The Lift Preview
Anyone who has played Power Wash Simulator or House Flipper knows the satisfaction of doing something in a game that’s a lot of actual work in real life. But what if changing a light bulb meant cleaning a room full of supernatural goo or solving a series of puzzles? Add to those elements a dystopian story and haunted-house-like exploration, and you have The Lift. Genre mashups are nothing new, but The Lift’s particular blend is unique.
Three Prong Approach
Developer Fantastic Signals describes The Lift as a supernatural handyman simulator. As elevator pitches — pun intended — go, that’s pretty accurate. In The Lift, you play in first person as a handyman with three tasks. Your first job is to repair everything you come across that’s busted. It could be as simple as replacing a light bulb, or as complex as rewiring a series of machines to get the power flowing. Quite often — actually, most of the time — there’s at least one puzzle element included. You know, to get the bulb you need to open the chest and to open the chest you need a key and on and on.
Renovation is the second task. The narrative is that there has been a mysterious supernatural explosion at The Institute. In order to solve the mystery of what caused it, you need to clean up entire floors of the building. Doing so allows you to progress ever-higher via the elevator.
Exploration is key to everything. This means reading environmental clues, snooping into every nook and cranny, and solving puzzles. There are voices over the intercom giving you orders and NPCs with tasks and information along the way.
Early On
I had the chance to spend a little time with an early build of The Lift. The alternate history, Soviet-era vibe comes through loud and clear. It’s a bit like House Flipper meets S.T.A.L.K.E.R., maybe with a hint of BioShock. Everything is dark and moody. Although the art is stylized, there’s a lot of detail to the machinery and environments.
I only had a glimpse into the narrative, but it’s full of that dry, dystopian humor that finds ironic wit in downtrodden characters and mysterious circumstances.
The Lift has a lot of puzzles to solve in order to make any kind of progress. Generally, they’re not too obtuse but sometimes the camera and controls were frustrating. The game desperately needs a camera speed adjustment slider. Using a controller, it was very difficult to manipulate objects precisely. It’s also one of those games where you have to accept the basic approach to puzzle-solving, where puzzle pieces sometimes feel unrealistically hidden just to complicate things.
The developers noted that while the game is linear, there will be areas and puzzles that can be returned to after the story ends. In other words, there will be some endgame content.
Leaning Into Unique
The build I played was a very early one, so there were lots of missing features, details and fixes. The developers noted that the stop-motion animation effect of the announcement trailer had not yet been implemented in the game but was coming. Menu options were also pretty rudimentary, especially in terms of graphics and resolution. However, even the early build was technically a pretty smooth-running experience.
Sometimes, genre mashups can feel random and mismatched. The Lift’s blend of puzzles, exploration and renovation is pretty coherent and feels original. I am interested in seeing how The Lift’s art and animation develop and how the narrative spins out. My time with the game was an intriguing appetizer.
***PC code provided by the publisher for preview***
