10 Most Iconic Video Game Prisons

There is one place, across all cultures and periods of time, where everybody can agree that they don’t want to go: prison. A loss of freedom, choice, and essentially life as you know it – it’s a physical manifestation of all we want to avoid.

Ironically enough, the same can’t be said about video game prisons, however, since they’re as frequent of a setting as hospitals.

Prisons have been featured in video games just as they’ve been featured in any other medium, wall to wall with cells and suffering.

Some games feature a prison as a level or even as the central setting, sparking a multitude of stories that amplify the location. And in some games, the prisons ended up becoming as iconic as where they come from.

10 Butcher Bay

Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay

The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay, a game based on a movie, centres itself around the high-security prison, Butcher Bay. You play as Riddick, of course, in this first-person stealth game.

The game takes place in a flashback, with Vin Diesel reprising his role as the titular character. So, obviously, you escape, but it’s about the journey, not the destination.

Since you’re in a prison, you have to really utilize your resources – and that includes some killer networking (literally). You end up contending with all manner of criminals to try and bust out, making the sci-fi action feel all the cooler.

It’s a game that takes the Breaking Out of Prison Trope but gives it a fresh new paint, with fun combat and killer stealth mechanics to follow suit.

9 Purgatory

Mass Effect 2

The Mass Effect trilogy is perhaps one of the most iconic in the sci-fi genre for gaming, with Mass Effect 2 in particular being hailed as one of the best sequels in all of gaming.

In this sequel, Commander Shepard is sent to the prison Purgatory to retrieve the biotic Jack, who ends up becoming the best squad member in the whole game. And Purgatory’s prison is one of a kind, to put it lightly.

Each isolated cell is an individual pod that could be vented out into space if a prisoner starts to act out of line. These hold some of the worst criminals in the universe, and it makes you wonder how Jack fits into the entire plot – that is, until you talk to her.

Needless to say, some players are curious about whether Purgatory will make its way into the Amazon Prime adaptation, and if that means Jack will swiftly follow.

8 Forsaken Fortress

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Nothing says wacky hijinks like a grand childhood adventure, and that’s exactly what you get with The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Genuinely, this game feels like a Pixar movie in all the best ways.

Toon Link gets up to all matter of whimsical shenanigans in this game, invoking feelings of nostalgia unlike any other even when it was first released. Part of these childhood shenanigans that you get up to, of course, include breaking your kidnapped little sister out of prison.

Not just any prison, either, but the Forsaken Fortress, a prison that Ganondorf had built before the Great Flood, and it still remains operational under his rule.

That being said, the Forsaken Fortress is the first level in this Legend of Zelda game, so it’s not that challenging. In fact, you’re essentially playing hide-and-seek, complete with crawling underneath barrels in order to find your sister.

It also serves as a pivotal focal point in the story, as Link ends up revisiting this fortress two more times later on in the game, after he obtains The Master Sword and takes up his role as the hero.

Don’t let its constant cuteness and whimsy fool you, though, as it has one of the most brutal deaths that Ganondorf faces in the entire franchise.

7 The Petropavlovsk Gulag

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2

Call of Duty games may be known for multi-player, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have single-player campaigns. In fact, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is considered to have the best single-player campaign of the franchise.

Not to be confused with the remake, Modern Warfare 2, this campaign actually has John “Soap” MacTavish as Captain, as Price is missing. However, you (playing as Gary “Roach” Sanderson) and Captain MacTavish find him in the 10th mission of the game, The Gulag.

This chapter starts with Task Force 141 infiltrating the Petropavlovsk Gulag on a rescue mission for Prisoner #627, who is then revealed to be Price. After being imprisoned by Vladmir Makarov, Price spends three years in the gulag – that is, of course, until he reunites with his men.

The mission – and the prison itself – are as infamous as the rest of the campaign, once again proving why it remains better than the first game.

6 Rockfort Island

Resident Evil Code: Veronica

The start of Resident Evil Code: Veronica is by far one of the most exciting in the entire Resident Evil series. Playing as Claire Redfield, you try to evade capture from Umbrella Corporation operatives, but unfortunately, you’re caught and arrested.

You’re then sent to Rockfort Island, a remote prison island near Antartica where you’ll spend the entire game. There, you end up meeting your partner for the game, long-term prisoner Steve Burnside.

The island is also owned by the Ashford Family, who, coincidentally, are the primary antagonists of the game. They’re also particularly memorable ones – and if you don’t know, I highly suggest you experience it for yourself. The twist is a thrill.

Rockfort Island is iconic not just in the Resident Evil franchise, but for gaming as a whole, and it just makes me all the angrier that Capcom is so adamantly against doing a remake.

Unfortunately, the Darkside Chronicles is probably the closest we’ll get, but hey, at least it’s a fun rail-shooter.

5 Prison

A Way Out

Of course, there’s always a healthy amount of competition when it comes to video games, but some discourage competition; in fact, some games actually require you to wholly work together. There is no better example of this than A Way Out.

A Way Out is considered to be one of the best couch co-op games of all time, where you and a partner have to break out of prison together using your wits and communication skills.

There is no name for this prison, it is just referred to as The Prison.

It’s a genuinely fun multiplayer experience with an equally engaging setting. The prison is the focal point of the entire game, the entire plot, and the foundation of every character within – you’re immersed right away.

Plus, nothing is more satisfying than when you and your partner succeed in breaking out of prison and finally getting your revenge. Seriously, that’s something that’s celebration-worthy once the credits roll.

4 Abbott State Penitentiary

The Suffering

One of Midway’s many remake-worthy forgotten titles, The Suffering is a horror game that has you playing as Torque, a prisoner of Abbott State Penitentiary.

He’s there for killing his whole family (yet has no memory of the events), and, depending on the player’s (good or evil) gameplay, the truth will be revealed through different endings. It’s a genuinely unique title, especially since you could end up turning into an outright monster.

The game can be played in either third or first person, allowing players to experience Abbott State Penitentiary through a multitude of perspectives. In all honesty, it’s fun to do a playthrough of each.

The prison is the setting of the whole game, obviously, with everything in the game being centered around it, and it’s downright freaky. Seriously, if you’ve not heard of the game, it’s a refreshing take in the horror genre.

3 Cidhna Mine

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Everyone knows that you can go to jail in Skyrim if you’re caught committing a crime, and that jail genuinely varies by location. One of these jails, though, has an entire side-quest attached to it, making it more infamous than the others: Cidhna Mine.

Cidhna Mine, located in Markarth, is owned by the Silver-Blood family. The prisoners inside are used as slaves to mine the very silver that only makes this family wealthier and more powerful, allowing them to lock away anyone who stands in their way.

Unfortunately, as this questline drops on you as soon as you enter the city, you know things will go down badly. As you progress through the quest, you’re eventually wrongfully thrown into Cidhna Mine, from which you must escape.

The fun part is how you choose to escape, even if it can be a bit tedious, but there is more than one outcome depending on how you approach it. This is especially fun if you’re a Conjuration build, summoning weapons so that you will never be unarmed, even in prison.

2 Toluca Prison

Silent Hill 2

While the Silent Hill franchise isn’t typically known for prisons, there is one in particular, featured in Silent Hill 2, that ended up burning itself into players’ memories: Toluca Prison.

Bloober Team ended up doing an excellent job recreating Toluca Prison in the Silent Hill 2 Remake, making it literally a thousand times more terrifying than the original. It’s dark, it’s nightmarish, it’s genuinely unforgiving in every possible way.

And it’s spectacular.

Toluca Prison ended up cementing itself as one of the most terrifying areas in the game – far more so than the Labyrinth (then again, I’m also deathly afraid of the prison’s Spider Mannequins, a literal combo of my worst nightmares).

Plus, it’s home to the game’s iconic Gallows Puzzle, which to this day is one of the most striking in all of horror gaming.

1 Arkham Asylum

Batman: Arkham Asylum

There is perhaps no fictional prison more infamous than Batman’sArkham Asylum. It didn’t even start in gaming, yet everybody remembers how excellent the Batman: Arkham Asylum game was.

Playing as the Caped Crusader while The Joker takes over the asylum (and letting everyone free), you have to re-capture the Rogue’s Gallery, and it’s just excellent. Seriously, Arkham Asylum has it all – riddles, incredible free-flow combat, even outright horror.

Arkham Asylum is as notorious of a setting as any other in the comic book universe, but it’s genuinely impressive how this notoriety ended up equally bleeding over into video games.

Not that anyone is complaining, though.