Monolith Productions says we’ll have to wait a bit longer to return to Tolkien’s fantasy lands in Middle-earth: Shadow of War. The follow-up to Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor will now launch on October 10. Shadow of War was originally slated for an August 22 release.
“As with Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, Monolith is committed to delivering the highest-quality experience,” Andy Salisbury, Monolith Productions community manager, wrote in a post. “In order to do this, we have made the difficult decision to move our launch to ensure that Middle-earth: Shadow of War will deliver on that promise.”
Given that the delay constitutes less than two months, it’s certainly not a huge deal. Nonetheless, it’s disappointing for fans who thought Middle-earth: Shadow of War would carry them through the end of the summer. With the October launch date, it will now be competing with the usual onslaught of fall releases.
To be fair, Shadow of War wasn’t even on our radar until the end of February, when Monolith revealed protagonist Talion’s second adventure shortly after Target accidentally listed the game on its website. Launching on October 10 still means that the game will arrive less than 10 months after it was announced, which is a far shorter interval between reveal and launch than that of the average AAA game.
Monolith gave Shadow of War a proper reveal at the Game Developers Conference earlier this year, showing off an extended gameplay trailer, with a strong emphasis on the enhancement of the innovative Nemesis system from Shadow of Mordor. While much of the game’s plot is still under wraps, you can read everything we know about Shadow of War here.
We won’t have to wait long to learn more about Shadow of War, as Monolith promised that it will be on display at E3 this month.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War launches October 10 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
