Prison Architect Alternatives and Similar Games

Our list of games like Prison Architect will help you choose the right game to play next and enjoy every second of it.

prison architect

Games Like Prison Architect

In Prison Architect the player must build and manage a maximum security prison. Inspired by games like Dungeon Keeper and Theme Hospital, Prison Architect is a rewarding and in-depth simulation. As well as managing the infrastructure, players must also recruit staff and ensure that inmates are kept content.

Games like Prison Architect are open-ended simulations that let the player decide their goals. As governor, the player controls the prisoners’ schedule. They can build workshops to generate a profit, pioneer reform programmes to help the inmates. Variables such as limited funds, temperature, and gangs, can all be added to vary the game’s difficulty.

The game also offers an escape mode. Control a prisoner and do your best to escape from your own designed prison or one of the thousands available for download from the Steam workshop. Play your own version of Prison Break.

RimWorld game preview

RimWorld

A science fiction colony simulation, RimWorld has you begin with three survivors on a hostile alien planet. Each colonist is a unique individual with their own skills and traits. The planet is a unique biome with its own mix of Arctic tundra, wet jungle, and scorching desert. Players must contend with pirate raids, natural disasters, and the personal struggles of their colonists while doing their best to survive. Don’t let the simple graphics fool you, this is a complex simulation.
Factorio game preview

Factorio

Factorio is about factory building. Everything else is incidental. The mining and gathering of resources are all aimed at the ultimate goal of building better and bigger factories of increasing complexity. As the player’s realm expands, so too will the local inhabitants' hatred rise and prepare to attack.
Dwarf Fortress game preview

Dwarf Fortress

The fantasy counterpart to Rimworld, Dwarf Fortress is a procedurally generated simulation game following a small group of dwarves attempting to establish a colony. Each world is uniquely detailed with distinctive rainfall, elevation, temperature, resource distribution, and population. As well as building their fortress, the player must look after their dwarves. Frustrated or aggressive dwarves will engage in bouts of increasingly destructive behavior. Players must also build defenses against civilizations like goblins or kobolds, as well as undead, titans, dragons, and hydras.
Theme Hospital game preview

Theme Hospital

A classic simulation game from Bullfrog, Theme Hospital is an entertaining hospital management game where players must cure all sorts of comical diseases. Patients will come in the door with bloated heads, as Elvis impersonators, or with fast-spreading epidemics. Get as much money as possible out of patients by referring them for diagnosis. Ensure to take care though because if a patient is delayed too long, they will die. Epidemics, rats, health inspections, VIP visits, these are all challenges that the game will throw at you.
SimAirport game preview

SimAirport

SimAirport is a simulation game that has the player in charge of the day to day running of an airport. Starting with the design and construction, players build terminals, hire staff, sign contracts, and organize schedules. The game allows for a Career mode (limited funds) for those who want a challenge or Sandbox to allow all the chance to build their own dream airport. SimAirport allows micromanagement down to the very last detail. The player can organize security, check-in, boarding, food, even the luggage queues. They must also ensure runways are maintained, planes are fuelled, hangars are available, and service vehicles are on standby.
Another Brick in the Mall game preview

Another Brick in the Mall

Design, build and manage a giant shopping mall. Players must start with limited funds and expand their mall to become the most successful one in the region. Shops, restaurants, cinemas, bowling alleys, and supermarkets are just some of the facilities on offer. Players looking for games like Prison Architect will enjoy this lighter hearted option. Select the right staff to hire and match them to the jobs that best suit their skills. Ensure that customers are kept happy as those enraged at the poor service on offer will go on to tarnish your reputation! Adjust prices to attract customers and encourage impulse buying.
Oxygen Not Included game preview

Oxygen Not Included

Oxygen Not Included is a space colony simulation game. Players guide a group of colonists as they attempt to establish a settlement on an alien asteroid. To survive they must ensure the colonists have access to food, heat, and most importantly of all, air. Survival is not the only concern. Colonists need their morale to be maintained to ensure a productive colony. Use recycling to counteract waste and ensure that efficiency doesn’t suffer.
Fallout Shelter game preview

Fallout Shelter

Set in the popular Fallout series, Fallout Shelter has the player control the Overseer of a Vault. Assign Dwellers jobs according to their skills and train them. Attract wanderers to your Vault to gain new skills. Send out brave Dwellers to explore the wasteland and bring in useful salvage. The game is free to play, why not try it?
Kingdoms and Castles game preview

Kingdoms and Castles

Kingdoms and Castles is a quirky medieval simulation game. Players begin with a tiny village and must grow it into an expansive and powerful castle. The game world is an expansive dynamic one with realistic weather and seasons. Forest growth is affected by the player policies. Peasants must be fed and kept healthy to ensure a productive town. Viking raids and dragon attacks are regular hazards, as is the cold of winter or pestilence. Ensure morale is kept high by building taverns, churches, and holding festivals.
Cities: Skylines game preview

Cities: Skylines

Cities: Skylines is a modern city simulation game. Starting with a small 2km x 2km plot of land just off a nearby highway, players must attract citizens by zoning areas for commercial, residential, and industrial purposes, as well as providing basic services like electricity, sanitation, and water. The game uses a realistic congestion model that is based on real-life traffic. As the player’s city grows they can gain access to more funding and land but conversely must also deal with more problems. The game is mod friendly and has a substantial presence on Steam. Players looking for other city building games should look here.
Tropico Series game preview

Tropico Series

An entertaining series of games where players are the dictator of a small Caribbean banana republic. Players can choose to rule with an iron fist or be known as a benevolent leader. The Cold War superpowers can be played off against each other to gain access to funds. Different factions vie for power in Tropic and El Presidente must be careful to not antagonize them too much for fear of revolution. The fate of the island is in your hands, whether you open it up to tourism or choose instead to become an industrial power.

Some Facts About Prison Architect

Keep criminals locked down as you expand your maximum security prison in this unique prison-building and management simulation. Prison Architect lets you build and manage your very own prison as you progress through the Story Mode or the limitless Sandbox mode. Become a prisoner yourself and figure out how to escape your own secured prison.

About the Game

  • Released: 6 Oct, 2015
  • Genre: Indie, Simulation, Strategy
  • Platforms: PC, MacOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS4
  • Developer: Introversion Software
  • Publisher: Introversion Software
  • Official Website:

System Requirements

  • OS: Windows Xp
  • Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 Ghz or Higher / AMD 3.0 Ghz or Higher
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: nVidia 8600 / Radeon equivalent (2009 era)
  • Storage: 300 MB

How Long to Beat

  • Main Story 16 Hours
  • Hours Main + Extra 30 Hours
  • Completionist 54 Hours
  • All Styles 23 Hours
  • Learn more
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