Prison Architect 2 – A building sim that forgot its roots (Preview)

Following the success of the simulation game Prison Architect almost 10 years ago, the folks at Double Eleven and Paradox Interactive have come together once more 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 whether it's right for you.

A 3D prison for you to build and manage

You may be aware Prison Architect 2 was delayed twice—the first time it moved from March 2024 release to May, and now finally, September. We are expecting to see the game on September 3, 2024; a decision that the Paradox Interactive team says was to optimize the game better.

There are so many aspects to this game that it's a little overwhelming. Beyond the construction aspect, you also need to keep an eye on the needs of your prisoners, hire staff, and activate upgrades for your prison on a chart that looks very similar to a skill tree. For someone who hasn't played Prison Architect 2, the basics of the game may take a while to pick up on, but that isn't the only reason that a player may struggle with Prison Architect 2 at first.

First impressions of Prison Architect 2

I won't say that I enjoyed my first interaction with this game. The tutorial is unnecessarily confusing and the construction mechanics of the game aren't very intuitive. This isn't my first rodeo with a simulation game, but it's definitely the first time I've had to walk away from a new game and come back before trying again. I felt like the tutorial needed a tutorial, which is just... odd.

I actually had to restart the tutorial because I messed the first build tutorial up so badly that I felt like there was no saving it and ended up having an extra-thick prison cell wall with an alert essentially telling me that my cell wasn't completed. This wasn't the first time I'd make this mistake. In fact, I'd somehow do even worse during the first campaign by creating one single cell out of ten that wasn't indoors with the rest of the cells. It took me a good hour to fix this mistake and figure out what I did wrong.

The frustration was real and I was struggling to enjoy the game. I'm a huge fan of management games; I grew up on Rollercoaster Tycoon and The Sims, so these mechanics weren't new to me, but they just didn't work the way I thought they would.

Building my way up to managing in Prison Architect 2

Once I realized what I'd done wrong and corrected my errors by demolishing that entire cell block and rebuilding the walls, I felt like I was playing the game instead of the other way around. The issue was that I'd build a wall line instead of a square, and the game didn't see it as a complete room, despite the walls all being attached to each other.

Next, I took on the challenge of adding plumbing, which took me significantly less time to understand. As long as all of the piping is in the blue zone, you're good and you can move on. It doesn't matter how pretty it is when you're learning; electricity works the same way.

Complete all of the Prison Architect 2 campaign scenarios first

Before you try sandbox mode or start trying to mod your game, I highly recommend completing the first few campaign scenarios to understand how the different parts of the game work. This simulation game is difficult to jump straight into, but the available missions on the campaign map will help any player get to grips with the various features. You'll have a functioning prison in no time, turning this huge game into one of the best prison games available.

Different ways to play Prison Architect 2

Apart from the career mode, which allows you to play the manager of a prison company, there are several other ways to play Prison Architect 2.

Sandbox mode lets you escape the goals that you need to meet to complete the campaigns in career mode. Instead of following the commands of your CEO, you can enjoy building your own prison without any constraints. Spend more time decorating, create a unique prison that improves the lives of your inmates, and put your interior design hat on as you make each area of the prison to your liking.

World of Wardens gives you access to other players' prisons around the world. Considering the designs we see from simulation gamers who play Animal Crossing, The Sims, and Minecraft, it's not farfetched to say that there will be plenty of great prisons to see shortly after the game is released on September 3.

Finally, there's a modding option. Although many games can be modded, it's unusual to see a modding option on the main menu of the game. It looks like Double Eleven and Paradox Interactive want to encourage modding for Prision Architect 2, which could lead to some humorous results later down the line. There is certainly a huge range of Sims 4 mods that players are enjoying; to see similar for this game would be a treat.

Remember the goal of Prison Architect 2

Despite all of the construction mechanics in this game, the goal of Prison Architect 2 isn't to create a huge prison that looks pretty. One of your main priorities is the happiness and well-being of your prisoners, who you are housing in your prison for extra cash.

You need to be sure that you're meeting all of their needs as you add more rooms to your prisons. This will include having a recreational room, a canteen, a kitchen, and all of the other rooms available to you. You'll also need to look after your staff and have enough offices for all of them.

Once you've played a few of the campaign scenarios (the red icons on the map), try the mini-missions (the blue icons on the map). These give you a little more freedom while also dropping hints to help you create your prison.

What I'd like to see changed in Prison Architect 2

I'd love to see the team at Paradox reconsider having so many features in the game. It felt like I needed to earn every little thing I was doing, and I still stand by the tutorial needing to be better than it is.

The first couple of hours were me clicking around and not quite understanding what I was doing wrong. How is a cell with walls outside? I have no idea! I can't build a roof, which is the only thing that was stopping it from being considered 'inside' with the other cells. The construction mechanic needs to calm down a little. Building sims aren't supposed to feel like an impossible challenge; they're supposed to be fun.

I don't see the point of the Prisoner Needs, either. It didn't make an impact on my game at all (but it seems to be a big selling point of the game) and I didn't feel rushed to create anything. As a Rollercoaster Tycoon fan, I've seen what happens when you don't pay attention to the needs of your park attendees — maybe up the ante a little and make me feel like I'm under some kind of time limit?

The game seems to have forgotten what building management sims are supposed to be about — building. The roots of this game come directly from the success of Prison Architect, which was just a game about building a prison. None of this fancy 'Needs' stuff that seems to have come right out of The Sims. The game is trying to do too many things to compete with other building sims and it doesn't need to. The Bureaucracy skill tree, in particular, is just pointless busy work for players.

Criticism aside, the actual building aspect of the game is fun once you have everything unlocked. I'd even encourage more unlockables because the current set of items, wallpaper, and flooring options is fairly basic. By the time I finished this preview, I had a decent two-floor prison with a fenced yard and about 20 inmates. And none of the cells were 'outside.'

Looking for more Pro Game Guides simulation game content? Check out our guide on the 15 Best Simulation Games of 2023.