Prison Architect
Image: Steam store (© respective owners)

How do players who really played Prison Architect rate it? TrueGG Rating 72.9%

Release date: Oct 6, 2015 Data as of 2026-10-19 View on Steam ↗

Players who really played rate it lower than Steam overall. Ratings tend to be steady from the first hours. Recent reviews are falling.

Good for

  • Players who like setting their own goals

Think twice if you are

  • Players bothered by bugs (reports of crashes and bugs)
  • Players wary of microtransactions and DLC
  • Players buying right now (recent ratings are falling)

A rule-based guide from review patterns (no AI). How

TrueGG RatingMethodology ↗
72.9%
▼ −16.0 pt
vs Steam overall

Positive among players with 20+ hours (last 180 days) · 767 reviews

TrueGG, all time
90.6%
Steam overall
88.9%
Japanese, all time
85.5%

Early wall

Reviews written under 2 hours: 5.0% of all reviews. Their positive share is 64.5%.

This is not a drop-off rate; it describes who wrote reviews. Refund guide: within 14 days of purchase and under 2 hours of play (Steam refund policy).

01 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Does the rating change the longer people play?

Used for TrueGG Rating (20h+)JapaneseRight: reviews
Positive share by playtimeRanges from 20 hours up are highlighted. Exact values are in the table below.0%25%50%75%100%0–1 h19%521–2 h26%342–5 h63%1175–10 h65%14010–20 h75%22620–50 h74%30250–100 h76%217100–200 h67%138200+ h70%110Positive share by playtime0–1 h5219%1–2 h3426%2–5 h11763%5–10 h14065%10–20 h22675%20–50 h30274%50–100 h21776%100–200 h13867%200+ h11070%

Positive share by playtime at the time of review (reviews from the last 180 days). Ranges under 50 reviews are pale and dashed (indicative only); “—” means no reviews.

Show chart values as a table
PlaytimePositiveJapaneseReviews
0–1 h19.2%—52
1–2 h26.5%—34
2–5 h63.2%—117
5–10 h65.0%100.0%140
10–20 h75.2%0.0%226
20–50 h74.2%0.0%302
50–100 h76.5%100.0%217
100–200 h66.7%50.0%138
200+ h70.0%—110

How long people play: half of reviewers had played 20+ hours. 60% had 20+ hours and 17% had 100+ hours (all time).

02 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Summary

Prison Architect has a TrueGG Rating of 72.9%: the positive share among 767 reviews written in the last 180 days by players with 20+ hours. That is 16.0 points below Steam's overall 88.9%, so players who really play the current version are harsher than the headline number suggests (all time: 90.6%).

Reviews written under 2 hours make up 5% of the total, and only 65% of them are positive. Some players bounce off early, but those who get past the opening rate it higher. Steam accepts refund requests within 2 hours of play and 14 days of purchase.

Beyond the first hours, approval is fairly even across playtime.

Negative reviews most often mention crashes and bugs and monetization and DLC. Positive reviews praise how fun it feels and freedom.

Among Japanese-language reviews, the TrueGG Rating is 85.5%, 12.6 points above all languages.

Re-weighting reviews by trust signals (playtime, length, how the game was obtained) barely changes the rating (88.7% adjusted), so Steam's number is not noticeably distorted by key giveaways or throwaway reviews.

All figures come from Steam's public review counts, and topics are counted with our published dictionary (no AI). Data as of 2026-10-19.

03 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Why it is rated this way

What drives the rating

Complaints center on technical quality (Crashes & bugs). These can be fixed, so check recent reviews too.

− Most mentioned complaints

  • Crashes & bugs31% of negative reviews (10% of positive) · most common among 100h+ players · 5 positive reviews say it improved
  • Monetization & DLC13% of negative reviews (5% of positive) · most common among 100h+ players

+ What players praise

  • Fun & feel35% of positive reviews (17% of negative)
  • Freedom / sandbox7% of positive reviews (2% of negative)
＋ シミュレーションゲーム＋ 追加＋ 人間＋ 拡張＋ 時間泥棒＋ 刑務所内＋ 脱走＋ 運営− used− unplayable− didn't− launcher− broken− paradox− without− fixed

Counted from 379 recent negative and 574 positive reviews in Japanese and English, using our published topic dictionary. No AI is used. Topics overlap, so shares do not add up to 100%. Sarcasm and nuance are not detected, and this does not show cause and effect.How we count

04 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Checking the numbers

Figures with a different scope, shown alongside the TrueGG Rating.

MetricPositiveScope
Official Steam rating88.9%All time, all languages · 73,891 reviews
Adjusted rating88.7%Weighted by trust (95% range 88.3%–89.1%), −0.2pt vs official
Japanese-language reviews77.6%All time, Japanese-language reviews (−11.2pt vs overall) · 353 reviews
Show the positive vs negative breakdown

Share of sampled reviews that meet each condition that lowers trust. When a condition is more common on the positive side, the adjusted rating falls below the official one.

ConditionPositive reviewsNegative reviews
Under 2 hours played at review2%16%
Very short text41%32%
Key activated outside Steam18%12%
Received for free2%1%
Owns very few games13%5%
Over 100 reviews written3%5%
Average trust (1.0 = full)0.760.78

The median total playtime of the sampled reviewers is 32.6 hours. 400 positive and 400 negative reviews analyzed · data as of 2026-10-19

05 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

When did the rating change?

Monthly positive and negative review counts since release, as published by Steam.

Reviews per month

■ Positive■ Negative▨ Negative spike
0 1,000 2,000 3,000 2013-03: +5 / −2 2013-04: +17 / −0 2013-05: +18 / −0 2013-06: +56 / −1 2013-07: +103 / −0 2013-08: +54 / −0 2013-09: +56 / −2 2013-10: +45 / −1 2013-11: +176 / −7 2013-12: +407 / −13 2014-01: +316 / −12 2014-02: +163 / −14 2014-03: +132 / −12 2014-04: +251 / −10 2014-05: +439 / −29 2014-06: +794 / −42 2014-07: +262 / −11 2014-08: +141 / −5 2014-09: +175 / −10 2014-10: +287 / −13 2014-11: +298 / −21 2014-12: +860 / −42 2015-01: +600 / −42 2015-02: +686 / −36 2015-03: +285 / −16 2015-04: +221 / −14 2015-05: +426 / −36 2015-06: +834 / −58 2015-07: +373 / −25 2015-08: +290 / −12 2015-09: +228 / −21 2015-10: +1,759 / −81 2015-11: +381 / −20 2015-12: +436 / −28 2016-01: +458 / −41 2016-02: +318 / −13 2016-03: +265 / −23 2016-04: +184 / −19 2016-05: +200 / −20 2016-06: +501 / −46 2016-07: +620 / −55 2016-08: +418 / −34 2016-09: +490 / −62 2016-10: +266 / −13 2016-11: +1,376 / −46 2016-12: +473 / −38 2017-01: +418 / −41 2017-02: +270 / −18 2017-03: +213 / −21 2017-04: +177 / −16 2017-05: +183 / −18 2017-06: +407 / −53 2017-07: +445 / −49 2017-08: +242 / −26 2017-09: +153 / −16 2017-10: +200 / −36 2017-11: +665 / −44 2017-12: +448 / −50 2018-01: +281 / −38 2018-02: +141 / −15 2018-03: +156 / −14 2018-04: +125 / −19 2018-05: +128 / −17 2018-06: +367 / −21 2018-07: +239 / −25 2018-08: +158 / −9 2018-09: +336 / −48 2018-10: +151 / −23 2018-11: +691 / −47 2018-12: +300 / −37 2019-01: +192 / −33 2019-02: +154 / −32 2019-03: +126 / −16 2019-04: +244 / −61 2019-05: +147 / −18 2019-06: +775 / −60 2019-07: +955 / −48 2019-08: +112 / −24 2019-09: +180 / −242 2019-10: +273 / −177 2019-11: +1,849 / −195 2019-12: +1,269 / −82 2020-01: +728 / −48 2020-02: +504 / −44 2020-03: +549 / −41 2020-04: +909 / −117 2020-05: +1,060 / −113 2020-06: +955 / −112 2020-07: +906 / −151 2020-08: +399 / −64 2020-09: +300 / −40 2020-10: +827 / −88 2020-11: +554 / −57 2020-12: +573 / −44 2021-01: +813 / −103 2021-02: +841 / −116 2021-03: +450 / −77 2021-04: +321 / −32 2021-05: +490 / −85 2021-06: +685 / −95 2021-07: +529 / −87 2021-08: +361 / −60 2021-09: +305 / −44 2021-10: +412 / −65 2021-11: +362 / −53 2021-12: +412 / −54 2022-01: +418 / −86 2022-02: +350 / −55 2022-03: +312 / −50 2022-04: +277 / −35 2022-05: +330 / −50 2022-06: +367 / −77 2022-07: +339 / −45 2022-08: +272 / −34 2022-09: +250 / −42 2022-10: +298 / −84 2022-11: +354 / −50 2022-12: +277 / −34 2023-01: +279 / −46 2023-02: +253 / −51 2023-03: +234 / −36 2023-04: +189 / −51 2023-05: +228 / −56 2023-06: +205 / −36 2023-07: +474 / −133 2023-08: +221 / −44 2023-09: +138 / −32 2023-10: +159 / −41 2023-11: +268 / −44 2023-12: +204 / −46 2024-01: +395 / −106 2024-02: +164 / −39 2024-03: +185 / −44 2024-04: +185 / −24 2024-05: +225 / −47 2024-06: +209 / −52 2024-07: +518 / −123 2024-08: +208 / −55 2024-09: +154 / −20 2024-10: +143 / −38 2024-11: +248 / −38 2024-12: +302 / −68 2025-01: +243 / −31 2025-02: +155 / −94 2025-03: +225 / −86 2025-04: +156 / −20 2025-05: +134 / −37 2025-06: +137 / −21 2025-07: +187 / −23 2025-08: +152 / −28 2025-09: +108 / −25 2025-10: +121 / −24 2025-11: +104 / −38 2025-12: +154 / −23 2026-01: +158 / −34 2026-02: +148 / −26 2026-03: +114 / −27 2026-04: +108 / −21 2026-05: +166 / −32 2026-06: +127 / −23 2026-07: +152 / −28 2026-08: +116 / −32 2026-09: +147 / −2,825 2026-10: +79 / −173 2013/032014/012015/012016/012017/012018/012019/012020/012021/012022/012023/012024/012025/012026/01

Positive share per month

0% 25% 50% 75% 100% Monthly data overall 85.0% 2013-06: 98.2%2013-07: 100.0%2013-08: 100.0%2013-09: 96.6%2013-10: 97.8%2013-11: 96.2%2013-12: 96.9%2014-01: 96.3%2014-02: 92.1%2014-03: 91.7%2014-04: 96.2%2014-05: 93.8%2014-06: 95.0%2014-07: 96.0%2014-08: 96.6%2014-09: 94.6%2014-10: 95.7%2014-11: 93.4%2014-12: 95.3%2015-01: 93.5%2015-02: 95.0%2015-03: 94.7%2015-04: 94.0%2015-05: 92.2%2015-06: 93.5%2015-07: 93.7%2015-08: 96.0%2015-09: 91.6%2015-10: 95.6%2015-11: 95.0%2015-12: 94.0%2016-01: 91.8%2016-02: 96.1%2016-03: 92.0%2016-04: 90.6%2016-05: 90.9%2016-06: 91.6%2016-07: 91.9%2016-08: 92.5%2016-09: 88.8%2016-10: 95.3%2016-11: 96.8%2016-12: 92.6%2017-01: 91.1%2017-02: 93.8%2017-03: 91.0%2017-04: 91.7%2017-05: 91.0%2017-06: 88.5%2017-07: 90.1%2017-08: 90.3%2017-09: 90.5%2017-10: 84.7%2017-11: 93.8%2017-12: 90.0%2018-01: 88.1%2018-02: 90.4%2018-03: 91.8%2018-04: 86.8%2018-05: 88.3%2018-06: 94.6%2018-07: 90.5%2018-08: 94.6%2018-09: 87.5%2018-10: 86.8%2018-11: 93.6%2018-12: 89.0%2019-01: 85.3%2019-02: 82.8%2019-03: 88.7%2019-04: 80.0%2019-05: 89.1%2019-06: 92.8%2019-07: 95.2%2019-08: 82.4%2019-09: 42.7%2019-10: 60.7%2019-11: 90.5%2019-12: 93.9%2020-01: 93.8%2020-02: 92.0%2020-03: 93.1%2020-04: 88.6%2020-05: 90.4%2020-06: 89.5%2020-07: 85.7%2020-08: 86.2%2020-09: 88.2%2020-10: 90.4%2020-11: 90.7%2020-12: 92.9%2021-01: 88.8%2021-02: 87.9%2021-03: 85.4%2021-04: 90.9%2021-05: 85.2%2021-06: 87.8%2021-07: 85.9%2021-08: 85.7%2021-09: 87.4%2021-10: 86.4%2021-11: 87.2%2021-12: 88.4%2022-01: 82.9%2022-02: 86.4%2022-03: 86.2%2022-04: 88.8%2022-05: 86.8%2022-06: 82.7%2022-07: 88.3%2022-08: 88.9%2022-09: 85.6%2022-10: 78.0%2022-11: 87.6%2022-12: 89.1%2023-01: 85.8%2023-02: 83.2%2023-03: 86.7%2023-04: 78.8%2023-05: 80.3%2023-06: 85.1%2023-07: 78.1%2023-08: 83.4%2023-09: 81.2%2023-10: 79.5%2023-11: 85.9%2023-12: 81.6%2024-01: 78.8%2024-02: 80.8%2024-03: 80.8%2024-04: 88.5%2024-05: 82.7%2024-06: 80.1%2024-07: 80.8%2024-08: 79.1%2024-09: 88.5%2024-10: 79.0%2024-11: 86.7%2024-12: 81.6%2025-01: 88.7%2025-02: 62.2%2025-03: 72.3%2025-04: 88.6%2025-05: 78.4%2025-06: 86.7%2025-07: 89.0%2025-08: 84.4%2025-09: 81.2%2025-10: 83.4%2025-11: 73.2%2025-12: 87.0%2026-01: 82.3%2026-02: 85.1%2026-03: 80.9%2026-04: 83.7%2026-05: 83.8%2026-06: 84.7%2026-07: 84.4%2026-08: 78.4%2026-09: 4.9%2026-10: 31.3% 2013/032014/012015/012016/012017/012018/012019/012020/012021/012022/012023/012024/012025/012026/01

Months with under 30 reviews are omitted from the rate.Shaded months were detected as concentrated waves of negative reviews (2026-09).Detection rule

Reviews per day, last 30 days

0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2026-09-20: +5 / −0 2026-09-21: +4 / −1 2026-09-22: +3 / −0 2026-09-23: +6 / −696 2026-09-24: +8 / −1,541 2026-09-25: +6 / −275 2026-09-26: +8 / −126 2026-09-27: +6 / −87 2026-09-28: +2 / −25 2026-09-29: +1 / −29 2026-09-30: +4 / −24 2026-10-01: +5 / −15 2026-10-02: +4 / −7 2026-10-03: +6 / −13 2026-10-04: +11 / −18 2026-10-05: +1 / −18 2026-10-06: +7 / −7 2026-10-07: +7 / −8 2026-10-08: +4 / −8 2026-10-09: +3 / −13 2026-10-10: +1 / −7 2026-10-11: +3 / −3 2026-10-12: +5 / −9 2026-10-13: +3 / −3 2026-10-14: +2 / −6 2026-10-15: +1 / −6 2026-10-16: +2 / −11 2026-10-17: +8 / −11 2026-10-18: +6 / −9 2026-10-19: +0 / −1 09/2009/2710/0410/1110/18
Show monthly data as a table
MonthPositiveNegativePositive
2013-035271.4%
2013-04170100.0%
2013-05180100.0%
2013-0656198.2%
2013-071030100.0%
2013-08540100.0%
2013-0956296.6%
2013-1045197.8%
2013-11176796.2%
2013-124071396.9%
2014-013161296.3%
2014-021631492.1%
2014-031321291.7%
2014-042511096.2%
2014-054392993.8%
2014-067944295.0%
2014-072621196.0%
2014-08141596.6%
2014-091751094.6%
2014-102871395.7%
2014-112982193.4%
2014-128604295.3%
2015-016004293.5%
2015-026863695.0%
2015-032851694.7%
2015-042211494.0%
2015-054263692.2%
2015-068345893.5%
2015-073732593.7%
2015-082901296.0%
2015-092282191.6%
2015-101,7598195.6%
2015-113812095.0%
2015-124362894.0%
2016-014584191.8%
2016-023181396.1%
2016-032652392.0%
2016-041841990.6%
2016-052002090.9%
2016-065014691.6%
2016-076205591.9%
2016-084183492.5%
2016-094906288.8%
2016-102661395.3%
2016-111,3764696.8%
2016-124733892.6%
2017-014184191.1%
2017-022701893.8%
2017-032132191.0%
2017-041771691.7%
2017-051831891.0%
2017-064075388.5%
2017-074454990.1%
2017-082422690.3%
2017-091531690.5%
2017-102003684.7%
2017-116654493.8%
2017-124485090.0%
2018-012813888.1%
2018-021411590.4%
2018-031561491.8%
2018-041251986.8%
2018-051281788.3%
2018-063672194.6%
2018-072392590.5%
2018-08158994.6%
2018-093364887.5%
2018-101512386.8%
2018-116914793.6%
2018-123003789.0%
2019-011923385.3%
2019-021543282.8%
2019-031261688.7%
2019-042446180.0%
2019-051471889.1%
2019-067756092.8%
2019-079554895.2%
2019-081122482.4%
2019-0918024242.7%
2019-1027317760.7%
2019-111,84919590.5%
2019-121,2698293.9%
2020-017284893.8%
2020-025044492.0%
2020-035494193.1%
2020-0490911788.6%
2020-051,06011390.4%
2020-0695511289.5%
2020-0790615185.7%
2020-083996486.2%
2020-093004088.2%
2020-108278890.4%
2020-115545790.7%
2020-125734492.9%
2021-0181310388.8%
2021-0284111687.9%
2021-034507785.4%
2021-043213290.9%
2021-054908585.2%
2021-066859587.8%
2021-075298785.9%
2021-083616085.7%
2021-093054487.4%
2021-104126586.4%
2021-113625387.2%
2021-124125488.4%
2022-014188682.9%
2022-023505586.4%
2022-033125086.2%
2022-042773588.8%
2022-053305086.8%
2022-063677782.7%
2022-073394588.3%
2022-082723488.9%
2022-092504285.6%
2022-102988478.0%
2022-113545087.6%
2022-122773489.1%
2023-012794685.8%
2023-022535183.2%
2023-032343686.7%
2023-041895178.8%
2023-052285680.3%
2023-062053685.1%
2023-0747413378.1%
2023-082214483.4%
2023-091383281.2%
2023-101594179.5%
2023-112684485.9%
2023-122044681.6%
2024-0139510678.8%
2024-021643980.8%
2024-031854480.8%
2024-041852488.5%
2024-052254782.7%
2024-062095280.1%
2024-0751812380.8%
2024-082085579.1%
2024-091542088.5%
2024-101433879.0%
2024-112483886.7%
2024-123026881.6%
2025-012433188.7%
2025-021559462.2%
2025-032258672.3%
2025-041562088.6%
2025-051343778.4%
2025-061372186.7%
2025-071872389.0%
2025-081522884.4%
2025-091082581.2%
2025-101212483.4%
2025-111043873.2%
2025-121542387.0%
2026-011583482.3%
2026-021482685.1%
2026-031142780.9%
2026-041082183.7%
2026-051663283.8%
2026-061272384.7%
2026-071522884.4%
2026-081163278.4%
2026-091472,8254.9%
2026-107917331.3%
Show daily data as a table
DayPositiveNegative
2026-09-2050
2026-09-2141
2026-09-2230
2026-09-236696
2026-09-2481,541
2026-09-256275
2026-09-268126
2026-09-27687
2026-09-28225
2026-09-29129
2026-09-30424
2026-10-01515
2026-10-0247
2026-10-03613
2026-10-041118
2026-10-05118
2026-10-0677
2026-10-0778
2026-10-0848
2026-10-09313
2026-10-1017
2026-10-1133
2026-10-1259
2026-10-1333
2026-10-1426
2026-10-1516
2026-10-16211
2026-10-17811
2026-10-1869
2026-10-1901
06 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Recent sentiment

PeriodPositiveReviews
Last 30 days31.8%368
Last 180 days68.3%1,334
All time88.9%73,891
Japanese, last 180 days55.6%9
08 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

About this verdict

Every figure is computed from review data that Steam makes public. No AI estimation is used.

Review text is never stored or republished. Read the actual reviews on Steam.

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