Have you ever had one of those days where all you could think about was how much you wanted to run a prison? No? Well neither had I until I played Prison Architect. Created by British developer Introversion Software, Prison Architect is a simulation game similar to Dwarf Fortress and Rollercoaster Tycoon. The aim is simple: use your starting funds to build a prison and turn it into a large, profitable business. The game is currently in alpha but is available through the Steam early access program and as such, this review will deal with the game in its current form.
One of the most impressive aspects of Prison Architect is the level of freedom you have when creating your prison. Whilst some of the more advanced functions are locked away (no pun intended) until you reach a certain level of progress, most of the game’s systems are open right away. This means you have lots of options as to how you design your jail, which gives the game a lot of reply value. When building your first prison you will probably make a lot of mistakes but by the time you reach your fourth of fifth prison, you’ll be creating them efficiently and swiftly with ease. There are some aspects of the game that are confusing at first but thankfully the learning curve is pretty well balanced. You’re given 24 hours of in game time to set up the prison and after that prisoners will start being delivered. Then it’s time to start turning a profit.
The first thing you’ll want to do is accept some government grants. These act as the games quests, and most of them require multiple objectives to be reached before you can complete them. These tasks have a nice variety and can range from constructing certain buildings and objects to confiscating contraband or hiring new types of staff. The grant system is a very good mechanic as it is constantly giving you something new to aim for as well as acting as a good source of money in the early game. The number of grants in the vanilla game is slightly too small but you’ll be able to expand it greatly through mods. However, because the amount of money you get from grants is not unlimited, you’ll eventually have to find a different way to make money. You can do this by putting your prisoners to work. Once you are able to hire teachers, you can place your inmates in special job programs. These skilled prisoners can be sent to work shops to create licence plates and furniture, which can then be exported for cash.
Whilst half the game’s fun comes from the satisfaction of everything going well, the other half comes from everything going wrong. A new shipment of prisoners arrive everyday so you’ll have to constantly be expanding your prison in order to accommodate them. Not only will you need cells in which to house them all but you’ll also need to make more meals to feed them and hire more guards to keep an eye on them. However, some may prefer to play the game in a more relaxed style where prisoners are only delivered when there is enough space for them. Thankfully Introversion have listened to this request and have included the option in the game. Personally I prefer playing with the pressure of daily shipments as it greatly adds to the challenge of the title and prevents it from becoming boring.
Adding to the challenge, things are made even more difficult in Prison Architect as the prisoners are always looking for ways to escape. I got a lot of enjoyment from finding out and stopping my inmate’s various schemes and since every successful escape significantly reduces the value of your prison, you’ll want to do everything in your power to stop that from happening. Some prisoners try to fight their way out so it’s important to have enough guards to subdue them, while others try to tunnel under the walls Great Escape style. To stop this from happening I made sure I had dog patrols at the perimeter 24/7. One of my prisoner even managed to pickpocket a set of staff keys from one of the janitors. By far the worst incident I encountered though resulted from my inability to build enough cells to house everyone. Angry at the overcrowding, my prisoners started a massive riot that was only stopped when I called in the riot squad. 37 prisoners and 28 guards were killed, which pushed the value of my prison down into the minus figures.
Prison Architect is certainly shaping up to be a very good simulator game, but it is held back by still being in the alpha stage. The most obvious problem is AI bugs. In general the game’s AI is pretty good but there are times when it breaks. I’ve had prisoners getting stuck in their cells unable to leave, I’ve had doctors who will simply sit in the medical bay even though there are many guards who are injured. The most frustrating bug I found was when my workmen would refuse to work on a certain building. Even though the tasks were shown as being ‘in progress,’ my workers simply walked around the storage room not doing anything. The lack of content is also an issue. The game does has some very solid foundations here but it will require substantially more content if it is to make the most of its potential. This flaw could be excused by some as a product of the game still being in the alpha stage, but the fact is that the basic version of Prison Architect has a $30 price tag. Currently, it does not offer enough to justify it even though Introversion Software sare releasing monthly updates for the game.
Overall Prison Architect is a pretty good title and it certainly offers a rather unique gaming experience. If Introversion Software can iron out the bugs and continue to make the game bigger and better, then this could be the next great British indie title.