Unlike most videogames of the time that used a graphical display, Kriegsmarine is a text-only game, and the player is required to keep track of ship movements on a map using a grease pencil.

Simulations Canada believed that graphics reduced the realism of the game, and that a non-graphical interface was the only way of maintaining the true "fog of war" that an operational commander had to contend with.

[2] In 1980, Simulations Canada published a two-person board wargame about World War II naval combat in the North Atlantic titled Kriegsmarine.

[3] The game, designed by James Baker and Stephen Newberg, was released for IBM, Atari ST, Apple II, and Amiga computer systems.

He concluded, "Presentation may be poor but Sim Can have produced a unique design and an original format allowing the dedicated wargamer to lose himself in the fog of war."