Prison Architect

 PC
User Score
8.2

Generally favorable reviews- based on 297 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 230 out of 297
  2. Mixed: 50 out of 297
  3. Negative: 17 out of 297

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  1. Number213
    Nov 30, 2014
    7
    Even thought Prison Architect is an unfinished product, it is pretty solid build: with little amount of bugs, great style and wide variety of gameplay features.
    The game itself is your typical tycoon, but with original and really interesting setting. You should definitively give it a try.
  2. Shahzaky
    May 20, 2014
    7
    Lets start things off by saying that this game is not finished yet and so it should not be reviewed as one. On the other hand, "Early access" seems to be the way to go for devs/publishers to bring in all the cash without finishing the game *cough* DAYZ *cough* so its fair to review the progression.

    Prison architect is a pleasant experience and the idea of being able to build a prison is    Lets start things off by saying that this game is not finished yet and so it should not be reviewed as one. On the other hand, "Early access" seems to be the way to go for devs/publishers to bring in all the cash without finishing the game *cough* DAYZ *cough* so its fair to review the progression.

    Prison architect is a pleasant experience and the idea of being able to build a prison is just terrific. So far however, Prison Architect's actual gameplay is severely lacking. You design a prison, the end. The AI wont come up with any sort of escape plans, gangs don't exist and a lot of the things that gets stolen isn't put to use (unless your design is crap and violence occurs several times a day). The game is more of a framework that can only become as good as its ai, since the experience is completely focused around the behavior of your prisoners. "Endgame" is another thing that the devs have been talking about and rightly so, because unlike some other management/simulation games like Sim City or RollerCoaster Tycoon , a good prison needs everything at once. You cant open your prison with just a carousel, a balloon stall and expand from there, in Prison Architect your theme park needs planning but once you've opened it up for prisoners theres not so much to do except wait and see if you did a good job.

    Anyhow, enough rabbling. Prison Architect is a unique gaming experience and since its being developed by a small but devoted team I would probably recommend the game in its current state. It's tough to say how much better the game will become but it needs to improve quite a bit before becoming immortal.    … Expand
  3. VidyaBum
    May 3, 2015
    7
    Fun, fun, and fun.

    All the tycoon elements are here to make this a great load of fun. Lots of rooms, designs, items, principles and rules to follow to succeed. It's got everything to please, even if the building tool is a little simplistic and just does the job(apart from walls and foundations, you have little options, like no partition walls/cardboard walls to cover some things).    Fun, fun, and fun.

    All the tycoon elements are here to make this a great load of fun. Lots of rooms, designs, items, principles and rules to follow to succeed. It's got everything to please, even if the building tool is a little simplistic and just does the job(apart from walls and foundations, you have little options, like no partition walls/cardboard walls to cover some things).

    Making money can be seriously hard but that keeps the game very fun. With that said, I find the whole thing to have a rather severe programming plague. It glitches many times, the wall/foundation construction can be a massive pain, you have lots of little items that the game just lets around for no reason, and there is a definite sense of amateurism.

    That doesn't take any of the fun away, in fact it gives this pleasant feeling of being a game full of broken things that you can play with, but it gets annoying sometimes, especially visually when foundations are never finished.    … Expand
  4. Rarted
    Jan 6, 2021
    7
    It's a really nice game. It has its story but it's about 2h long, and nothing particularly new. On the other hand, it is a really good simulator and it is fun.
  5. kosciuszko
    May 17, 2014
    5
    Nice little game, it should have been labelled Theme: Prison to be honest, as its in that same line of games. There's nothing in the way of progression, even though I liked the idea of selling your prison, it has no bearing on the game other than to start again with the money you received selling the former creation.
    Becomes tedious rather quickly
  6. Errtai
    Sep 1, 2013
    6
    Bought on sale for $17.99 in the alpha stages. I understand exactly what buying in the alpha means, and I wasn't expecting a polished or even completed game of any sort. That being said, what I did not expect was not being able to play the game at all, as prisoners spend 24/7 trying to escape from the moment they entered (yes there was a double-fence around the entire compound with noBought on sale for $17.99 in the alpha stages. I understand exactly what buying in the alpha means, and I wasn't expecting a polished or even completed game of any sort. That being said, what I did not expect was not being able to play the game at all, as prisoners spend 24/7 trying to escape from the moment they entered (yes there was a double-fence around the entire compound with no cracks), or standing in their cells unresponsive to any schedule I set or orders I placed. Staff would stand there doing nothing, janitors wouldn't sweep no matter what I tried.

    I'm fine with bugs, and helping the devs find those bugs, but I was kinda hoping the game was playable for that price.

    Positives are it looks great, handles pretty nicely, and is very intuitive right up until it stops working.    … Expand
  7. SX_Predator
    Sep 26, 2013
    7
    Pretty fun game with lots of features, even when still in alpha. hardly any bugs that i know of. A tad bit expensive at 30 dollars though. I would definitely recommend buying it on sale.
  8. Klewer
    Jan 19, 2015
    6
    For me the first few hours were brilliant. However very quickly the game become highly repeptitive and boring. At the core it is a solid little builder that is limitless in that aspect but couldn't keep me interested long enough after you'd setup a prison with all the features.
  9. CartoonHead
    Oct 2, 2014
    6
    Ok yes it is an alpha, and it shows. People may say scoring so low on a alpha is defeating the object, but I can only rate on what the game is at the moment. It is fun at it's core, but there are many many many problems with it. If I listed them all the review would be 100 pages long. As an alpha it is fine, but selling it for its current price I cannot recommend it as it isOk yes it is an alpha, and it shows. People may say scoring so low on a alpha is defeating the object, but I can only rate on what the game is at the moment. It is fun at it's core, but there are many many many problems with it. If I listed them all the review would be 100 pages long. As an alpha it is fine, but selling it for its current price I cannot recommend it as it is fundamentally broken.… Expand
  10. TenchuuKhan
    Oct 16, 2015
    6
    What kills it is its non-modular complexity.

    To begin with, it is a great sim - probably the best I've ever seen. But unlike other sims, like Theme Park for instance, it doesn't start out with having 1 attraction to go with. You need a ton of stuff for even the most simple prison. The game does an excellent job at explaining itself. There's a tutorial campaign where you improvise    What kills it is its non-modular complexity.

    To begin with, it is a great sim - probably the best I've ever seen. But unlike other sims, like Theme Park for instance, it doesn't start out with having 1 attraction to go with. You need a ton of stuff for even the most simple prison.

    The game does an excellent job at explaining itself. There's a tutorial campaign where you improvise running prisons and once you go into sandbox mode it gives you milestones to go by in order to grow your prison.

    However, once you got your head around it you'll soon find that it's merely a brutal time killer with little to no payoff whatsoever.
    The issue here really is that your prison is either working or not and that state is rather binary.

    On top of that, if you sell your prison for an amount where you can finally build "the prison of your dreams" you'll soon find that just building it will take hours... just to see it not working at the end.
    After having finally built a prison that works really well (75 hours on record), I wouldn't even consider building a new one because it'd just be an endless stream of building the same **** again... maybe bigger    … Expand
  11. kerric
    May 5, 2014
    7
    Good game so far but needs some more fleshing out with features and a few more bug fixes. The Developer appears very active with supporting and expanding the game, so this is one of the few early access games that I have much faith in making it to a full "retail" release.
  12. Sues
    Sep 6, 2014
    7
    A very good game that I have enjoyed for already over a year. The is still in alpha stage, wich positives and negatives, On it's own Prison Architect gets a little boring after a while but because of the alpha I check every end of the month (when the new alpha mostly get out) the game again and play it for 5 a ten hours. The downside of the alpha are bugs, bugs and more bugs. But if youA very good game that I have enjoyed for already over a year. The is still in alpha stage, wich positives and negatives, On it's own Prison Architect gets a little boring after a while but because of the alpha I check every end of the month (when the new alpha mostly get out) the game again and play it for 5 a ten hours. The downside of the alpha are bugs, bugs and more bugs. But if you can get over that, it is really enjoyable;
    I like the game a lot but I wouldn't buy it for it's full price, because 30 bucks is a lot of money for what it is, but when it is in sale for like 15 $ then it it a MUST BUY for everyone who loves the genre.    … Expand
  13. ragnarokew
    Nov 10, 2015
    7
    Enjoyable game worth buying

    Creating prison and ruling it.

    First time i see this game "omg look at this graphics it must be a suck game" but it isn't if you like simulation games worth the check
  14. LimitedEdition
    Jul 26, 2016
    6
    Prison Architect is a solid sandbox game with lots of diversity and scopes, but sadly its graphics and technical execution is lackluster. The user interface could be better and also controlling and interacting with the world partly feels counter-intuitive, some things are either confusing, bugged or both, which does harm the game flow.

Awards & Rankings

35
#35 Best PC Game of 2015
61
#61 Most Discussed PC Game of 2015
21
#21 Most Shared PC Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 36 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 34 out of 36
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 36
  3. Negative: 0 out of 36
  1. CD-Action
    Mar 30, 2016
    80
    A surprisingly complex and enjoyable simulation of a correctional facility. [03/2016, p.64]
  2. PCWorld
    Jan 19, 2016
    80
    Prison Architect's genius is in translating a real-world debate into video game terms, forcing players to make tough choices with no good solutions.
    Read full review
  3. Edge Magazine
    Dec 12, 2015
    80
    Learn its quirks, however, and Prison Architect's sandbox permits a dizzying breadth of options for establishing for-profit penal facilities. [Christmas 2015, p.120]
See all critic reviews »