Prison Architect Now Has Multiplayer, Tell Your Guantanamates
Prison Architect has been officially released three years ago, yet the developers at Introversion Software keep updating it regularly. The latest update is a big one, as it adds multiplayer support to the prison building/management sim. As is customary, the devs have released an update video in which they show off and discuss the new mode. And sing bawdy prison Christmas songs.
The multiplayer is pretty much exactly the same as single player, only with more people. Every player in a game has access to all the tools, giving them the freedom to create, destroy and organize how they see fit.
It’s a simple affair – open up a menu, join an existing game or host a new one. There’s password protection, which allows for private games. The developers themselves mentioned that most people seem to be running private two-person games, which means it’s just folks playing with their frieds. However, there are public games as well, which allow up to eight strangers to play together.
Well, “together” might be a bit of a stretch, as there’s no way to communicate in the game at this point, but that just adds flavor. In the update video, they joined a random server only to find hundreds of prisoners stuffed in a single small room, and a giant cantina with pool tables and urinals next to them. Joining a game to just sit back and watch as you try to piece together what the hell is going on seems to be its own kind of fun here.
On the other hand, you could also set up a public game and sit back, waiting for people to come and ruin or enhance your little private gulag in creative ways. The sky’s the limit. Well, not for the prisoners, naturally.
