Prison Architect is getting another free expansion in May

(Image credit: Paradox Interactive)

Prison Architect doesn't sound like much fun (to me, at least) but it's actually quite good—good enough that Chris selected it for his Personal Pick at the end of 2015. Despite its age, it's still being actively supported, too: Paradox Interactive picked it up in early 2019 and has released a couple of updates since then, The Clink and Psych Ward.

Today it announced that more is on the way next month. Cleared for Transfer will enable digital wardens to create custom security sectors within their prisons, grant special privileges to certain areas, and transfer prisoners between security sectors based on user-set requirements. There will also be new actions available including shakedowns, tunnel searches, and sector-based lockdowns, and prison customization options will be expanded with more rooms and objects to play with.

It may not be the most expansive update ever, but it's also free, which makes it kind of a no-brainer. Security and prisoner transfers is also relatively innocuous subject matter, which means Cleared for Transfer will hopefully avoid the misstep of the Psych Ward expansion, released in November 2019, which as we noted at the time introduced some potentially interesting management challenges but "leaves a great deal to be desired" in its representation of mental illness.

Prison Architect: Cleared for Transfer will be out on May 14. Paradox revealed more about the update earlier today on Twitch.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.