After the success of the simulation game Prison Architect almost 10 years ago, the people at Double Eleven and Paradox Interactive have come together again to create a sequel. Ahead of Prison Architect 2's release in September 2024, enjoy our preview impressions of the game to help you decide if it's for you.
Basics of Building and Managing Your Prison in Prison Architect 2 | Prison Architect Academy
You may know that Prison Architect 2 has been delayed twice: the first time, the release was moved from March 2024 to May, and now finally to September. We expect to see the game on September 3, 2024; a decision that, according to the Paradox Interactive team, was intended to better optimize the game.
There are so many aspects to this game that it can be a bit overwhelming. On top of the building aspect, you also have to keep an eye on the needs of your prisoners, hire staff, and activate upgrades for your prison on a graph that looks a lot like a skill tree. For someone new to Prison Architect 2, it can take a while to get the hang of the basics, but that’s not the only reason why a player might struggle with Prison Architect 2 at first.
I won’t say I enjoyed my first interaction with this game. The tutorial is unnecessarily confusing, and the game’s construction mechanics are not very intuitive. This isn’t my first rodeo with a simulation game, but it’s definitely the first time I’ve had to quit a new game and come back before I could try it again. I felt like the tutorial needed a tutorial, which is just… weird.
