Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 has been announced and is expected to release in the first half of 2016 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.

The game is being developed and published by CI Games, who created the previous Sniper Ghost Warrior games, as well as current-gen tactical RPG Lords of the Fallen.

We're informed that this iteration of Ghost Warrior is being built 'from the ground up.'

Best free bookkeeping app. “The Sniper: Ghost Warrior franchise is one of the most popular in the CI Games portfolio with over 5.5 million copies sold, so we’re investing a significant amount of effort into the third instalment,“ says Marek Tyminski, CEO, CI Games.

As for the story, Ghost Warrior 3 is set in a modern day Eastern Europe. Players will assume the role of a sniper caught between three warring factions, with a focus on taking out targets up close or from afar. It's said the game will offer challenges for tactical-minded players while still being accessible to the first-person shooter fanbase.

If 2016 seems like a long way off, you could always use the time from now until then to read our review of Ghost Sniper Ghost Warrior, and the sequel Sniper Ghost Warrior 2, a few thousand times. Or failing that you could play from the start and use one of the IGN wiki walkthroughs. Either works.

Wesley Copeland is a freelance news writer, but you probably already guessed that. For more obvious statements, you should probably follow him on Twitter.