Units are able to gain experience and become stronger, where success in one battle would award the player prestige to upgrade units, acquire additional units, and select a better scenario for the next battle. Its novel feature was to link individual scenarios into a campaign spanning World War II from 1939 to 1945. While the names and information for the units are reasonably accurate, the scenarios only approximate historical situations. Panzer General is an operational-level game, and units approximate battalions, although the unit size and map scale from one scenario to the next are elastic. In Campaign Mode, the player assumes the role of a German Generalissimus against the Allied computer. One plays lone scenarios from either Axis or Allied side and against a computer or human opponent. Panzer General is a turn-based game, set on operational level hex maps. Gameplay German bombers attacking allied artillery It is the first in the commercially successful Panzer General series.

It became and remained SSI's best-selling game across all genres, and was named the best-selling computer wargame of all time in 2007. Panzer General was a major commercial hit: 250,000 units were sold at full price, and long tail sales continued in the years ahead. The designers of Panzer General were heavily influenced by the Japanese wargame series Daisenryaku. It simulates conflict during World War II. Panzer General is a 1994 computer wargame developed and published by Strategic Simulations Inc. MS-DOS, 3DO, Mac OS 7, PlayStation, Windows

Panzer general 2 campaign tree