Warrior
 * MJOLNIR/Venator
 * Sangheili combat harness
 * Zealot variant
 * Stationary shield generator
 * Type-27 Responsive Holographic Form Emulator‎
 * Unggoy combat harness
 * Storm variant
 * Z-90 Photonic Coalescence Emitter/Aegis
 * Z-5080 Short-Range Spectrum Augmenter/Vision

Organizations

 * Ecumene
 * Promethean
 * United Earth Government
 * United Nations Space Command
 * Spartan
 * SPARTAN-IV Program
 * Fireteam Crimson
 * Majestic Squad
 * Shadow Squad
 * UNSC Marine Corps
 * UNSC Navy
 * Naval Special Warfare Command
 * SPARTAN-II Program
 * Office of Naval Intelligence
 * Unidentified Covenant organization

Species

 * Forerunner
 * Human
 * Kig-Yar
 * Sangheili
 * Unggoy

Vehicles

 * Boarding craft
 * CCS-class battlecruiser
 * Cyclops Mark II
 * M12 Force Application Vehicle
 * M274 Ultra-Light All-Terrain Vehicle
 * M808 Main Battle Tank
 * Type-26 Assault Gun Carriage
 * Type-26 Ground Support Aircraft
 * Type-32 Rapid Assault Vehicle
 * Type-52 Troop Carrier
 * UH-144 Falcon
 * Unidentified/undesignated vehicles
 * Mammoth
 * UNSC dropship
 * UNSC powered exoskeleton
 * Mammoth
 * UNSC dropship
 * UNSC powered exoskeleton

Weapons

 * ARC-920
 * BR85 Heavy Barrel Service Rifle
 * Combat knife
 * M6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle
 * M6H Personal Defense Weapon System
 * M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose grenade
 * M41 Surface-to-Surface Rocket Medium Anti-Vehicle/Assault Weapon
 * M46 Light Anti-Aircraft Gun
 * M247H Heavy Machine Gun
 * M395 Designated Marksman Rifle
 * M363 Remote Projectile Detonator
 * MA5D Individual Combat Weapon System
 * Sniper Rifle System 99-Series 5 Anti-Matériel
 * Type-1 Antipersonnel grenade
 * Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword
 * Type-25 Directed Energy Pistol
 * Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher
 * Type-33 Light Anti-Armor Weapon
 * Type-51 Carbine
 * Type-55 Directed Energy Rifle/Advanced
 * Z-180 Close Combat Rifle
 * Unidentified/undesignated weapons
 * Lightrifle
 * Promethean long-barreled weapon
 * Promethean medium-barreled weapon
 * Repeater
 * UNSC Shotgun

Gameplay and design
Halo 4 is being developed for the Xbox 360 console. The game's creative team, which comprises nearly 200 individuals who have been developing the game for nearly three years, is led by creative director Josh Holmes. The game will continue the Halo series' tradition of inspiring wonder in the player while providing engaging, visceral gameplay. The game will utilize much of the "sandbox" that has been featured across all six prior Halo games and other media, in addition to introducing new characters, weapons, vehicles, and other elements. The game's "sandbox" and overall style are meant to be evocative of Halo: Combat Evolved moreso than of later installments. Dual wielding will not be featured in the game.

The narrative design team of Halo 4 is headed by Armando Troisi, who previously worked on Mass Effect and its sequel, along with an in-house team of writers. The original draft of the Halo 4 script was written by Chris Schlerf, who has also had major influence on the script since then. Brian Reed, who wrote the 2010-2012 graphic novel adaptation Halo: Fall of Reach, is also part of the writing team and has made significant contributions on the story.

The art director for Halo 4 is Kenneth Scott. He described the visual style of Halo 4 as being more ingrained in the expanded universe fiction, and more "mature" than before. With the game's increased focus on the Forerunners, the artists have invested heavily on the look and feel of Forerunner technology. It has also been stated that there will be more diversity to Forerunner structures, including fully active Forerunner technology as opposed to the mostly inert and abandoned structures seen in the earlier games.

John-117's experience and the player's experience are meant to be intertwined, with the Master Chief essentially serving as the player's avatar within the Halo universe. John's character will also be explored and developed in more depth than in the prior games, and the relationship between John and Cortana will be heavily featured and greatly expanded.

With the increased focus on the character of Master Chief, the Halo 4 art team has redesigned his MJOLNIR armor from the ground up. The first look into the redefined armor, which differs considerably from the suit seen in Halo 3, was seen in the announcement trailer, generating a considerable amount of confusion and speculation among fans. 343 Industries later stated that the design seen in the trailer was not the final version. The final iteration was later seen alongside the first Halo 4 gameplay reveal following Microsoft Spring Showcase 2012. It has been stated that the changes in the design are mostly cosmetic and were made with the intent of giving the suit a more functional look in order to suit the new art direction of the game. In a fictional context, the difference in the suit's appearance is explained by an extensive overhaul performed by Cortana while John was in cryo-sleep.

Motion capture, first implemented in the series on Halo: Reach, was used during the production of Halo 4. Recording began prior to the release of the Making Halo 4: First Look video in Los Angeles, California, with material for the character Cortana and a man playing an unidentified character filmed; recordings have been done as recently as the week of April 29th, 2012. Bruce Thomas and MacKenzie Mason would later be confirmed as the "cinematic performance capture actors" for John-117 and Cortana, respectively.

Audio
Sotaro Tojima, best known for his work on Konami's Castlevania: Circle of the Moon and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, serves as Halo 4's audio director. The team has performed many live audio recording sessions, several of which occurred in Tasmania, Australia. Some of these recording sessions have taken place in generally inhospitable environments, such as underwater, in fire, and in ice, through the use of specially designed microphones; other recording sessions have utilized "home made" explosives. Tojima intends for the game's audio to be clearly grounded in the Halo universe, though to also have a more realistic quality than in past titles. A video was released on February 23rd depicting 343i recording weapon and explosion audio alongside the U.S. Army Special Forces. Weapons such as the M4 carbine, Mk.17 SCAR-H, M240 general purpose machine gun, M107 sniper rifle, M2 heavy machine gun, and the M72 rocket launcher were used in the recording.

Five voice actors have so far been announced for the game. Jen Taylor, voicing the A.I. Cortana, and Jeff Steitzer, the multiplayer and firefight Announcer, have confirmed on Facebook that they will again be reprising their roles for Halo 4. Steve Downes, the iconic voice of John-117, was confirmed to voice the game's protagonist in the June 9th Halo Bulletin. On the April 17th, 2012 episode of the TBS late night comedy show Conan, hosts Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter announced that they'll be voicing Navy deckhands lifting crates aboard the advanced warship Infinity towards the end of the story.

On April 11, 2012, the composer for Halo 4 was announced to be Neil Davidge, best known as the co-writer and producer for the British electronica duo Massive Attack. Davidge first started in his role as the future composer in late 2010, eventually having his first meeting with 343i laying out his ideas for the music of the game. After the meeting, Davidge began writing 20 to 30 pieces that would be the base of the Halo 4 score, which he officially began working on in August of 2011. Davidge has since stated that over four hours and an estimated 300 pieces had been written as of May 8, 2012. Composing Halo 4 is noted as being split into four distinct "tiers," each consisting of central themes for a handful of missions. Many of the key compositions were recorded and completed in January 2012 ahead of 343i's completion deadline. Though still grounded in the Halo universe, the score for Halo 4 will be taking a new direction from Martin O'Donnell's composition in previous Halo titles. Orchestral and composition for the score was done at the famed Abbey Road Studios in Westminster, London, England, mostly notably known for their work with The Beatles during the 1960's.

Multiplayer
The competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes of Halo 4 are grouped together into a mode known as Infinity, which is tied to the Halo series fiction and runs parallel to the campaign story. In Infinity, players take control of SPARTAN-IV supersoldiers serving aboard the advanced warship, UNSC Infinity. Prior to the beginning of development on Halo 4, 343i General Manager Bonnie Ross and Frank O'Connor set the framework of the new studio's mission which entailed that all pieces of existing and future fiction from the games, novels, comics, etc. would be interwoven and share content from each other. Among this would be the multiplayer component for Halo 4, which would later include the introduction of Spartan Ops; " Wrapping the whole thing together allowed us to make sure that all the fiction in all of those pieces actually mattered – in this case, it connects directly to your career as well as the narrative experience."

War Games
Competitive multiplayer, known as "War Games," pits players against one another in adversarial combat training in simulated environments in the advanced combat deck of the Infinity. However, due to the emphasis on the SPARTAN-IV commandos, players will not have the option to use Sangheili soldiers for their multiplayer character.

343 Industries is aiming to provide a "brand new experience" in Halo 4 multiplayer. This includes a reworking of the series' traditional balance system. For example, the player progression system will be more extensive, allowing players to choose between various modifications which have an effect on gameplay, in addition to aesthetic armor permutations similar to the prior games. Players will also be able to customize their loadouts, being able to choose between various armor abilities as well as new customizable features, known as Support Upgrades and Tactical Packages. Tactical Packages offer a small performance boost to a chosen gameplay feature, such as the player's shield or weapon carrying capacity. Support Upgrades function similarly, and feature such improvements as motion tracker upgrade and an increase in the player's maximum ammunition.

It has also been stated that multiplayer gameplay will be "much more fast-paced, more intense and visceral" than in the prior games. Weapon pickups on maps will be marked on the player's heads-up display, and players will be able to call in ordnance drops, containing power-ups or weapons, during War Games or Spartan Ops matches.

Maps
Unlike Halo: Reach, where the original multiplayer maps were shared in the campaign as gameplay spaces, all multiplayer maps in Halo 4 will be purpose-built for multiplayer alone much like in the first three Halo games. Frank O'Connor has stated that the names of the two known multiplayer maps are only placeholders and will be revealed at a later date. When asked whether Certain Affinity will be assisting with multiplayer maps for Halo 4, O'Connor stated that he values their service and he would hire them to assist with the production multiplayer maps for Halo 4.

Spartan Ops
Spartan Ops is a secondary campaign that replaces the Firefight mode featured in Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach. Much like traditional campaign cooperative play, Spartan Ops will allow up to four players to participate in weekly objective-based episodic missions; Missions will intertwine directly with events in the main Halo 4 campaign, expanding on the story of the UNSC Infinity and her crew, who will interact with John-117 during the series; this new mode is being likened to a second full-scale campaign for the game. Compared to a season of a television program, each "episode" of Spartan Ops will feature cinematics and five playable missions complete with new events, characters, locations, and gameplay challenges, totaling up to 12 hours of new gameplay. 343 Industries will be supporting additional Spartan Ops missions for months after launch of the game and unlike Reach challenges, players will have the opportunity to play from the beginning of the episodic campaign regardless of when they started playing. The first "season" will be included with the price of the game, though 343i has not ruled out charging players for additional Spartan Ops seasons. Frank O'Connor has stated that it will "bridge the gap" between the events of Halo 4 and the future release of its sequel Halo 5.

The development of Spartan Ops came to fruition under the ideals of persistent, fresh replayability and small additions to the fiction surrounding the Reclaimer Trilogy and ancillary content. Each episode of the series, gameplay-wise, is set up with meaning to enhance the significance of the events you are playing through, and as such, simplistic single-objective missions will not be a focus of Spartan Ops. Frank O'Connor in an interview with The Guardian states that the stories and events have been loosely laid out for "a few years" ; the success or failure of Spartan Ops may lead to a continuation of the series past 2012-2013 with a "known beginning, a middle, and an end." The first season of Spartan Ops as of June 2012 has been noted as being "very rigid" with the direction of the story having already been mapped out from beginning to end.

Season One will consist of ten episodes and a total of fifty missions (five missions per episode) released following the launch of Halo 4. If the episodes are released concurrently, Spartan Ops Season One will actively run from its premiere alongside Halo 4 's worldwide release on November 6th, 2012 to the finale on January 15th, 2013.

Forge
Forge, the multiplayer map editing feature first included in Halo 3, is confirmed to be in-development and will be returning for Halo 4. It was first shown to public audiences at the Rooster Teeth Expo on July 7th, 2012 in a presentation highlighting various new features included with this newest iteration of Forge mode.

Advertisement
Microsoft Studios, the game's publisher, has plans to put millions of dollars into marketing Halo 4 through the various mediums.

Marketing for Halo 4 began in June 2012 with the release of the live-action trailer The Commissioning at E3 2012. It would subsequently be released in an extended format during the seventh match of the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship between England and France, effectively beginning the pre-release worldwide public advertisement of Halo 4. The Commissioning simultaneously depicts the ceremony that formally placed the in active duty within the Fleet, during operations in deep space with its battlegroup, and eventually during the Promethean's assault on its systems, dragging it into the shield world of Requiem. Days later, what appeared to be an alternate reality game (ARG), first used for the series in Halo 2, had shown up on the ESPN website alongside two standard flash advertisements presenting The Commissioning. This potential ARG campaign for Halo 4 predominantly features fragmented coding and an assortment of words in Latin, along with an glyph similar in appearance to that of the Didact, the Promethean supreme commander of the Ecumene's military.

The public will have their first opportunity to play Halo 4 War Games at the upcoming Rooster Teeth Expo in Austin, Texas on July 7th and 8th, 2012.

Editions
The North American (ESRB) and European (PEGI) cover art for Halo 4, seen here, was unveiled on May 14th, 2012 through a series of 32 "puzzle pieces" given to various community members by 343 Industries. It depicts John-117 kneeling in his upgraded MJOLNIR armor with an MA5D assault rifle at the entrance to the Requiem Dyson sphere. To his sides, the crashing remains of the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn, which is visually upgraded from its previous incarnation in Halo 3, and a CCS-class battlecruiser with other debris surround him.

Announced on May 16th, 2012, 343 Industries revealed a collector's edition for Halo 4. The Halo 4 Limited Edition has been noted as "maximizing your multiplayer experience," which in-turn will expand on the fiction of the Halo universe like many aspects of the game as a whole. The Limited Edition is presented in a large, minimalistic grey case that is adorned with an updated United Nations Space Command insignia; the game itself will be included in a smaller silver tin case that features similar artwork to the larger case and is embossed with futuristic artwork. It is currently available for pre-order alongside the standard edition and will be available for purchase worldwide on November 6th, 2012 starting at $99.99 (USD). 343 Industries has confirmed that there will not be a "Legendary Edition" for Halo 4, citing that they didn't want consumers to have to choose what version-specific ancillary items they'd receive.

Pre-order bonuses
Many pre-order bonuses for Halo 4 were revealed on May 25th, 2012. This is the first time that Microsoft Studios has introduced retailer-specific bonus items for a Halo game; preorder bonuses were offered for ODST, Reach, and Combat Evolved Anniversary, however, not on the scale of Halo 4. Helmet and armor skins and emblems are completely customizable for use in multiplayer to match the style of the individual player. Note that the armor exclusives are for the skins (design), not the armor themselves. Each bonus item and their respective retailer are listed below by availability:

Books
Awakening: The Art of Halo 4 is a hardcover art book first announced on May 8th, 2012. The book will be published by Titan Books with a release date of November 2nd, 2012. This fourth retail art collection from the Halo universe will include 192 pages of colored illustration used during production to create the vision of Halo 4 and will include commentary by 343 Industries artists and developers.

Five novels released from January 2011 to January 2013, though not specifically game merchandise, are intertwined with the story and expanded universe introduced in Halo 4. Set thousands of years in the past, the Forerunner Saga and its three novels Cryptum (Jan. 4th, 2011), Primordium (Jan. 3rd, 2012), and the upcoming Silentium (Jan. 13th, 2013 ) deal with the events leading up to and during the Forerunner-Flood war up to the "present day." The Kilo-Five Trilogy, consisting of Glasslands (Oct. 25th, 2011), The Thursday War (Oct. 2nd, 2012), and an unannounced third novel, chronicles the months following the end of Halo 3 and will bridge the gap between the original Bungie trilogy and the Reclaimer Trilogy.

Licensed products
McFarlane Toys have announced two waves of action figures, vehicles, toy sets, and other products for Halo 4. The first series, set for release in August 2012, will feature four 6-inch carded figures, which include returning characters John-117 and a Sangheili Zealot and two new inclusions into the Halo universe, the Unggoy Storm and two Spartan Warriors, one red and one blue ; a larger boxed product, featuring an up-scaled John-117 and accessories within a frozen cryopod will also be available. Released alongside Halo 4 in November will be the second series, including a figure of Cortana and a SPARTAN-IV soldier with two new enemy types, the Crawler and the Watcher ; another large boxed product regarded as being an "enemy unlike anything before" will be released in Holiday 2012. McFarlane will also be releasing a Halo 4 series under their "Micro Ops" line, which includes smaller non-character figures made specifically for battle recreations. Re:creation will be producing replica figures and die cast vehicles based on content from the game, including a highly detailed 14-inch M12 Warthog vehicle.

Mad Catz Interactive, Inc., a well known manufacturing company for game products, will be releasing a licensed communication headset coinciding with the launch of Halo 4. The headset's aesthetics will have a design reminiscent of designs seen in the Halo universe.

Announcement
Called "Awakening," this trailer was revealed for the first time on June 6th, 2011 at E3 2011, during the Xbox Press Briefing in Los Angeles, California. It effectively was the announcement of Halo 4 as well of that of the Reclaimer Trilogy. Developed by agencytwofifteen, Digital Domain, and Anonymous Content, with music by the game's composer Neil Davidge, Awakening showed off early assets currently in-development by 343 Industries including John-117's new armor and Cortana's makeover since their last incarnations in Halo 3 and the animated short film Halo Legends: Origins. It would later be revealed that the trailer is set during the opening moments of Halo 4, during a Covenant boarding of the ship.

Aptly named, the trailer depicts the awakening of John-117 from cryo sleep aboard the by Cortana shouting for the Spartan to wake up. John-117 secures Cortana's data crystal within his neural interface and proceeds to escape a raging fire engulfing him while dodging broken-off debris from the ship. Blasting open a door preventing his escape, John-117 lays his eyes on the outer surface of an unknown alien world. Standing on the very edge of the warship being torn apart by explosions, the Spartan and his A.I. companion view this world opening itself.

Documentary
Ending off the 10-year anniversary celebration of Halo Fest at PAX Prime 2011 in Seattle, Washington was the release of a trailer following the first panel discussing Halo 4. Released on August 28th, 2011, it would be the first new glimpse of the game since its reveal at E3. It featured glimpses at many of the upcoming campaign's environments, including a habital terrestrial world with Forerunner glyphs on the surface, several location drafts which feature buildings and ships that follow the Forerunners' style of architecture and design, concepts of the Forward Unto Dawn 's wreckage, and some concepts of the then-unidentified planet. Two of these images were repurposed as the cover art for the Forerunner Saga novels, Cryptum and Primordium. Following the Halo 4 title card was a quick teaser of an unknown bipedal creature.

Making of Halo 4
This video revealed the first in-game footage of Campaign and War Games for Halo 4 along with various gameplay elements. The video shows off the immensely refined details of John-117's newly upgraded MJOLNIR armor and reintroduces the iconic battle rifle into the series, this time as the BR85HB SR. First Look also reveals the inclusion of the SPARTAN-IV soldiers in the game, who will become the face of the later announced Infinity mode consisting of War Games and Spartan Ops. The competitive portion of the video briefly shows the new fast-paced multiplayer component on two maps, Adrift and Haven. The video is presented and narrated by various 343 Industries employees.

Announced on April 11th, 2012 was the composer for the upcoming Reclaimer Trilogy. Composing Worlds reveals Neil Davidge taking the reigns of the series' music direction from Bungie composer Martin O'Donnell, who's music score will be vastly foreign to the sounds heard in Halo 4. This new episode in the Making of Halo 4 series succinctly documents some of the recording for the score of Halo 4 and the fresh elements introduced into it. Filming for Composing Worlds is primarily done at Abbey Road Studios in London, England and features commentary by 343i audio director Sotaro Tojima and orchestrator and composer Matt Dunkley, among others from 343i's audio department and those working at Abbey Road.

Demonstration videos
Nearly a year after the announcement of the game, 343 Industries revealed the first proper gameplay footage of Halo 4 on June 4th, 2012 at the Xbox Press Briefing for E3 2012. Headlining the show, the demonstration started off with the first viewing of the live-action trailer The Commissioning which synced perfectly into the events of the in-game portion of the reveal. The UNSC Infinity, pulled down into atmosphere of Requiem by the Prometheans, flies right above John-117 who determines that the advanced warship will crash nearly 78 kilometers from their position. This gameplay demonstration reveals the "ancient evil" that John-117 and his companions will fight during the course of the game, who would be revealed as the Prometheans, the ultimate group of the Forerunner Warrior-Servant caste. 343i's reveal concludes with a short cinematic montage of various environments across Requiem with a voiceover sequence by Cortana, revealing the first prominent display of Rampancy in the series.

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn


Announced on April 30th, 2012, Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn is a five-episode live-action series with a total runtime of 75 minutes, making it one of the longest marketing programs for any game in history. Forward Unto Dawn will chronicle the life of a UNSC officer from his/her days as a cadet all the way to 2557 aboard the. John-117 is noted as being an inspiration to the protagonist and will appear in the film in an as-yet unknown fashion. 343i's business director, Matt McCloskey, stated that Forward Unto Dawn will allow the franchise to "make Halo accessible for people who haven't played the games." Both McCloskey and Frank O'Connor noted that the series will flesh out the fiction of the universe, particularly Halo 4's. Viewers will be given background information on the various events set prior to the upcoming game and the characters set to appear in it, as well as being introduced to new elements and expanding on old ones.

Forward Unto Dawn will be released prior to the worldwide launch of Halo 4 in October, first as a short weekly webseries exclusively on Halo Waypoint and Machinima.com and later in its full 75-minute form on other devices. A 90-minute extended edition is included with the limited edition for Halo 4. The cast and crew for the film will be revealed at San Diego Comic-Con 2012 in July.

Trivia
When recording dialogue as Sergeant Major Avery Johnson for Halo 2, David Scully humorously said, "In Halo 4, I get a woman!"