14/06/22 – Edit: The Gangs of Prison Architect are available now. Go check em out.
“Gangs introduces gang warfare to Prison Architect. It may sound complicated, but in reality, this expansion keeps things fresh and interesting for new players to those who have completed tons of playthroughs,” says Gaz Wright, Game Director on Prison Architect at Double Eleven. “The reformation options were implemented to give an authentic way for wardens to manage their population. Gangs expands Prison Architect’s management gameplay, and we’re confident that players will enjoy experimenting with these new mechanics.”
Original article as follows:
It’s seventh time unlucky for the wardens of Prison Architect as Paradox Interactive and Double Eleven announce the next expansion for the game – Gangs.
Adding in all-out gang warfare, Prison Architect: Gangs throws in another level of chaos to the popular prison management simulator. This time around you’ll be tasked with bringing order to your correctional facility, attempting to manage its Boiling Point, reforming gang members and protecting inmates and staff.
Prison Architect: Gangs will be released soon on the usual formats – Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch and PC, with suggested retail price of 5.99 USD/ 4.79 GBP/ 5.99EUR in place.
When it does drop, you’ll be getting the chance to show the gangs who is boss by enforcing a strict code of conduct among your inmates, attempting to turn those hardened gang members into valuable members of society. The thing is, these gangs will form and grow throughout your facility, with each group having its own personality and reputation. This means that inmates with certain traits will naturally be attracted to specific gangs and you’ll need to keep on top of it all, taking stock of your prison population by measuring your prison’s “temperature”, which will get hotter and more dangerous, as the gangs grow and flex their muscle.
You’ll have all the tools you need at your disposal though and wardens can enact methods of inmate reform and release, utilising programs like Gang Rehabilitation in hope of slowing the spread of gang activity. There will also be state-of-the-art rooms available for architects, with options to install a tattoo removal centre or a regulated fight club for prisoners to get out their aggression.
But of course, there will be crooked guards found in your establishment and these guys may try to smuggle in contraband or accept bribes from gang leaders. You’ll need to weed out those during the hiring process and recruit investigators to identify guards who have become corrupt.
“Gangs introduces a whole slew of creative challenges for Wardens to overcome. While it sounds intimidating, the Gangs expansion keeps things fun and light-hearted for our players,” says Gaz Wright, Game Director on Prison Architect at Double Eleven. “We designed the reformation features to feel authentic while giving wardens clever options to handle gangs and increase their population’s happiness. Gangs expands Prison Architect’s management gameplay and adds enjoyable new mechanics, offering players a fuller and more fun gaming experience.“
Prison Architect: Gangs key features will include:
- Meet the gang: Gangs form and grow by gang members arriving by in-take or by recruitment. Each gang has its own personality and traits, and will naturally be drawn to recruiting prisoners with the same specific attributes.
- Boiling Point: Now you can measure your inmates and your prison’s “temperature”. As gangs grow and begin to flex their strength, the ‘danger temperature’ of your prison will rise. Thanks to the ‘Boiling point’ UI, you get a detailed overview of what’s affecting the life of your inmates, allowing you to act swiftly, keeping them happy, and preventing irrepressible riots.
- Reform and release: Gang members are now allowed to leave their crew, help them come clean by removing their tattoos and enrolling them in the Gang Rehabilitation Program.
- New rooms: Use the Tattoo Removal Room to remove gangs’ tattoos, or have gang members train in the Fight Club Room, turning their destructive energy into fighting in a controlled environment.
- Crooked guards: Gangs may coerce guards into smuggling contraband or accepting bribes. You can vet guards during the hiring process (Bureaucracy) as well as recruit C.I.s to identify guards that have turned.
But there’s more and launching alongside Gangs is Kite, a free update that is available to all players. This brings a variety of improvements to Prison Architect including, more wardens, guard dogs, room sizes, and much more. Kite will also introduce prison capacity options, allowing players to fill in specific levels of your facility, whilst standard improvements will also be made to the game’s menus and mechanics.
Keep an eye out for the Gangs of Prison Architect soon. But for now, get the squad together and watch the trailer below.
You can play Prison Architect on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S (Xbox Store link is here), PC, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch.
