Rating
Prison Architect
The game is a top-down 2D construction and management simulation where the player takes control of building and running a prison. The player is responsible for managing various aspects of their prison including building cells and facilities, planning and connecting utilities, hiring and assigning staff, including a warden, guards, workers, and more...
Details
- Released
- October 6, 2015
- Developer
- Introversion Software
- Publisher
- Paradox Interactive
How it plays
Up to 8 players
Similar Games
Prison Architect Reviews
Professional reviews from gaming critics
I have not played Prison Architect on the PC so can’t speak to how the controls translated over. But personally speaking, although it does take advantage of damn near every controller button and is ungodly in scope for consoles, I thought it was handled wonderfully. The game performs very well too, in case anyone was worried this might be a potential Cities Skylines waiting to happen.
In many ways, Prison Architect feels like the ‘Theme Prison’ game from Bullfrog’s golden years that we never actually got. Certainly, if Prison Architect’s extended stint in Early Access was any indication, developer Introversion, much like the aforementioned legendary British developer, had no shortage of ambition and this is certainly something that has translated into the final product because minor niggles aside, Prison Architect is a one-of-a-kind prison building experience rife ...
Although I’m not proud of my actions in this particular instance – these are the sort of scenarios Prison Architect will constantly be assaulting you with. On top of balancing the everyday managerial tasks of running a prison, fires of the metaphorical and literal kind will pop up everywhere and how you deal with them usually comes down to what’s best for your prison in the long run
Prison Architect is a full-on sim that will eat your time. If you fancy a dark look inside the running of a prison, look no further.
It should be noted that the Switch version is meant to also include an Escape Mode where you control an inmate trying to find their way out. For the purposes of this review, we haven’t been able to check it out. Despite that omission, it’s not hard to pour a bunch of time into Prison Architect, and I am happy to recommend it to anyone looking for a sim game to play on their couch.
Prison Architect is a great simulator that made the transition from computers to console admirably.
Prison Architect is a great example of a PC to console simulation experience. Come check out our Prison Architect PS4 review.
Porting PC simulation games to consoles is fraught with danger, with systemic complexities and control issues abound. Thankfully, Prison Architect manages to avoid most of these pitfalls, and serves as an exemplar of how the genre should make the transition in future.
Prison Architect is not friendly to new users, requires patching of numerous errors, and provides a disappointing campaign but its key elements – construction and management – are amazingly executed.
Have you ever wanted to go to prison? Maybe checkout what the food tastes like, or maybe you want to try out that really slippery soap everyone's always talking
Prison Architect may seem like your everyday, ordinary Prison Simulator. But in reality it is so much more. The creators of the game stress that they aim for absolute realism, and by doing so created one of the most detailed simulators I have ever played.
Emerging from Early Access lean and focused, Prison Architect is one of the best management games in a long time.