Prison Tycoon 3™: Lockdown

straight up trash

D2GUEULASSE

27.3 hours. I started the game. Played for about 10-15 minutes, decided I didn't like the game and exited... Or so I thought. I shut the game down but it still ran for over 24 hours in the background. I didn't even notice until I wanted to play another game and it said I had another application running. Waste of time and money. Unfortunate, I used to like these games.

worst game ever, barely playable, should not be sold.

its a good game, it just takes time, i recomend walls and starting small, dont try to max out prison start with 20 beds

I bought this game years ago, and I want my $10 back.

Broken.

So I bought Prison Tycoon 3: Lockdown on sale, thinking, “Oh cool, a prison management game. That could be interesting!” You know, get into the ethics of incarceration, run a humane facility, rehabilitate inmates— LOL. NOPE. What I got instead was Windows 98 vibes, a soundtrack made by someone’s cousin on a Casio keyboard, and gameplay that feels like trying to build IKEA furniture blindfolded during a house fire. First off, the interface? It looks like someone duct-taped Excel to MS Paint and yelled, “Ship it!” Buttons don’t do what you think. Menus close at random. I tried to rotate a cell block and accidentally erased half the cafeteria. Now 30 angry pixelated inmates are rioting over invisible food. And don’t get me started on the guards. These people are either narcoleptic or completely uninterested in preventing crime. I watched an inmate dig a tunnel, throw a shiv party, and start a book club on anarchism — all while my guard stood six feet away, staring at a wall like it owed him money. Prisoners? Half of them teleport through walls. The other half spontaneously combust with rage if the recreation yard doesn’t have enough benches. I tried to build a library to encourage rehabilitation. Guess what? They set it on fire. And then sued me for not putting enough toilets in the solitary cells. Meanwhile, your finances spiral into the void. Everything costs $10,000. You get paid $3. Rent is $1,000 a day. Are these prisons located in Manhattan?? Why does a bunk bed cost more than my college tuition? By the second hour, I had a prison with 97% unrest, 3 working toilets, 1 guard in a coma, and 12 fires — none of which I started. At one point, the power shut off, and instead of fixing it, the game told me “Morale is low.” Yeah, no kidding, Brenda — we haven’t had lights for 4 days. Also, “Lockdown”? More like Lock-joke. There’s no real simulation of anything. You don’t manage prisoners — you babysit angry AI gremlins in matching jumpsuits while the game crashes like it’s trying to escape with them. Final Rating: 💀 Sanity: 0/10 🚽 Working toilets: 1/10 🔥 Fire management: I am the fire now 👮‍♂️ Guard performance: Currently staring into the void 💸 Value for money: I paid $2 and still feel robbed Prison Tycoon 3: Lockdown isn’t a game — it’s a cry for help in software form. If you want to feel like a truly powerless warden presiding over a clown-college hellhole with collapsing walls and broken dreams, congratulations — your masterpiece awaits. Otherwise? Run. Run far. And remember: prison is temporary, but this game’s trauma is forever.

Unfortunately, this game lacks mod support, so I'm sincerely hoping it gets a remaster or reboot with bug fixes, mod support, and a much better score. On paper, the game is actually very good. It teaches you that being a prison warden is no easy job, and can actually be quite boring since waiting for the day to end is like watching paint dry. If anything, it is really meant more to be challenging to see if you can last more than ten years before going bankrupt. Adding new game mechanics like the ability to suppress a fleeing or violent prisoner, training guard dogs, and confining your prisoners to their cells was a decent change, however, the game appears to be somewhat rushed and unfinished. The area outside the dog kennel, presumably designed either for breeding or training, is inaccessible. Work details such as farming are unusable, since the farm is outside your prison. Hiring accountants lowers your land rental fee, and after you pay off the loan, a new part of the prison is available. However, I have yet to actually lower it enough so the farm (wheat fields) can be accessed. It seems to be more for decoration. That said, it is still a good game if you are patient, have nothing better to do, and don't mind a challenge. I am going to remind you that this concept does not apply to everyone, so if you fail to meet any of the criteria listed previously, this game may not be your cup of tea.

I thought this would be a fun game and it is not. You run out of money immediatlly, the prisoners escape because you cannot lock the gates or restrict how can go through them, when there is a fight the guards cannot or will not go to the troubled situation. If I knew how to request my money back I would.