Prison Architect review – once you're in, you can't get out

How difficult could it be to build a jail and keep everyone inside? With this impressively detailed simulation, you're about to find out

In September 2012, the small British games studio Introversion Software made a vital decision. It would initially release its latest project, Prison Architect, not as a complete product, but as an unfinished "alpha" allowing early purchasers to give feedback on how the game should be developed.

This "early access" model of game development, popularised by the massively successful Minecraft, can be very effective, lessening the risk for the game's publishers of producing a flop while allowing keen players to feel part of the project. But it can also lead to controversies - studios often promise much to their early community then spectacularly under deliver.