Prison Architect - The Teege Conducts An Indie Game Review

PRISON ARCHITECT

So, a game about designing a prison... is that remotely close to trying to bring up your childhood problems in a game? Why yes, more than likely. Should I review it...? Well, why the hell not?

So here I present to you The Teege's no-holds-barred review of the breakthrough indie game from Introversion about designing and managing prisons!

The game starts with a rather intriguing campaign -- be warned, mini spoilers may lie ahead.

In essence, you're running what seems to be a fairly successful prison. In the first level, the basics on how to operate the game are given, as well as a general outline of what's going on in the game's bigger picture.

From the off, Prison Architect doesn't pull punches. In one cell, there is a priest with an inmate, and immediately the game throws a massive curve-ball at your face -- like your mum with the sports at Christmas. You must set up the execution chamber for his death! Now I like a game that can throw a curve-ball, but killing a man from the get-go... okay, Introversion, I'll admit -- you had me hooked (not like I have an appetite for the killing style at all or anything).



The Teege? An appetite for killing? Lord have mercy, sir, one couldn't possibly comment. Appetite for pizza, well, that's another matter -- though I'll admit, if The Teege's appetite for pizza isn't satiated with expediency, his appetite for killing has been known to rise...

As you progress in Prison Architect, the animated story lends a lovely context to the game as a whole. I'd describe its style as Borderlands crossed over with the Telltale guys. The depth of the story for each character is rather mind-blowing. It's not just your average "Bob is the killer" -- we're talking the psychological reasoning behind why the 'Joe Bloggs' committed three counts of murder, and in gory detail.

Initially, the sandbox prison builder is a tad like trying to squeeze your nuts through a mangle, but once you begin the painful process, somewhere along the way you begin to enjoy it, until you realise you have gone and popped them both and must restart the sandbox, because your idea just got 10 times better!

 


Five years in the games reviewing business, and never before have I encountered that... particular aspect of anatomy utilised as a descriptor in conveying the foibles of digital domicile design.

So I may have lost a couple of evenings to sandbox mode, where I ended up downing half the prison and the guards all died during a riot but hey-ho... I have to say, it's well worth a buy if you want to immerse yourself in building the world's perfect prison.

The Teege's Rating : 3.5 out of 5 Stars.

Good start for this indie gem, but it definitely needs more campaign storylines.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/233450/

http://www.introversion.co.uk/prisonarchitect/#screenshots