Job simulators have come a long way, covering everything from managing trains to farming and even power washing. While I enjoy many of them, I have a feeling that “The Lift” is about to become my new favorite. Why? Because it injects a thrilling, spooky, and utterly weird twist into the traditional job sim formula.
[A gameplay trailer for The Lift was previously embedded here, showcasing its unique blend of eerie atmosphere and handyman tasks.]
Drawing inspiration from the “New Weird” genre—think SCP Foundation and Pacific Drive—”The Lift” thrusts you into the role of a handyman. Your duties include repairing benches, swapping out light bulbs, and rerouting electrical systems within a facility that eerily echoes the Federal Bureau of Control from the game “Control.” It’s so fitting, I’ve already dubbed it “The Oldest House Flipper.” A free playtest is available now, and I recently spent about three hours with a demo, exploring both its introductory and later sections. What truly impressed me was how it cleverly integrates elements from many of my favorite games into a fresh and original experience.
The central hub of “The Lift,” known as The Institute, feels like it’s ripped straight from Remedy’s “New Weird” universe—a once-organized space now strangely abandoned and perilously unstable. As the designated “Keeper,” your tasks involve solving electricity puzzles reminiscent of BioShock, scrubbing away bizarre black residue, and navigating the environment in a style typical of immersive simulators. A major influence on the game’s design, and one of my personal favorites, is 2017’s “Prey.” The system of discovering crafting blueprints, then feeding resources into a large machine to produce valuable new components, is directly inspired by “Prey”—even the crafting room itself bears a striking resemblance.
Fantastic Signals, the development team, designed The Facility with a non-linear progression, echoing the flexibility of “Prey” and similar immersive sims. This means you’ll find multiple ways to tackle problems, and new tools acquired later can even change how you approach previously explored areas. Yet, all these sophisticated mechanics are enveloped in the peculiar charm of a job simulator, creating a game that feels both familiar and refreshingly unique.
There are bad days at the office, and then there are days where you get consumed by whatever this stuff is. [Image Description: A screenshot showing the player character cleaning up mysterious black gunk within The Institute.]
In “The Lift,” every floor you enter comes with a “functionality rating.” Your primary objective is to restore everything to working order. It’s all about applying virtual elbow grease: rerouting electricity to get vending machines dispensing fresh light bulbs, then replacing the faulty ones to incrementally boost the floor’s rating. You’ll also wield a specialized vacuum to clear oily coatings from surfaces, revealing new paths and helping you on your mission to mend this enigmatic, dilapidated facility.
“The Lift” excels at the classic job sim loop of pulling levers and tinkering with gadgets. It encourages curiosity, letting you freely ask “What does this button do?” without penalty, even if it leads to a temporary setback. If your vacuum runs low on power, simply recharge it. If you “borrowed” parts for one repair, you can easily reverse it. The game’s levels don’t hold your hand, promoting a delightful sense of self-guided exploration. Learning how your actions affect The Facility through observation and interacting with displays is far more engaging than any tooltip. This non-linear, problem-solving approach is a hallmark of immersive sims, a quality I always seek in games. I just never expected to find it in a job simulator, but so far, “The Lift” truly works (and yes, that pun was intended).
The evolving storyline gradually peels back the layers of mystery surrounding The Facility’s past, before your arrival as a repair specialist. You’ll find Soviet-era propaganda posters adorning walls and discover various notes, all serving as breadcrumbs to deepen your intrigue and motivate you to push through each workday, advancing to the next floor. When pressed about potential enemy threats during a roundtable, the developers were evasive. Given the game’s ties to Pacific Drive, I anticipate encounters with environmental anomalies rather than conventional “enemies,” but we’ll have to wait and see.
Everything in “The Lift” feels designed for interaction—meant to be flipped, pushed, toggled, or otherwise fidgeted with. [Image Description: A view of a large, eerie main hall in The Institute, filled with interactive elements.]
There’s still so much to uncover about “The Lift.” Its genre fusion and highly interactive mechanics make it somewhat challenging to fully articulate. But the best way to understand it is how I introduced it: if you’re a fan of games like “Control,” “Prey,” and “Pacific Drive,” and you’ve ever wondered how those experiences would translate into a job simulator, then you’re in for a treat. Fantastic Signals asked that very question, and they’ve delivered a compelling answer.
“The Lift” is slated for a PC release in 2026, with console versions to follow.