The cutscenes of Prison Architect come as a pleasant surprise. Sneaking off when given the slightest window of opportunity, or lining up a victim in the showers and viciously stabbing him to death when the guards aren’t looking. With that in mind the prisoners are all a bunch of bastards. Prison Architect does well to give a feeling of gravity to both the actions of the inmate and the subsequent actions of you, the player. This depth is achieved through the many moral and ethical choices available and not least through artistic renditions (which are unexpectedly intense) of various scenarios throughout. This period of play is when we realized that Prison Architect would deal with much more than ‘make prison good so bad people no make escape’. Just for added punch the condemned man turned himself in and confessed, leading to his incarceration. His crime: killing his wife and the man she was having an affair with. To really drive it home a guard relates the details of the inmate’s confession. To progress, you must build a room containing an electric chair with every intent of wiping an inmate from existence.

You are following the orders of your boss.

At this point, the CEO does not give the player a choice. The campaign begins with a call from the CEO sets the scene and gives us the first task. Throughout this campaign, you are given a variety of tasks to complete within pre-constructed prisons, effectively taking the role of an architect in training. Upon launching Prison Architect, the player is thrust directly into the campaign setting. Will the player prioritize space over comfort, spend valuable cash educating prisoners, or impose the death penalty? Each of these decisions will affect how you build your prison and ultimately, what kind of Architect you become. The overlying theme is Punishment vs Rehabilitation with most of the decisions made by the player boiling down to these overarching concepts. Prison Architect, however, is able to make a subtle play to the deeper thinkers and moralists. Hidden beneath minimalist and cartoonish graphics lays a game rooted around warring philosophies and heavily weighted decisions. Sure, as with most games, it is easy enough to waltz through, content to play the system and build to win. This thought was foremost in my mind after only a few short minutes of playing. Prison Architect is not a game for children.

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