Prison Architect on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information

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Only the world’s most ruthless Warden can contain the world’s most ruthless inmates. Design and develop your personalized penitentiary in Prison Architect.

Prison Architect is a simulation, building and sandbox game developed by Double Eleven and Introversion Software and published by Paradox Interactive.
Released on October 06th 2015 is available on Windows, MacOS and Linux in 15 languages: English, French, Italian, German, Korean, Polish, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish - Spain, Dutch, Japanese, Swedish, Traditional Chinese and Turkish.

It has received 72,330 reviews of which 64,439 were positive and 7,891 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.8 out of 10. 😎

The game is currently priced at 24.99€ on Steam, but you can find it for less on Gamivo.

The Steam community has classified Prison Architect into these genres:

Simulation Building Sandbox Base-Building Colony Sim Strategy Management City Builder 2D Top-Down Multiplayer Resource Management Economy Singleplayer Moddable Capitalism Funny Replay Value Indie Casual

Media & Screenshots

Get an in-depth look at Prison Architect through various videos and screenshots.

System requirements

These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.

Windows

OS:Windows® 10 Home 64 Bit
Processor:Intel Core2 Duo 2.4Ghz or Higher / AMD 3Ghz or Higher
Memory:6 GB RAM
Graphics:Nvidia 8600 / Radeon equivalent (2009 era)
Hard Drive:400 MB HD space

MacOS

Processor:2009 era Macbook Pro, Core2 Duo processor
Memory:6 GB RAM
Hard Drive:400 MB HD space

Linux

OS: Ubuntu 18 or later
Processor: Intel Core2 Duo 2.4Ghz or Higher / AMD 3Ghz or Higher
Memory: 6 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia 8600 / Radeon equivalent (2009 era)
Hard Drive: 500 MB HD space

User reviews & Ratings

Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.

Dec. 2025

the real reason to play this game is to follow around the one motherfucker who keeps stealing 10 sets of keys a day and tries to break out twice a day, yet fails every single time because he's a little twink who can't take a taser to the face

Nov. 2025

Sometimes i run norwegian prisions and sometimes i run concentration camps. Having fun no matter what and at -2093029 money no matter what

Sept. 2025

Prison Architect isn’t just a game. It’s a psychological test in slow motion, where the only correct answer is: “More solitary cells.” You start with good intentions. A small holding cell. A humble kitchen. Maybe a yard. You’re thinking rehabilitation. Dignity. Maybe even a library. Then someone stabs a guard with a fork. A fire breaks out in the showers. Two inmates overdose during free time. And suddenly… you’re installing sniper towers, armed patrols, and remote-controlled doors with kill switches. “This isn’t a prison anymore,” you whisper. “It’s a machine.” And you love it. You micromanage every meal. You schedule 30 minutes of sleep and 20 hours of forced labor. You build an execution chamber — just in case. You give them books, then remove the chairs so they can read standing up. Riots break out? Good. Let them burn. You’ll rebuild. Stronger. With more dogs. Gameplay? Deep. Systems? Interconnected. Morality? Optional. You can be a benevolent warden. Or a madman with a CCTV obsession and 80 % of the budget going to tasers. The game doesn’t judge. But you will. Oh yes. You will. 10/10 — Rehabilitation is for cowards. Let them try to escape. My walls are two tiles thick.

July 2025

"Missed potential" really is the memo here regarding most, if not all of Paradox's implementations to the game, and it's quite a shame. A lot of their additions are, frankly, kind of underbaked, if not downright buggy (highly suggest grabbing a bugfixes mod off the workshop to mitigate a lot of them). Maybe it's not exactly surprising... still, by now, the game is cheap enough on sale to be good fun despite these problems; it's one of the standouts in the building/management genre for being one of, if not THE only game to focus on constructing and operating a prison that can hold hundreds of inmates across wildly different security levels. Get it. Play with most of the DLC disabled to start, don't touch them until you're confident in the base game; there's a lot to dig into there already.

July 2025

I have driven more than 90% of my prisoners to be criminally insane. This extends their sentences and increases their value. I am rich. 💰 💰 💰 💰 💰

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Frequently Asked Questions

Prison Architect is currently priced at 24.99€ on Steam.

Prison Architect is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 24.99€ on Steam.

Prison Architect received 64,439 positive votes out of a total of 72,330 achieving a rating of 8.77.

😎

Prison Architect was developed by Double Eleven and Introversion Software and published by Paradox Interactive.

Prison Architect is playable and fully supported on Windows.

Prison Architect is playable and fully supported on MacOS.

Prison Architect is playable and fully supported on Linux.

Prison Architect is a single-player game.

There are 12 DLCs available for Prison Architect. Explore additional content available for Prison Architect on Steam.

Prison Architect is fully integrated with Steam Workshop. Visit Steam Workshop.

Prison Architect does not support Steam Remote Play.

Prison Architect is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.

You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Prison Architect.

Data sources

The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.

Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.

Last Updates

Steam data	16 January 2026 16:20
SteamSpy data	26 January 2026 02:59
Steam price	28 January 2026 20:44
Steam reviews	27 January 2026 14:03

If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Prison Architect, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.

SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Prison Architect
SteamCharts - Analysis of Prison Architect concurrent players on Steam
ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Prison Architect compatibility