The Lift: Turning Mundane Productivity into a Clever Puzzle Game

<p>Imagine a world where Soviet-inspired aesthetics meet quirky gadgets and a mysterious, gooey substance – welcome to <em>The Lift</em>, a supernatural puzzle game that’s got a truly captivating premise. I recently got to try out a PC demo, and I can confirm: if you love tinkering, this is for you.</p><p>My three hours with the game, spread across a tutorial and a mid-game chapter, were a delightfully surreal journey. While a few minor quirks exist, <em>The Lift</em> is clearly well-engineered and promises a fantastic experience upon its full release.</p><h3>A Journey into Speculative “Fix-tion”</h3><p>You assume the role of a silent protagonist known only as “The Keeper,” a handyman imbued with a distinct Soviet-era pride for mending things. The game wastes no time, plunging you into an amusing tutorial inside a “test lift.” An enthusiastic, propagandistic voice guides you through your initial tasks: rewiring circuits and swapping out light bulbs.</p><p>What immediately sets <em>The Lift</em> apart is its incredibly tactile and engaging handyman mechanics. Simply opening a panel isn’t just a button press; you physically grab a handle with your mouse and mimic the pulling motion to open it. Successfully restoring the test lift’s functions reveals a path to progressively more bizarre and humorous situations.</p><p>True to many sci-fi narratives, <em>The Lift</em> unfolds within an abandoned research facility dubbed “The Institute.” The atmosphere evokes a sense of the chaotic, labyrinthine Kowloon Walled City, with windowless rooms clustered around the central elevator. As you ascend through floors teeming with broken machinery, you’ll quickly discover your duties go far beyond simple repairs.</p><p>The demo offered a fleeting glimpse outside The Institute, introducing a mysterious character named Trader (who, oddly, doesn’t actually trade anything). Here, <em>The Lift</em>’s visuals truly embrace surreality, reminiscent of <em>Expedition 33</em>: traffic lights float in the sky, furniture drifts weightlessly, and absurdly tall chairs loom in the distance.</p><p>I’m captivated by this unique blend of irreverent and eerie sci-fi, although I occasionally struggled to piece together the narrative from clues offered by the sparse characters. Still, the environments themselves tell a compelling story: what is this strange black sludge? What unseen force is systematically dismantling The Institute’s chairs? While nothing you encounter poses a direct physical threat, you can’t shake the feeling that the answers to these questions will be anything but ordinary.</p><h3>Objectives and Quirky Companions</h3><p><em>The Lift</em> is structured around a series of objectives, handed down by a group of eccentric, chatty characters collectively known as Rubus through an intercom. They pop in regularly to outline problems and assign repair tasks. I confess, these conversations could be a little unengaging, often leaving me wishing they’d just get to the point.</p><p>While the voice acting perfectly captures their diverse personalities and is expertly delivered, the characters in <em>The Lift</em> tend to be unnecessarily verbose. It’s a minor quibble, but the inability to skip their lengthy monologues occasionally broke the immersion in a game designed for immediate, hands-on action.</p><p>You’ll frequently juggle multiple objectives and sub-objectives, all conveniently tracked by your trusty handheld Bureau Utility Gadget (B.U.G.). These tasks vary wildly, from simply opening a sealed room to the more cryptic “Get wave production to level 3” – which, I discovered, simply means “fix everything you can!”</p><p>Your primary goal is to locate and activate the main Lift, moving it between floors. Each floor presents a massive, intricate puzzle; restoring it to its pristine condition unlocks your path upward, bringing you closer to understanding the source of the mysterious black slime oozing throughout the facility.</p><p>Expect to collect a treasure trove of screws, power cables, and various other bits and bobs. Managing your inventory is seamless, either through an intuitive circular menu or by cycling items in hand. A clever feature is the auto-suggestion of tools for damaged objects you hover over – for instance, a “bee” for a bee socket. Yes, a literal bee! These whimsical suggestions are especially welcome given some of <em>The Lift</em>’s more unusual contraptions.</p><h3>The Art of Repair</h3><p>What exactly are you fixing? Sometimes it’s as straightforward as replacing a screw on a wobbly chair. Other times, you’ll encounter damaged circuit boards requiring specific missing components. This might mean scavenging for parts on a dusty shelf or purchasing a “spinny electromotor” from a vending machine (which you might also need to fix first!). Not every tool or component adheres to real-world logic; some, like the infamous “bee” for a bee socket, veer into delightful fantasy.</p><p>Beyond mundane repairs, your government-assigned role includes supernatural janitorial duties. The demo saw me graduating from a simple screwdriver to powerful tools like the Cleaning Beam, capable of vacuuming up those eerie, pulsating black masses. I even got to use a “glue gun” that, for reasons unexplained, uses duct tape instead of glue to patch up walls leaking that mysterious goo.</p><p>A heads-up for prospective Keepers: expect a fair bit of backtracking. <em>The Lift</em> incorporates light Metroidvania elements, meaning some areas or objectives remain inaccessible until you acquire specific tools or clear blockages. One early puzzle had me retracing my steps more than anticipated.</p><p>Personally, I found this aspect quite charming, as it mirrored the delightful chaos of real-life DIY. However, players seeking a purely linear experience might want to mentally prepare. Don’t mistake this for a simple IKEA assembly; while a single screw might magically fix an entire bench, the environmental puzzles are far from trivial. Thinking that screws and light bulbs won’t offer a challenge would be a mistake. One later puzzle I tackled was surprisingly devious, demanding extensive exploration to uncover its solution. My top tip? Always remember to look up. You’ll thank me later.</p><h3>Crafting and the Curious Cosmos</h3><p>Scattered throughout the world are bizarre, glitchy objects – everything from staplers to comically oversized calculators. These can be deposited into a trash chute to earn tokens, which are then used to buy limited spare parts from vending machines (assuming you’ve fixed the vending machine first, of course). As a huge fan of crafting games, I have to say my brief encounter with <em>The Lift</em>’s crafting system was a definite highlight!</p><p>Towards the end of the demo, I finally unlocked the crafting system, and oh, how I longed for more time with it! By feeding specific combinations of those glitchy objects into a crafting machine, you can fabricate fancy new modules for your repairs. If a stubborn circuit board is causing trouble, your newly accessible craft room might hold the key to its missing piece.</p><p>Currently, the demo offers basic craftables like cables and power units. However, I’m incredibly excited to see the full game’s potential for more imaginative creations. Imagine crafting additional “bees” to get those circuit boards humming, or even wilder, more fantastical tools!</p><p>The developers of <em>The Lift</em> expressed a desire for a hopeful, positive interpretation of Soviet productivity. While the game’s narrative felt more aligned with a “science-gone-wrong” instability (without any direct dystopian government), this isn’t necessarily a negative. Positive Soviet satire is a rare and intriguing theme, and I’m eager to see if the full release fully embraces and defines itself by this unique concept.</p><p>Ultimately, puzzle enthusiasts will find <em>The Lift</em>’s fresh approach to problem-solving truly refreshing. The “fiddling-and-fixing” gameplay is flawlessly executed, offering immense satisfaction as you bring dead systems back to life and watch lights flicker on. Despite my minor irritation with the chatty characters, I’m genuinely excited to delve deeper into this strange world, repair even more outlandish machines, and uncover the mysteries of its story (and that perplexing goop) when <em>The Lift</em> officially launches next year.</p>