[DFOnline] Aaron Hernandez Simulator

The haggard prison warden raised his head as the guard approached his desk.

“Sir? We managed to find this outside the perimeter fence. It seems to have fallen out of his pocket. We’re…we’re still working on how he got the cell phone inside and then managed to escape.”

Prison Architect is a management simulation game in which you build and then run the day to day activities of Pacman Jones’ summer home. It had been in development as an Early Access title for years, but has now finally been released in its full glory. Don’t let the cartoony graphics and light interface fool you. This game is brutal. In my first game I only built a single perimeter fence. I kept wondering why some inmates would walk way over to a corner and hang out for a few seconds, then come back to the central yard. It was when the riot broke out and one gang started stabbing the shit out of another that I realized they were being tossed knives and shivs from over the fence.

I could point you at a couple different reviews, but the short of it is this: if you find management games with a kind of self driven, dynamic narrative fun, Prison Architect is fantastic. (And we know how I like similar games) I’ve been pretty thoroughly addicted to it since I bought it a few days ago. Each prisoner has their own characteristics that affect how violent, obedient, and tough they are, as well as specific needs. It’s up to you if you grant them that.

You never forget your first time ordering a guard to brutally beat a prisoner that has accosted a cook, then throw him in solitary. Or when somebody goes all Ray Lewis on another prisoner in the showers. There’s equal fun in running a dark, soul crushing prison of chaos, and an efficient machine of rehabilitation. There’s no real wrong way to play.

Anyway, it’s worth checking out, and is 33% off at the moment.

So DFO, what’s getting your drive hard this weekend?