Your dangerous population is also your biggest asset. However, if the idea of building a penal institution from the dirt up is a little too intimidating, you can also select Prison Warden mode instead and expand or maintain a pre-designed facility. You can set up education programs for your cons to keep them entertained, and state of the art canteens to fill them up with the latest in prison slop, but you’ll still need to oversee the need for treatment centres and parole hearings.

You’ll need to hire staff, and train them, and ensure they follow manually drawn guard routes to show your nefarious population who’s boss. This is a prison after all, and a correctional facility needs guards and trained staff to ensure those locked-up convicts don’t get any ideas above their station. Next, you’ll link it up to the water mains and an electrical grid. You’ll need to designate each room a specific role, then furnish it appropriately. Should you choose Prison Architect mode, you’ll need to build foundations, then erect walls to separate rooms or cells. But there’s more to this than just selecting a building type and plonking it down on a plot of land. And you’ve got the scope - and the budget - to pull it off. Heed our warning: this is no casual walk in the prison yard.Īs the warden of a privately-owned prison, it’s your job to run, maintain, expand and ‘control’ a prison of your very own making. It’s both a blessing and a curse for this impressive little indie, offering up a sublime and deeply empowering management experience, but one that requires every ounce of your attention.

Much like the PC original - which eventually exited Early Access in 2015 before making the jump to other consoles the year after - the Switch version of this prison simulation is a vast and often intimidating beast, especially if you’re new to this kind of game. Do you rule with an iron grip and risk mass riots, or do you pamper your prisoners with lavish affection? Whatever your management style, Prison Architect: Nintendo Switch Edition has every possible tool, resource and scenario you could possibly ask for.

But what about building and running your very own prison? Now that’s a whole other kettle of incarcerated fish. We’ve built hospitals, maintained zoos, tilled farmland and even built roller coasters that were definitely not safe for anyone to ride.

Video games have treated us to all manner of simulation jobs over the years.

Prison architect can't start programs