Prison Architect

You take the role of a prison warden and architect, turning a plot of land into a working penitentiary. Design its layout, build cells and shared facilities, and hire staff to keep daily operations running.

Manage budgets, utilities, staffing, security, and prisoners’ individual needs. Their histories and behavior inform how you schedule work and treatment programs, while conditions inside the prison can lead to emergencies such as fires, fights, riots, and escape attempts.

Expand and refine your prison as it grows, using grants and resources to address new challenges. The game also offers Escape Mode, where you try to break out of your own supermax prison, and sandbox and online modes for building or exploring player-created prisons.

Players who enjoy the game often praise the freedom to design and expand a prison, the layered management of staff and inmates, and the unpredictable crises that emerge from their plans. Several describe the build-and-improve loop as absorbing and rewarding. The supplied reviews also contain frequent complaints about bugs, launcher or startup problems, and paid DLC; enjoyment of the core game is not universal.