Kalypso Media, publisher of award-winning PC and console games that include The First Templar, Dungeons and Tropico 4, has announced that Elements of War, a real-time strategy game where players’ armies use both conventional and climate-control weapons to devastate the enemy, has gone gold and will be released to North American retail outlets and via digital distribution on April 12.

Set on Earth in the not-so-distant future, Elements of War focuses on a conflict for the survival of humanity that ensues after a secret military weather control experiment sets in motion a near-complete global climate collapse. Three factions battle on American soil for control of fearsome weather-based weapons, granting them the power to use tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, torrential rains and other forces of nature as weapons of war.

Players can take charge of a wide variety of military units, from modern helicopters and battle tanks, to futuristic weaponry such as powered exoskeletons, EMP generating vehicles and lightning-throwing planes as they battle across a torn and tattered near-future United States.

As gamers fight their way across the destroyed landscape, they unlock next-generation weather-controlling weaponry allowing them to unleash tornadoes, earthquakes and much more on their enemies.

• Three Diverse Factions – Battle in a near-future America as the “Ravens” (the U.S. military trying to protect the secret experiment), the “EEB” (a European coalition that invades to capture the nature-based weapons) and the “Patriots” (a paramilitary force, fighting for their country’s survival) collide
• Control the Weather, Control the World – Six weather-based weapons allow players to dominate and transform the battlefield with tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes and other elements of war, impacting supply lines, slowing troop movements and devastating the enemy
• A Visually Stunning Battlefield – A modern graphics engine beautifully renders highly detailed units, while realistic destruction physics create a believable theater of war
• Conventional and “What If” Weaponry – More than 40 realistic and fictional units and weapons from the American, Russian and European military arsenals
• Challenging Campaign, Massive Theater of War – Fight across a challenging 12 mission campaign, each massive map offering diverse tactical challenges