Prison Architect

[Kong Wen]

I just caught the news that another Steam darling—Prison Architect—is making the move to consoles, coming to PS4 this spring.

This is a game that's been sitting on my wishlist so I could keep an eye on prices and then maybe catch it cheap if the right whim struck me at the right time. Has anyone spent any time with this who can recommend it or recommend against it?

[Niahak]

I just caught the news that another Steam darling—Prison Architect—is making the move to consoles, coming to PS4 this spring.

This is a game that's been sitting on my wishlist so I could keep an eye on prices and then maybe catch it cheap if the right whim struck me at the right time. Has anyone spent any time with this who can recommend it or recommend against it?

I picked this one up on a recommendation from a friend. It's fun enough as a sort-of town builder, but it feels like it's missing something. When I played I had virtually no challenge; I do understand that eventually inmates start plotting escapes, but a lot of the mechanics related to those plans (officer inspections, searches, etc) are really opaque (as are some other mechanics like how to get your inmates to actually go to the mess hall to eat).

I feel like Prison Architect really pales in comparison to, say, Theme Hospital. They scratch the same kinds of itch (making money off things that shouldn't be monetized! creating an efficient layout and staff!) while Theme Hospital provides a substantial challenge and continual progress.

To be fair I did play it several months ago and I'm pretty sure the game has progressed since then - but it didn't really feel like a great Tycoon or City-builder or even Dwarf Fortress-like, which were all the things it seemed meant to be.