Prison Architect adds Death Row in latest update

Introversion has released the latest build of Prison Architect, adding Death Row to the list of the game’s features.

Alpha Build 31 sees the Uplink and Darwinia developer adding the ability to send prisoners to the electric chair. In order to unlock the ability to do so, you’ll need to hire a lawyer - who requires his own office - and who is also able to exploit legal loopholes.

Once a lawyer has been hired, you can build an execution facility and schedule executions.

Prisoners sentenced to death aren’t entirely without hope, however - they can launch an appeal. If successful, that prisoner could see their stay in prison downgraded to Maximum Security, or even see their names cleared and released back into public life. Death Row prisoners will arrive at your prison automatically upon building an execution facility, but Introversion says that their appearance will be rare - you won’t be able to send just anyone to the chair.

Elsewhere, Alpha Build 31 brings a few other changes. You can now build cells of any size, ignoring the legal minimum requirement. Prisoners still need a toilet and a bed, but if you find yourself running out of space (or if you just want to throw Human Rights by the wayside) you can keep them cooped up tighter than a chicken in a KFC-owned chicken farm.

A reception for your prison has also been added, replacing the existing Deliveries room and acting as a meet-and-greet center for newly arrived convicts. And, of course, there’s the usual batch of tweaks and bugfixes, as Introversion works hard to ensure that the game meets its official launch date - which the developer has promised will be sometime this year.

Prison Architect was one of the earliest examples of a successful video game crowdfunding campaign, but Introversion achieved its success without resorting to perennial favorite, Kickstarter. The developer launched the game in an early state back in September 2012, and has so far managed to raise over £11m from gamers.

Prior to the success of Prison Architect, the developer had been considering shutting up shop entirely, after difficulties with the Xbox 360 version of Darwinia and Microsoft led to disillusionment with console publishing, and after they failed to turn the long-in-gestation title Subversion into a game they were satisfied with. Subversion was to be a top-down, squad-based heist simulator - not too dissimilar in principle from what we eventually got with Monaco from Pocketwatch Games.

Introversion has put out a video detailing the changes via Youtube, which you can watch below:

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Dale Morgan

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When Dale isn't crying over his keyboard about his never-ending workload, he's playing games - lots of them. Dale has a particular love for RPGs, Roguelikes and Metroidvanias.