![]() The clever campaign mode introduces the mechanics of the game by tasking you with building the execution chamber for Edward Romsey, an otherwise ordinary man who committed a double murder in a moment of passion.Īs the campaign unfolds, the complex circumstances of his murders are revealed and the character is given depth, but far too late for poor Ed, who paid the piper in your first mission. Available as a pre-release alpha on Introversion's site and subsequently in early access on Steam since 2013, the game finally emerged as a full release last month in a slick, coherent package. Like creating a functioning city in SimCity, or building thrilling roller coasters in Roller Coaster Tycoon, Prison Architect is a strategy "builder" game based on the interplay of systems. That said, Prison Architect doesn't forget it's a game above all else, and that's how it sucks you into its subtle, slow-burn criticism. After all, the game's "victory" state is to sell your prison so that you can start the next one with a bigger capital investment. These companies would be considered definite "winners" in the logic of Prison Architect, which quickly strips the player of compassion and replaces it with a profit-driven mindset. The two market leaders in this regard are The GEO Group, and the Corrections Corporation of America - they posted $1.69 billion and $1.65 billion, respectively, in total revenues for 2014, of which they pocketed $471.7 million and $225 million in net operating income. This is America, and prisons are for profit: In 2010, total government spending on corrections was pegged at around $80 billion, a hefty slice of which goes to private prisons. If you're looking to build a prison dedicated to rehabilitation, go play some kind of Norwegian prison simulator. And, I suspect, that's exactly what Prison Architect, a PC strategy game from Introversion Software, wanted me to feel. I need to be focused on selling my prison for profit, not getting bogged down in frivolous niceties. It's big business and I'm its architect, and I'm losing because I took my eye off the prize. Then it dawned on me: This isn't a resort this is a prison. I've stripped this little avatar of his dignity. And now he has no choice but to to use an open-air toilet in the center of a holding cell because I'm too cheap to build walls around it. Look, there's Andrew Brown, in for 23 years for arson. But then I ended up blowing the upfront from my grants on all that square footage – plus, I needed guards, a warden then, when the money started to tighten, an accountant to find tax loopholes – and the next thing I knew I was in the red. ![]() This was going to be a decent prison a social service. There was going to be a big yard, with a pool table and TVs. I was going to double the minimum size of cells. I was going to create a spacious, roomy penitentiary. I started off with altruistic intentions.
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