Skip to main content
Prison Simulator Game Cover

About Prison Simulator

Prison Simulator is a single player open world role playing shooter game with a comedy theme. It was developed by Baked Games and was released on November 4, 2021. It received neutral reviews from critics and positive reviews from players.

Prison Simulator is an opportunity to play the role of a prison guard! Will you survive your promotion, balancing on a thin line between the satisfaction of the prison management and aggressive and dangerous convicts?

Skip Games Like Prison Simulator

Games Like Prison Simulator

Looking for games like Prison Simulator? Here are top open world role playing shooter recommendations with a comedy focus, selected from player-similarity data — start with Prison Simulator Prologue, Drug Dealer Simulator or Contraband Police.

Prison Simulator Prologue Image
Games like Prison Simulator Prologue
Drug Dealer Simulator Image
Games like Drug Dealer Simulator
Contraband Police Image
Games like Contraband Police
Prison Architect Image
Games like Prison Architect
Thief Simulator Image
Games like Thief Simulator
The Escapists Image
Games like The Escapists
Thief Simulator 2 Image
Games like Thief Simulator 2
The Escapists 2 Image
Games like The Escapists 2
House Flipper Image
Games like House Flipper
Gas Station Simulator: Prologue - Early Days Image
Games like Gas Station Simulator: Prologue - Early Days
Skip User Reviews

Reviews

81%Audience ScoreBased on 770 reviews
story40 positive mentions
grinding13 negative mentions

  • Engaging gameplay with varied tasks and a compelling story mode that lasts around 10-15 hours.
  • Freedom to role-play as a good or corrupt guard, with a dynamic respect system affecting interactions with prisoners and staff.
  • Solid simulation experience featuring prisoner customization, mini-games, upgrades, and emergent chaotic events like riots.
  • Gameplay becomes repetitive and grindy after several hours, with limited post-story content leading to boredom.
  • Technical issues including bugs, glitches, occasional crashes, poor AI behavior, and lack of polish in animations and sound design.
  • Lack of immersive features such as meaningful prisoner interactions, limited prison areas, no multiplayer, and no voice acting in English.
  • story

    170 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    24% positive mentions, 71% neutral mentions, 5% negative mentions

    The game's story mode offers a basic but engaging narrative involving crime and corruption within the prison, providing some intrigue amid everyday tasks. However, many reviewers found the story short, linear, and padded with repetitive missions, leading to boredom once completed. While the inclusion of a story is appreciated in a simulator, players desire more depth, variety, and longer content to sustain interest beyond the main campaign.

    • “The story of the game begins with a murder in the prison, where you are tasked to find out who is the murderer. Upon following clues, you finally find him, but after some actions, you find yourself involved in a drug trafficking situation!”
    • “Including a story mode was a great addition as it gave direction and it was alright for a sim game.”
    • “The story is decent (if a little goofy).”
    • “The problem with Prison Simulator is that the story is way too short, you do the daily missions, which are repetitive, and even the random encounters are not really fun after two times, because it's always the same thing.”
    • “The story is very weak, you're stuck doing the same mundane tasks every day to the point where I can't even finish the story anymore.”
    • “The game feels like its story mode will last a while, then you realize they padded it out with repeating an activity over multiple days and when you hit the end of the story... it's a letdown.”
  • gameplay

    89 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    25% positive mentions, 62% neutral mentions, 13% negative mentions

    Gameplay in this prison simulator offers an engaging core loop centered on managing daily prison operations with a variety of tasks and customization options, providing a fun and somewhat addictive experience initially. However, it suffers from repetitive mechanics, lack of depth, and technical issues that limit long-term engagement and replayability. While some players appreciate its relaxed sandbox style and dark humor, others find the gameplay tedious and unvaried, recommending purchase mainly on sale.

    • “The core gameplay loop revolves around managing the daily operations of the prison, which includes performing searches, breaking up fights, and making sure your inmates are properly housed and fed.”
    • “Once you 'beat' the game, you get a gameplay loop where you can choose your activities for the day which is fun.”
    • “Prison Simulator delivers fun with easy control scheme, addictive game mechanics, a bunch load of statistics and character progression options and, of course, a chance to put everyone that you despise in your virtual jail, through the customization of the prisoners.”
    • “The idea of managing a prison, dealing with unruly inmates, and navigating the complex social dynamics between guards and prisoners sounds intriguing, but the game struggles with repetitive gameplay, lack of depth, and technical shortcomings that prevent it from being the immersive experience it could have been.”
    • “Only buy on sale and if you like silly games for occasional gameplay, would have to give this a thumbs down sadly, because of repetitive gameplay and always repeating missions it's just not worth it playing again after 10 hours.”
    • “After four years, this game is still barebones, lacking any meaningful updates, and filled with frustrating mechanics that make you question why you even bothered.”
  • graphics

    43 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    37% positive mentions, 56% neutral mentions, 7% negative mentions

    The graphics of the game are generally viewed as functional and decent, with some appreciating the level of detail and smooth performance even on low-end systems, while others criticize them as outdated or lackluster compared to modern standards. Overall, visuals are considered adequate for a simulation game, enhancing immersion without being spectacular, and most players focus more on gameplay and atmosphere than high-end graphics quality.

    • “The graphics are excellent at maximum and even at minimum it's very good, and the story is not bad at all. Of course, you have to be patient for some things, because it's a simulator.”
    • “The graphics are surprisingly good and the gameplay is intense.”
    • “The graphics and NPCs in the game are well done, but I wish that it had controller (gamepad) support.”
    • “Good game, kind of bad graphics and some mechanics are ass.”
    • “- Hideous decades-old graphics.”
    • “The graphics are rough, the AI is weak, and the playability is only two hours.”
  • humor

    24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    Prison Simulator blends dark and absurd humor with routine-based management, delivering many funny moments through quirky inmate characters and amusing scenarios. While its comedic potential isn't always fully realized, players appreciate its lighthearted tone and entertaining, humorous interactions amidst the chaos of prison life. Overall, the humor adds charm and accessibility to the simulator experience.

    • “In the end, Prison Simulator succeeds as a light, humorous, and accessible take on correctional facility management.”
    • “With its unique blend of intense management and hilarious scenarios, Prison Simulator delivers endless entertainment.”
    • “Also, the descriptions of the prisoners' history and personalities are hilarious.”
  • grinding

    19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    16% positive mentions, 16% neutral mentions, 68% negative mentions

    Grinding in the game is frequently described as tedious, repetitive, and somewhat excessive, often requiring significant time investment or additional tools like macros. While some players appreciate the detailed simulation aspects and continue playing despite the grind, others find it monotonous and lacking in satisfying progression. Overall, grinding may challenge patience but can be rewarding for those invested in the gameplay loop.

    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
    • “Though I have not completed the main story yet, I will say there is a nice mesh of gameplay mechanics and attention to detail you'd get with a simulator style game but also isn't tedious or super serious about the way it is presented to the player.”
    • “A bit grindy sometimes.”
    • “You'll need a second life, maybe some macros, and a will to live for grinding.”
    • “So grindy, boring, repetitive and unperformant... respect system sucks, everything sucks.”
    • “My biggest complaint about the game right now is just that a lot of the gameplay is unnecessarily tedious.”
  • replayability

    12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    33% positive mentions, 42% neutral mentions, 25% negative mentions

    Replayability opinions are mixed, with some praising the game as almost infinitely replayable due to sandbox role-play and varied strategies, while others find it limited after exploring main paths or note underutilized game areas. Overall, many players appreciate the thoughtful mechanics and multiple approaches, though some feel replay value diminishes after the first playthrough.

    • “✅ Infinitely replayable (or almost).”
    • “☑️ Infinitely replayable.”
    • “The replay value would probably be in seeing how the prison would run by intentionally keeping the respect levels low.”
    • “5/10 – wasted potential with limited replayability”
    • “Once you’ve seen the core loops and explored both the lawful and corrupt paths, replayability depends largely on your personal appetite for sandbox role-play rather than evolving mechanics.”
    • “Fun for at least one play through but no real replay value.”
  • music

    12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    25% positive mentions, 50% neutral mentions, 25% negative mentions

    The music in the game is generally considered repetitive and unremarkable, with some users finding it adds a subtle ambiance but is not a standout feature. Others find it annoying or merely filler noise, indicating an overall mediocre audio experience.

    • “Nice music and solid sound design”
    • “The music & soundtrack adds a nice little touch to the ambiance but it's not a big deal in the game.”
    • “Sound and music is ok.”
    • “Voices and game music are annoying as hell.”
    • “Just filling noises, no music.”
    • “Repetition, repetitive music.”
  • stability

    11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The game's stability is mixed, with many users reporting frequent bugs and glitches that sometimes hinder gameplay, though some find it mostly playable and enjoyable despite these issues. While the game can be frustrating due to unpolished mechanics and occasional game-breaking bugs, others note that it runs smoothly with minimal problems. Overall, stability is a significant concern, but ongoing updates may improve the experience.

    • “The game is a buggy, broken mess.”
    • “Really, really buggy.”
    • “Sure it's fun and mildly buggy except when it's not and support or devs don't want to help you.”
  • optimization

    10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    30% positive mentions, 40% neutral mentions, 30% negative mentions

    Optimization reviews are mixed, with some users experiencing poor performance and lost save issues, while others report smooth gameplay even on low-spec computers. The game runs adequately but may benefit from further optimization updates to enhance stability and performance consistency.

    • “The game is optimized and can be run on low-spec computers as well. The graphics look cool but nothing spectacular, and attention to detail is included in some parts of the prison, for example, as time goes on some prisoners write or put things on their cell.”
    • “I highly recommend this game, it's really fun to play and just to be bossing people around. The game overall is working very well for me with no performance issues at all, nor did I experience any bugs. The story is also quite fun.”
    • “Game runs smoothly, nothing mind-blowing graphically but noticed little in the way of glitches or bugs so far.”
    • “Horrible performance.”
    • “Although a little badly optimized, it's still very fun to play.”
    • “Personally, I am going to wait for more optimizations before going deeper in the game or maybe wait until I get a newer PC (I am over the spec requirements but I think they might be too conservative).”
  • atmosphere

    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    40% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 60% negative mentions

    The atmosphere evokes a grim and oppressive prison setting through its art direction and moral gameplay depth, though some critics find the environments lacking in detail, with blocky architecture and repetitive textures diminishing the sense of a truly immersive, lived-in prison. Overall, the concept is strong, but execution feels modest and unfinished to some players.

    • “Great concept and atmosphere.”
    • “This moral flexibility gives the simulation an unexpected layer of role-playing depth, allowing the player to shape the prison’s atmosphere, inmate dynamics, and their own reputation.”
    • “The environments, while serviceable, lack the detail and atmosphere needed to make the prison feel like a lived-in, oppressive place.”
    • “I'm hoping the game is still in development and you're not planning on just releasing patches because the theme and atmosphere of working in a prison isn't there at all even if the rest of the features were put aside.”
    • “The blocky architecture, repetitive textures, and stiff character animations evoke a modest budget, yet the art direction succeeds in establishing a grimy, oppressive atmosphere.”
  • monetization

    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    20% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 80% negative mentions

    Users predominantly criticize the game's monetization as a poorly executed "cash grab" DLC and asset-flip, though one positive note is the absence of microtransactions.

    • “I'll end on one huge positive: no microtransactions!”
    • “Maybe, instead of making a cash grab DLC, you could at least try to improve your game.”
    • “"Cash grab" approach to so-called DLC.”
    • “Out of the handful of comments here (excluding the devs’ replies), nearly all express dissatisfaction with what is essentially a poorly executed cash grab disguised as DLC.”
  • character development

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 100% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The character development received criticism for being limited to superficial design changes, with no meaningful impact on the core gameplay or deeper character progression.

  • emotional

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    Users express that the game evokes strong emotional engagement, often drawing them deeply into its narrative or experience as an alternative to real-life activities.

Skip Critic Reviews

Critic Reviews

57%Critics’ scoreBased on 2 critic reviews
Skip Game Offers

Buy Prison Simulator

Some of these are affiliate links — if you buy through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Play Times

7h Median play time
7h Average play time
4-11h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 7 analyzed playthroughs
Skip Videos

Videos

Skip FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Prison Simulator is a open world role playing shooter game with comedy theme. Common tags for Prison Simulator include first-person, indie, trading, inventory management, combat and others.

Prison Simulator is available on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and others.

On average players spend around 7 hours playing Prison Simulator.

Prison Simulator was released on November 4, 2021.

Prison Simulator was developed by Baked Games.

Prison Simulator has received positive reviews from players. Most players liked Prison Simulator for its story but disliked it for its grinding.

Prison Simulator is a single player game.

Similar games include Prison Simulator Prologue, Drug Dealer Simulator, Contraband Police, Prison Architect, Thief Simulator and others.