Middle-Earth: Shadow of War delayed two months until October

Warner Bros’ upcoming open-world action adventure game Middle-Earth: Shadow of War has been delayed until October, the publisher has announced. Originally set to launch on August 25th, the hotly anticipated follow-up to 2014’s critically-acclaimed Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor will now launch worldwide on PS4, Xbox One and PC (including Windows 10 as an Xbox Play Anywhere title) on October 10th.

"Middle-earth: Shadow of War expands gameplay in every dimension, including the massive open world, the story, the RPG systems, and personal player stories of the Nemesis System," Monolith Production’s community manager wrote on the WB Games blog.

"As with Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, Monolith is committed to delivering the highest quality experience. In order to do this, we have made the difficult decision to move our launch date to ensure that Middle-earth: Shadow of War will deliver on that promise.

"We understand that it might be disappointing to have to wait a little longer for the release and are sorry for the delay, but we are working hard to make an amazing game. We’re excited to show more at E3."

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War was first unveiled back at the end of February, where Warner Bros revealed the game would feature an original story with returning characters Talion and Celebrimbor. Players will wield a new Ring of Power in Shadow of War and will even go up against Sauron and his Nazgul.

The first gameplay trailer then followed a week later at the beginning of March, showcasing Monolith Production’s next generation Nemesis system, as well as the new Nemesis Fortresses feature, where players must make use of different strategies to conquer dynamic strongholds and make their own personalised Orc army.

Last month also saw the release of a second trailer which focuses on the game’s huge open world. Both are included below to help soften the blow of the game’s two-month delay.