What better barrier than the sea? Arriving next month, Prison Architect‘s next expansion is Island Bound, letting you trade out those impractical land-loving fortresses for the sheer simplicity of a big scary rock in the sea. Forget barbed wires and concrete walls, the roaring abyss will prevent even the most rebellious inmate from attempting escape – at least, not until they discover boats.

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Management games have been enjoying a bit of a renaissance in recent years, meaning there are now even better, more efficient ways to direct trains, corral visitors, lay down conveyor belts and profit, profit, profit than ever before. To that end, we’ve put on our builder hats and constructed a list of the best management games you can play on PC in 2020. Whether you want to be a budding city planner, wannabe farm herd or survive against the elements, there’s a game for you below.

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After the blurry blue delights of last month’s Sonic fest, those bundle fiends over at Humble have put together a brand new pack of game goodies for December, this time focusing on Paradox’s best management games to celebrate the early access launch of Surviving the Aftermath. Ironically, Surviving the Aftermath did not, in fact, survive the cut to get into the bundle itself, but Humble’s Paradox management bundle does include the most excellent Surviving Mars, Cities: Skylines and Prison Architect and all their various expansions for under $20.

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Prison Architect will bring an expanded version of its Psych Ward update to PC on November 21st as DLC, following its release on consoles back in distant 2017. Produced by UK studio Double Eleven, who have been working on the game since Paradox bought it from creators Introversion in January, it’s the first proper paid DLC for Prison Architect on PC. What’s more, it’s going to be banged up good and proper with a free content update (whose details are not yet clear), and there’s another expansion on the way in 2020.

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A lot of genres have had a resurgence over the past five years, but none more successfully than management games. There are now more ways to direct trains, lay conveyor belts, coral visitors and profit, profit, profit than you could play in a lifetime. The question is: which of these famous timesinks is worth your time, and which of the whipsmart new hires can compete against the hagard, seen-it-all old dogs?

That’s what this list is for. These are 20 best management games you can play right now on PC, in no particular order, and updated for 2019.

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Paradox Interactive have bought Prison Architect off creators Introversion Software, nabbing the rights and assets while muttering about potentially making new ‘Architect’ games of their own. Introversion say that after over eight years of development, “we’ve taken Prison Architect just about as far as we can” and they’re doing something new. If Paradox, the publishers behind strategy games and build ’em ups from Crusader Kings II to Cities: Skylines, want to give ’em moolah in exchange for something they’re about done with, hey, bonus.

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Prison Architect has a little present for everyone before Introversion Software go into holiday lockdown. First debuted in September as a special opt-in build, the carceral management sim’s online multiplayer mode is now polished enough to be included in the game proper. Online mode is still considered ‘alpha’ and has some limitations, but they’ve otherwise got the core of the tiny-person punishment game working online. Probably best not to run an entirely public server – this one’s best with friends, for obvious reasons. Check out the developer announcement video below.

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As grim as its subject matter may be, Introversion’s carceral management sim Prison Architect has carved out an oddly social niche as a game to play while streaming and chatting with friends. Today, those building brutalist monuments to man’s inhumanity to man can finally share the experience with chums, thanks to a public alpha test for multiplayer.

Expect bugs and a few features locked away, but if you feel like sharing the warden’s hat with your pals, check out the patch notes here with info on how to join the alpha testers. You can also watch Introversion (awkwardly) demoing the new mode in the update video below.

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Base-building is de rigueur these days, what with all those survival games, Minecraft, Fallout 4 and now Fortnite, but before all that we had tiny top-down or isometric worlds in which we diligently built cities and dungeons and theme parks and rail networks. The central appeal of management games was and is that they give us an idealised sense of what it is like to create a game – to weave new worlds upon our screens, guided only by our imaginations, ingenuity and the limitations of the in-game taxation system. Magic, right there: the birth of your own universe.

For a while there, it looked as though the management flame was fading, choked by the low-grade tycoon games that littered supermarkets’ dusty games shelves. But this is The New Age Of PC Games, which means every near-abandoned idea of yesteryear has been revisited in thoughtful and ambitious new ways. Town sims and theme sims are now healthier and more vibrant than they’ve ever been, expanding. This round-up comprises the very best of the past and the very best of today: the twenty management games which are, by 2018 standards, most guaranteed to to consume your every waking thought.

These aren’t in any particular order, by-the-by: they are, simply, the 20 best management games. (more…)

Look, y’all know me. I’m your friend Brock. I love anything having to do with a cult. Hell, I went out and found my own, once. And this week, I talked about cults and games YET AGAIN. So, I was a little surprised when an indie cult game snuck under my radar. It is named, pleasantly, Honey, I Joined A Cult. The game looks to be Prison Architect but for building and controlling a gaggle of beautiful dummies that want to worship whatever type of dumb God you want to make up. There’s also a bounty of funky 70s jams to keep the mood light as you fleece your flock.

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