The Flood Return! But Is That a Good Thing? (Awakening The Nightmare Review) 

Someone needs to start a petition for Blur Studio to create a full length Halo film. Absolutely phenomenal visual work from them.

feels good to have the Flood back, fingers crossed they end up posing a threat in H6/7

The spaghetti armed people, have returned.

"They're butter balls, except more buttery" - Actman 2017

I think the reason they didn't do much with the story was because they were just testing the waters to see how they pulled off the Flood overall. But I'm really not sure, its still decent enough for me though. Everything else about the gameplay and such I highly agree with, it looks HELLA fun!

343 industries has to drop the T rating if the Flood show up in halo 6, it NEEDS to be rated M because the Flood are a horrifying enemy that's extremely gory. You can't accurately portray that unless its M for mature.

7:07 My cameo appearance :D We outta play Terminus Firefight together sometime, Act Man! It’s so addicting!

Two videos in one week? This is better than christmas!

Soooo does this mean the flood are returning in Halo 6? I want something else to fight besides the forerunners.

bold choice, using that dead rising music and all

Narratively, I think the Flood are the reset button 343i needs to unfuck the Halo 5 story. I've got my fingers crossed that the Flood are what caused Cortana and company to go haywire and shut down human space- it's basically what the Flood did to the Forerunners with the help of Mendicant Bias. Logic plague, man! All at once it undoes exactly what most seem to consider to be the worst part of Halo 5's story: Evil Cortana. With the addition of the Flood and the logic plague, Cortana is absolved. She isn't suddenly evil, she isn't Skynet- she went rampant because of what the Gravemind did to her (read Halo Evolutions for the full story, but it basically tortured her with human emotions, driving her toward rampancy) and became a vessel for the Flood. She's no more evil than Captain Keyes or Jenkins in Combat Evolved. It makes sense that she wanted to trap Chief because the Gravemind would want the one creature that beat it locked away (or worse, delivered to it in a convenient little package). It makes sense that she thinks she's saving the galaxy because that's the sort of thing the Gravemind would use to sway her, being the heroic character she was. It makes sense she would go to the Halo, because controlling those (and the Ark, where we now know there is a significant Flood presence) would effectively render the Flood indestructible. The Flood tie everything together and would retroactively make Halo 5 a pretty decent set-up for a fantastic Halo 6. It also gives 343i a way to make the overall plot interesting again. No longer will we be toying around in a post-Covenant War galaxy with weak allegory about the real-world intelligence state and poorly-explored themes about PTSD. The game will have purpose again- we will be fighting the all-consuming parasite at the height of its horrific power. There will be stakes, there will be danger, there will be purpose. Bringing back the Flood is a very, very good thing in my opinion.

I take Awakening the Nightmare DLC as a Baby Step in the right direction as both the voice acting and choreographing the fight scenes (like you said) are spot on and they have brought back the military style of both UNSC and Banished forces, the player making the players feel like the military commander, still doesn't have the same feel of control over the battlefield like the first Halo War, Almost there 343.

I am disappointed that we never fought human forces. Odd, Halo always goes out of its way to not fight human armies. It happened as the Arbiter in Halo 2 as well as the Banished campaign.......... I thought you will be able to retaliate as Atriox for Halo Wars 2 ending, but totally different direction.

Floods in Halo Wars 2 looks great

0:04 this cracked me up A LOT! literally!

Now that you mention that the Brutes were sort of like Spartans. I just remembered that Atriox's pelvis cover is an ODST chest piece.

This game definitely looks interesting, plus this expansion, i always loved Halo for its FPS. Though this is more strategic, and I’m not sure I could play this game as easily.

343? You did good. Put a bit more effort into storytelling, then you juuuust might surpass Bungie. 8 outta 10

Has anyone else had a problem where upon putting in the HW2 disc, it'll go to the start screen, minimise it (on Xbox1 btw) then have that "just getting your game ready" message, then repeat this every second and have you stuck in an infinite loop? It's kind of a weird glitch and it's been pissing me off. I've bought the ATN dlc, completed it p, then when I tried to come back on a few days later this shit happened.

So happy you made a vid about this! Act man rocks!

Anyone want OG machinima back?

When was it a good thing that all life consuming parasite returns to galaxy?

Act guy i love the frequent uploads. Fantastic job

When your in bed with your girl and you insert, "I TOLD YOU NOT TO GO INSIDE."

Did they ever fix that shipmaster AI in multiplayer glitch? He used to be able to use his teleport ability to teleport all your units off the map, which is crippling when that is also the max amount of units you can have and now you're down to only 2 squads just cause the rest of your army is now gone completely

Actman, if you read on the abomination (hidden Expedia covered this) actually says something that makes the cut juggernaughts from halo 2 canon, 343 respects the classics heavily, which can be seen with halo 5 too, seen with classic weapons maps and armor

"Act man here-OH GOD GET IT OFF ME! Johnson:Jenkins!" I died laughing.

I just made a connection. Feminism is like the Flood. No matter how hard you try to destroy it, it comes back out of nowhere stronger harder and even worse than before

I actually really like the flood, and I feel that bringing them back could definitely help the franchise! Maybe Halo 6 will be ‘bout as good as the old Bungie games with them included!

"We're not worthy !" That killed me ! Keep up the good work !

I love it when 1 of my favourite youtuber uploads. Your videos are entertaining.

Hey the dead rising music in the beginning just brought back memories xp

Halo 6: 4 Player Co-op Player 1: Master Chief Player 2: Arbiter/Locke Player 3: Locke/Arbiter Player 4: Jerome/Palmer Enemies: Atriox's Army, Cortana's Promethean Army, Flood

I was expecting this video earlier from you but better late than never I liked video thanks for awesome video

2:43 the way the grunts talk sounds familiar

Liking the new upload schedule

best intro ever XD the act man is so awesome lmao

Awesome REVIEW Act Man!!!

We need a new version of “Demons, Heretics” for whenever we find the Flood in the new mission in Halo Infinite

Great review act man

It would be pretty cool if the UNSC and Banished came to an agreement to fight the flood.

“One single Flood spore can destroy a species” - Rtas Vadum I would’ve been just fine with the way the story turned out in Awakening the Nightmare if they continued the story of the single Flood that survived and stowed away on the Spirit of Fire after the events of Halo Wars 1. The way the Flood actually returns kind of diminishes the impact of Halo 3. It’s just so many bad decisions that could’ve been so obviously improved. I feel like they were trying to course-correct from all the criticism they received from Halo 5 about how it was “necessary” to read expanded universe stuff to understand the story. To which I say BULLSHIT, they could’ve explained the Flood’s survival on the SoF in a sort of flashback cutscene. You would only have to had played the first Halo Wars to understand it.

What I want for Halo 6 Blur Cutscenes with Flood reveal!!

The Act Man, I have an idea (though I may be late to the party with this one): what if they had a DLC that allowed you to make a custom map/mission/campaign. Like Forge mode, but for an RTS. H5 had one of the greatest Forge modes we've ever seen (one of a very few points I give to H5), do. I think it might be possible and would be cool if they added one for HW2.

I’m happy that the flood is back we have a threat to the halo universe and a enemy to fear again

Also I have to counter something you've said in the past - about how story is told differently in RTS games. Yes it's true, traditionally stories are harder to convey in these kinds of games. But that shouldn't be an excuse for Halo Wars 2. As much as I loved this game, it should have taken more notes from the kings themselves - BLIZZARD. They practically invented competative RTS games and managed to tell a pretty decent story at the same time. Then they kicked it into TURBO mode with Starcraft II decades later, where suddenly the story became just that much more personal. You see your units in person aboard your ship between missions - the game converts into a point-and-click adventure in its HUB mode before you begin the actual missions, and even then there's still DELICIOUS cutscenes before and after each one - both fully animated, and in-engine for less important moments. As you're given the chance to have conversations with your allies, you really feel what drives them, you sympathize with their dispositions, and it honestly feels like you're tending to a friendship. Starcraft II's way of storytelling should by all means be the staple and new standard of ALL real time strategy games, and any game that does NOT live up to this format should be called out. Halo Wars 2 would have been the most story-driven, impactful game in the entire series if only it stylized itself in the same way as Starcraft II - a game that, despite being an RTS, somehow managed to make one of my personal favorite video game campaign stories OF ANY GENRE. It almost feels like a movie at times. Just think about it - HOLY SHIT what would it have been like if we could move around the Banished HQ as Atriox, and talk to his generals and the peons beneath him. You could finally learn about his second-in-command's secret religious beliefs which could be a problem later, maybe add some more personality to different generals. You could call up the Shipmaster mercenary guy and have a conversation between ships about what to do for the next mission, and make tactical or possibly even moral decisions on how to deal with conflict. You could earn new units or technology, hire more mercenaries, or do certain missions that could possibly bring in more factions to work with you at the expense of others. Maybe a return of the jackals could be seen in the story as you contact some pirates, but they'll refuse to work with you if you harbor King YipYap the grunt. YipYap could have some side story about him being wanted as a criminal to them or something or perhaps it could boil down to the simple old school racist hatred between both species, and if you side with the Jackal mercenaries all your grunt squads get pissed off and you have to deal with a mini-rebellion a couple missions later. There's so much beauty that could have come from a more Starcraft II kind of format for the game to base itself on, and it has no real excuse for not trying. Instead HW2 chose to follow the traditional method that games like the first Starcraft used.

Oh God that intro...instant librarian... *shudders*

Oh this is Loco!!!! 😂. Wow that guilty spark cutscene was everything.

Hey man, love your videos, I'm curious, what do you think of Battlefront II based on the beta?

Ur one of t few that keep me coming back to halo awesome vid as usual

How awesome would it be if we got a blur cutscene of the humans and banished watching in horror as the flood uncontrollably spreads and destroys armies reminding us of the horror that it had once unleashed. Showing true flood terror

The banished remind me a lot of the space pirates from metroid, stealing tech from opponents and meshing it with their own, not to mention the ruthlessness

and just when I thought I took care of those flood pests in the third game, looks like I might have to roll up the sleeves again.

The brutes don't look much like brutes but it's very easy to fix that. Give them bigger teeth and a Mohawk and side beards

You brought a great point that I thought about and that this DLC felt like the good old DLC and what it's suppose to be so I loved it but I have the same issue that I wish it could have been more

Really wished we got an act man flood form for this video, be awesome

I agree with you points I thought the same thing I just hope that we do see the flood in a later halo that are there because of the events of ATN so that the expansion has more of an impact on the overall story. Other an that one specific point ATN did not let me down it was a great dlc and probably the best $20 I've spent in a while

I love the act man

Omg that Jenkins yell right before the cut to technically difficults killed me

woa 3 videos in one week? damn Act Man, thanks for the content😂😂

I personally adored the campaign but similar to your points they fell short on expanding on the banished proper I would have loved to see ship master and colony discussing the high charity situation with atriox and then the two brothers interrupting for new orders I wanted to a live visible infection of a brute and I wanted a bit of UNSC involvement and above all that I wanted the flood to not be taken out straight after But this Does open many new doors and I’m very excited for what they do next Gameplay wise the expansion just makes everything better And it is one worthy of the name I give awakening the nightmare a 8/10

These missions were the most intense RTS experience I've had. Watching as your screen FILLS with flood, desperately trying to fight back and save your forces. I survived some of these encounters with like 2 units left. So much fun

If the flood comeback would've been shown at E3 and would not be included in Halo Wars 2, rather in Halo 5 or a little spin - off FPS or just a specualtion trailer for Halo 6, it would've been undoubtedly the highlight.

I’m worried about the return of the Flood because it lessens the impact of Halo 3’s story. All that work to defeat the local Flood and we just have another invasion? That’d be super lame. I doubt 343 would know how to write them well.

I love your videos! :')

The Jenkins part got me.

NOW ALL THAT WE'RE MISSING IS SOME ACT MAN GAMEPLAY!!!

Yeah, I was disappointed that the Spirit of Fire didn’t appear in the expansion.

Two uploads in two days it's a dream

wish they had had more missions though.... hope they come out with more.

I thought the campaign was really good also when you asked where the humans are the DLC said "a banished campaign", and we still ran into human units here and there. Other than that I agree with you with almost everything els.

I'm loving the game so far and I'm here to see if the DLC is worth it but it makes me want a version or an RTS that allows you to jump into the battle, going from god mode view into any of the units on the field.

The halo spartan games had flood in them lol

I'm mad about how I got the ultimate edition with the season pass and it said it would include all future DLC but didn't include awakening, but I'm glad they improved firefight

"But is that a Good thing?" That's a question I've been asking myself ever since this was announced. Gameplay wise? Heck yes! Storywise? Uummm....maybe.

I wish you could PLAY as the flood

I gots me a theory for you! Take the E3 trailer into consideration, you could clearly not see the barrier, so maybe atriox sent out a team of 3 brutes, previously, to examine high charity, and then they discovered the flood inside so a containment barrier was placed around it to safeguard then voridus the veeeery smart chimp/brute re opened it so flood poured out, I guess Atriox was lucky the first team of brutes didnt set of a rampage, but maybe that one infected brute that was seen in the E3 trailer is on the loose and is infecting creatures that we will see in halo 6 and have seen a few in halo wars 2 already but, if they return in halo 6 and chief returns to the ark to the ark, if cortana leads him there of course, we do still know that flood is on the loose on the ark

One of those Brute brothers sounds like Meta-Cooler whenever he’s talking on comms with his brother

Oh my gosh It was really funny when the flood attacked Act Man at the start of the video and at the end. 10/10 fantastic voice acting. :)

The act man is know a huge part of the new gravemind knowledge.

With this plus Samus Returns out I really want to see a flood vs metroids

Talking about the flood if they wanted to put the Flood in Halo 5 FireFight they could just put Flood spores on Spartans and some Flood stuff ,and same for the covenant

The Act Man , I've got a few things to say. First thing first, I find myself agreeing 100% with everything you say in your recent videos which makes me overjoyed that you do what you do because your voice and views enables more than just your opinions to be heard. Keep it up man of acting skill! Secondly, it kinda creeps me out how much you and I think alike… I'm a huge halo nerd so therefore I talk a lot about it (almost as much as Xperia lol), and you made so many of the same points and criticisms in this video that I talked with my friends about. Spooked me a little. Lastly, what are your opinions about the new DLC vs past DLC? I know HW2 Awakening the Nightmare DLC is much like the DLC of old, which is really nice, but there's a part of me that thinks adding free DLC to a game post launch actually does help maintain the game and greatly increases the game's lifespan. So the question is, do you think most or all DLC nowadays should follow the older models like Awakening the Nightmare does, or do you think both types of DLC work well and you have no preference?

Act man: ah get it off Johnson: JENKINS LoL

What does this mean for halo 6? Can you make a video on that, not sure if I'd mean anything at all as I haven't play the dlc yet.

@The Act Man Notification squad: new vid Me: yup... still missing the mustache tho... 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

a question occurs to me: you did a video where you claimed you did not want the flood to return in halo 6. do you still think it would be a good idea to keep them out of it?

guild wars 2 has some good expansions already. Introducing new mechanics, builds, specializations within classes/professions, etc. But that is a mmo

Aww geez now I wanna go play Halo wars 2 so I can see the story and cut scenes

9:30 I had come up with an idea about something like this, where it is a 3v3v3 game. 3 banished, 3 flood, and 3 humans. The flood are positioned in the middle of the map. It is up to the banished and humans to decided whether or not they are going to attack eachother, or go after the flood and then fight, or just kill the flood and retreat. It would have made it very fun to see whether or not people would work together, and see what happened. At the end there would be a cutscenes showing the aftermath. Like showing the banished executing the human leaders and killing a flood unit.

Act man the flood infecting forms where just give you a hug cause they big faces of you.

your videos are great

I've been playing firefight the last few days and i'm addicted! the campaign was meh. But the firefight is

I wouldn't mind a spin off where you play as Atriox at the start of his rebellion against the covenant.

hey act man, you ever gonna do a video on the halo movie project that fell apart so many years ago?

INTRO 10/10 IGN

Lmaoo I died when I heard Jenkins.

Wish it was in season pass but it sounds cool.

Your videos are still good though but hidden Xperia’s the halo boss

Do you think Atriox will turn into the flood in Halo 6 since it shows him standing in front of the dead Proto Mind with no mask on breathing in the air? Something about that sence they really focus on all 3 Banished Hero's breathing in there surroundings.. Maybe I am looking to far into it.