Prison Architect V2.0
I personally think this game was and is a revolutionary turning point in this section of the Simulation Game Genre. Welcome to My In a Nutshell Game Review Series where I blert my thoughts and experiences regarding a game in the hopes to spark a general discussion.
"Prison Architect is a Prison building and Management Simulation game. Build a minimum security facility or maximum security facility in Sandbox mode. Tell me, do you feel like having death row prisoners only and an electric chair? How about a prison with limited food choices at the cafeteria, a small yard, tiny cell and lots and lots of Prisoner Activities crammd into a day, what do you think it can achieve? Can you stop the inevitable riot? Or did you just want to build a prison, save, flip over to Escape mode and master the skills and crew to try to escape your creation?
Keep your prisoners fed, give them clean clothes, a clean prison goes a long way. Experiment with the Cells decoration and entice prisoners to behave to score a higher rated cell. Change the meal times, food once a day, or have them eating all day. Split your regime times into ranking of the Prisoners, Low, Medium, Max, etc.. Have your Medium Security Prisoners in the Yard while the Minimum Security Prisoners eat. Dive into the contraband control system and try to track the weak spots, secure them and punish the individuals accordingly. Run A tight ship or a loose cannon. The game is yours.
This is Prison Architect by Introversion.
I have been a supporter of this game for a long time now. Dating back long before they were on Steam or across any other platform than the Computer. I’ve been subscribed to Introversion on Youtube for a while now and as the months went on I saw update after update and reported bug after bug. I found that the game had me hooked, seeing how long I could profitably run a Prison. Many times I failed, many times I succeeded. At one stage a was testing out different layouts and regime times, seeing how long it would take for the prisoners to snap. They put a lot of thought into the mechanics and operation of the game, they worked well with the community and even hid an Easter egg in the Menu (which I’ll discuss further down). All in all Prison Architect is a good game. I have few complaints and praises for this game but I've witnessed and seen the advances in the games development so it may seem harsh or nit-picky. At the release of Version 2.0 they told us they would be putting the game away and moving on, only to come back with some bug fixes and a few little improvements. So I think it’s safe to say even though full steam development isn’t underway, we may see tweaks and small improvements as time goes on. Introversion have done a bang up job with this game and their progression onto better projects will do nothing but serve them well, especially if this games’ development tells us anything about the people at the helm of Introversion.
I give it a Nut-Cracking 8/10
But in saying that my review is far from over!
Starting off with nothing but a nice set of 00’s in your bank account balance can be quite a difficult task as a rookie Prison Manager. Especially if you just walk right into a game without a basic idea of how the game works. As the game starts you have a short checklist of items to complete before you are rewarded with a Grant. You can also apply and receive grants that guide you/incentivize the higher levels and management aspects of the game. Through this system and a good sense of “what does this thingy do” you can find yourself having a load of fun, restarting or expanding to take in 20-50 prisoners, maybe more; Just to try out a new layout design. Money can be drained quickly, thankfully without research you can not out weigh your prisons economy (which can be useful at times in the late game)
The research tree coupled with the natural progression of the game worked well together for me in this game.
The artwork is unique and sparked a trend (which I will be mentioning in other reviews). This game has power management, basic pluming management, heating management, the list goes on with some options being a one time selection thing.
Thankfully the game guides you through what you need to know even without a tutorial. It's a really well designed pick-up and play game style. I suggest you get the demo and give it a go!
I won’t spoil much about the storyline as I feel It could've focused on the mechanics of the game. All in all I would say the storyline isn't the main attraction of the game, while it does focus on some rather exciting aspects of the game, when against Escape mode and Sandbox mode we all know which two are more favorable. In saying this it is a Campaign, not a tutorial. But the story line could of intertwined the economy or a numerous amount of other things. But who doesn't love a good Tactical Riot reclaim?
Here is what the Steam store page has to say about Prison Architect Story Mode
Prison Architect opens with the story of Edward, a man facing the electric chair for committing a crime of passion. This is followed by four additional chapters focusing on different characters and aspects of prison life. From Mafia Dons to power-crazed senators, Prison Architect has them all! To bring these characters to life, Introversion teamed up with award winning professional writer Chris Hastings, producing an enthralling tale of corruption and human misery set against the background of the modern prison industrial complex.
Source
Build your Prison from the ground up, ensuring as you get bigger you facilitate the Growth and needs of your prison.
Prison Architect Sandbox mode is where this game shines, Want to micro-manage what cell block goes to what canteen, or decide where you want your guards patrolling. Suspicious of one prisoner? Search their cell. Or the whole damn Cell block. This is your prison
Start out with a holding cell for your prisoners but keep in mind they need to rest in a bed eventually or will get very distressed. Don't forget to throw a few toilets in there. Have them in the open or behind walls and a door. Build a secure pathway to a canteen, shower and Yard to ensure their basic needs are met. As you progress through the game their needs will become more apparent (With the research and hire of a Psychologist). They will develop a need for family, exercise, food, possibly religion and quite a few more which can affect the operation of your prison. Check out the steam workshop for some amazing community builds and prisons!
Here are some screen shots from the game
Grants are a great way to build up the necessities of your prison and ensure some expansion money
Just noticed a Bug! Staffroom error says it dosent have any prisoners assigned to eat at the canteen. Uhh.. It's a staff room? I've found the report for the bug and added my form of the bug. Have you guys heard of Mantis? It's Prison Architects bug reporter! You create an account and search for bugs and report new ones, mark duplicates and leave a comment, screenshot or file in a commenting thread style.
In this Screenshot you can see the orange suited prisoners (Medium Security). These prisoners can be upgraded to Maximum Security Prisoners (Red prisoners).
Here you can see my Dormitory, which is a room for multiple prisoners to bunk in. I Swap this room around for a holding cell to receive grant. Below I have a prisoner shop. Selling toothbrushes, soaps, books and whatnot. This creates an incentive to get a job in the kitchen, workshop, cleaning cupboard or laundry.
You can see my Canteen in the top left with some serving tables and benches and tables with some left over lunch as the cooks frantically start up preparations for dinner. Don't forget my shower just above the center there
Here I have the rooms tab displaying the different room types that are accessible early game without research. I have already setup a room for parole prisoners. Some office spaces for my Administration Staff, A Holding Cell, Canteen, Shower, Yard and Kitchen. (As well as a Delivery Zone and garbage collection)
Here is the Bureaucracy screen (The Tech Tree :D ) The Administrators require a office to progress through their tree.
If you guys want to see more Prison Architect Sandbox Mode let me know in the Comment Section!
I'm looking forward to talking to you guys about this game more! I was thinking of doing a let's play, would you guys be interested in that?
To note Escape mode is found in the Extras Tab of the menu
Escape mode is a purely amazing concept for this game yet was a rather late addition in the timeline of the games development. I feel as it lacks to reach all the quirks of the prisoner mechanics. Yes if you manage to get a digging tool into your cell you can dig a tunnel behind the toilet if you know you won't get caught. I feel some tools could of had damage effects on certain blocks like an electric drill would open a cell door. Also something that disappointed me at the time and still to this day is when you are the warden of the prison, prisoners can call people or organize with people to get items thrown over the perimeter within a certain range. With that being a big part of how I would design the prison walls mixed with the way I should handle contraband control incase there are spots where things can get thrown/smuggled in, it can have quite an influence on the early stages of the game. Why wasn’t this put into Escape mode? You can’t use the Telephones as a prisoner but can wiretap them in sandbox mode?
Escape mode is really good especially in how they worked it into the unique gameplay style. While playing through the game I noticed that a prisoner dug a tunnel to escape although I couldn't find the toilet he used to cover the tunnel...
I got out in the end, so did my crew
3-D View
Can you see it? What if I hover my mouse over it
Psst, for those who haven't spotted it yet, look in the bottom left near the page fold.
Hidden in the extras menu was a little Pi symbol, clicking it brings you into the 3D mode, which doesn't support all textures but is a very interesting view of the game. It was being worked on as a side function but was left in to see how long it would go unnoticed. Enjoy the piccys!
Some of the things that happen in this world of Prisons are outstanding. I've owned a 300+ Minimum Security Prison, sold it and started over for an even bigger harsher prison.
Build the prison of your harshest dreams
Set your own punishment policy (sadly not death D:) Found with contraband? 48H Solitary Confinement! Try to supply adequate rooms for religious prisoners, or classrooms for those who want to be rehabilitated. Raise the Parole Cut off Level making it harder to leave on good behavior. Maybe you want to spur a riot and see if you can handle it? Whatever your prison fetish is, give it a go on Prison Architect by Introversion
Hey! Help me start a discussion about this ! It doesn't hurt or take a lot of time!
Be sure to follow @kodieamos
So it's like a reversed version of the Escapist? pretty cool
Great review @Kodieamos i love this game to death and have binged this game on so many hours, i love playing the game modded with extra content and try to make it as hard on myself as possible while being realistic and try to manage to bring in a decent profit while maintaining a good prison
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Glad you enjoyed the review! :D
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There we go bud managed to get the pictures up and working finally ;)
That i did! :D Took me a bit tho D:
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STOPi enjoyed your post. good luck @originalwork
Thanks :D
you welcome dear