In an age where game delays are about a dime a dozen, it has become quite rare to see a game come out during its intended release date. Even rarer than that is to see a game pushed forward in schedule so that it actually comes out earlier, but that is exactly what developer Stoic did with the release of "Banner Saga 3." The game will now come out this summer, much earlier than the originally announced release window.

The team behind the franchise recently released the first of many video vignettes that serve to highlight the major characters in the game's story. While the video itself is quite interesting in the way it sets the tone for the game, what is really important is the small little detail found in the video's description, "Banner Saga 3 Coming Summer 2018."

While this might seem unremarkable to anyone unfamiliar with the game, it should be noted that when the game's Kickstarter first hit its goal, it was announced that they were aiming for a winter 2018 release.

According to a comment by Stoic's official Reddit account, the team recently hired four new members that will help with optimizing the game and performing quality assurance.

As the name implies, "Banner Saga 3" is the third and final entry in Stoic's turn-based Viking trilogy. The first game in the series, which came out in 2014 after a successful Kickstarter campaign, received moderate success with an average reception of 80 percent on Metacritic. Likewise, its sequel, which came out two years later, did slightly better with an average of 82 percent.

Just like the first game, "The Banner Saga 3" began development through a Kickstarter campaign in which it had a goal of $200,000. They hit their goal within a week of launch and, with more backers following suite, the campaign managed to get over $400,000 from over 8,000 backers.