Many fans of the original game were surprised when Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom was announced at PlayStation Experience 2015, four years after the release of the original cult classic RPG. However, now there's some bad news regarding the project — it won't make its anticipated 2017 release date.

No specifics were given about why Ni No Kuni 2 needs some extra time in the oven. Developer Level-5 simply said that the game needs a few more months of development in order to live up to the expectations set by its critically acclaimed predecessor.

"I deeply apologize to those who have been looking forward to the game's release," read a statement from the studio's CEO and president, Akihiro Hino. "Please rest assured, however, that we will continue to strive to provide a deep and satisfying single player experience that our fans can look forward to enjoying."

It's not all too unusual for an ambitious RPG like Ni No Kuni 2 to get slightly behind schedule during development — we only have to look to last year's Final Fantasy 15 for evidence of that. Between the amount of content required, the complications of the translation process, and the high-quality visuals of this particular project, production can often be more time-consuming than expected.

Fans may be disappointed by having to wait a little longer for the sequel, but they should be pleased that Level-5 is taking the time to get things right. As a very capable designer once said, "a delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad."

There were no guarantees that a sequel to Ni No Kuni would ever come to a fruition, so a short delay is a relatively small concern in the grander scheme of things. Here's hoping that the follow-up fulfils all expectations when it launches next year.

Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom will now launch for the PlayStation 4 and PC on January 19, 2018.