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Prison Architect

Game overview

Prison Architect

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

Simulation Building Sandbox Base-Building Colony Sim
Last tracked players
732
All-time peak
1,388
24-hour change
Unavailable
Steam reviews
89% positive
59,928 reviews · via SteamSpy

Delayed observation · last tracked . Values marked unavailable are not estimated.

About this game Read the full description


Welcome Wardens!

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

Key Features:

Customized Confinement

Allocate resources to optimize your compound, but don’t restrict the flow of the crowd lest you encounter a flood, fire, fight, or full-blown riot.

Invest and Innovate

Tap federal money with grant applications & direct your funds to combat disease, gang activity, litigation, and more!

Management and Muscle

Ensure your prison is *mostly* ethical and safe with top-notch staff including armed guards, psychologists, doctors, lawyers and snitches.


Detention by Design

Each prisoner’s criminal history requires custom treatment programs, labor schedules, and reform workshops.

Lockdown Showdown

Attempt a high-stakes escape of your own supermax prison in Escape Mode, or try Online mode to test one of 12,000 player-created prisons. Expand your empire limitlessly in Sandbox mode.


Player activity

Concurrent players over the last 48 hours.

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Price history

Last 30 days ? prices in the selected region?s currency.

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🚀 New Bundle: The Last Starship x Prison Architect 🚀 Introducing the Prison Architect Sweater! Total Lockdown Sale
System requirements Windows · macOS · Linux

Windows

Minimum

Minimum:
  • 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

Minimum

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

Linux

Minimum

  • 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
Game details Languages, features & support
Publisher
Paradox Interactive
USK rating
12
Brazilian rating
14
Steam Germany rating
16
Content warning
Moderate Violence Sexual Nudity Strong Language
Achievements
18
Metacritic
83
Features
Single-player, Steam Achievements, Steam Trading Cards, Steam Workshop, Steam Cloud, Includes level editor, Family Sharing
Languages
English, French, Italian, German, Korean, Polish, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish - Spain, Dutch, Japanese, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, Turkish
Compatibility & accessibility Steam Deck, controllers & access features

Can I Play This?

Steam declarations and Valve's Steam Deck compatibility result. Missing data is shown as unknown, never unsupported.

Sources fresh
Native Steam builds
Windows: unknown
macOS: unknown
Linux: unknown
Steam Deck
playable
Valve compatibility test
The on-screen keyboard may need to be opened manually.
Input
Controller support: unknown
Structured language support (15)
LanguageInterfaceFull audioSubtitles
EnglishYesNoNo
FrenchYesNoNo
ItalianYesNoNo
GermanYesNoNo
KoreanYesNoNo
PolishYesNoNo
Portuguese - BrazilYesNoNo
RussianYesNoNo
Simplified ChineseYesNoNo
Spanish - SpainYesNoNo
DutchYesNoNo
JapaneseYesNoNo
SwedishYesNoNo
Traditional ChineseYesNoNo
TurkishYesNoNo

Third-party requirements shown by Steam

Requires agreement to a 3rd-party EULA Prison Architect EULA
Steam store page fresh · checked 2026-11-02 PCGamingWiki technical notes External link only; SteamIQHQ does not ingest PCGamingWiki content.
More analysis Activity patterns, updates & developer tools

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Game Insights

Buy Verdict

Wait — $29.99.

Wait for upcoming sale in ~12 days for potentially better pricing.

▬ ~12 days until next sale

Value Score

Fair Value — 100th percentile.

Price-to-player ratio ranks in the 100th percentile. Priced as Premium at $29.99.

▲ Premium pricing tier

Genre Benchmarks

Player Count Top 0%
Value Ratio Top 0%

Activity Heatmap

UTC+0 (Your Timezone)
1.1K
Peak Activity
922
Avg Activity
32
Active Hours
20%
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Developer Analytics

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Prison Architect worth buying right now?
Wait — $29.99. Wait for upcoming sale in ~12 days for potentially better pricing.
When does Prison Architect go on sale?
Wait for upcoming sale in ~12 days for potentially better pricing.
Is Prison Architect free to play?
Prison Architect costs $29.99 on Steam.
What genre is Prison Architect?
Prison Architect is a Indie, Simulation, Strategy game.
Who developed Prison Architect?
Prison Architect was developed by Introversion Software and published by Paradox Interactive.
What platforms does Prison Architect support?
Available on Steam for Windows, macOS, Linux.

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