Prison Architect is a strange title, generally speaking. It encourages players to design a prison that is not only as secure as humanly possible but also cares for the prisoners. Or rules with such an iron fist that prisoners are horrified of breaking rank in the first place. It’s a fun title that you can sink hundreds of hours into before you even begin to look at the Steam Workshop. Developed by Double Eleven, they recently sold the publishing rights to Paradox Interactive at the beginning of last year.
The upcoming DLC, Cleared For Transfer, is the first DLC to come from the studio after selling the rights to Paradox. It’s also going to be entirely free for owners of the title on Steam.
Cleared For Transfer does precisely what the title of the update conveys: you can now manage your prisoners and transfer them between various levels of security within your massive, sprawling prisons. You can set expectations for prisoners to move into various levels of security, from standardized behaviors that you opt for. You can entice your prisoners to act like adults by sprucing up the low-security wing cells, giving access to personal rooms with more amenities.
We are happy to announce “Cleared for Transfer”: the next free DLC for Prison Architect, available on May 14th! Join us live on https://t.co/8DIOzBHRXz Today at 17:00 CEST (8 AM PDT) to find out all about it! pic.twitter.com/W1Y118bWUP
— Prison Architect 2 – Pre-Order Now! (@PrisonArchitect) April 23, 2020
You can also offer more free time, more room for them to roam, and even opt to exclude them from prison lockdown and cell shake-downs. It all comes with a price, however; low-security means it’s easier for convicts to escape if they play the long game. Prisoners in various security levels are able to see the benefits of other levels.
The update is coming with a slew of other new items as well, giving us all a reason to come back to the cells of death and decay with additional yet separate update, called Bucket. New rooms that range from gymnasiums to simple cosmetics, and they will all come into play as you separate the good boys from the few rotten apples.
With special privileges that you can bestow to the reformed, to crafting unique security sectors that match your specific (if not entirely stringent) standards, and you will also be able to control each sector through a simple menu.
It all seems like a brilliant idea to scare some prisoners a bit straighter than they might prefer to fly, with unspeakably harsh penalties for starting a fight of riot, and unmitigated freedom for those that save (or even make) you money.
