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A craftsman in a Soviet secret laboratory: preview of "The Lift"

18.9.2025

Translation: machine translated

Repair, renovate and solve logic puzzles: In "The Lift", you restore an underground research station after a mysterious incident. The demo will whet your appetite for more.

What do the sci-fi role-playing game «Prey», the renovation simulator «House Flipper» and the Netflix cult series «Stranger Things» have in common? They served as inspiration for «The Lift: Supernatural Handyman Simulator». I was able to play an excerpt from it and am very taken with the concept.

Soviet science fiction

I take on the role of a craftsman. In the mini-tutorial, which takes place in a lift to match the name, the first steps are explained to me and that I apparently work for a scientific institute. I am then sent into cryogenic sleep until I am needed again. Moments later I am, but I quickly realise that years must have passed. There seems to have been an accident. Sparks are flying everywhere, the power supply is gone and strange black goo covers most of the instruments.

I doubt whether this underground research station fulfils the building regulations according to the SIA standard.
Source: Philipp Rüegg

The developer studio Fantastic Signals has modelled the setting on Soviet sci-fi stories. The reason for this is that many of the team grew up with them. The studio works in Latvia and Serbia, where the past is strongly characterised by the influences of communism.
They flavour the whole thing with content from the collaborative writing project «SCP Foundation». This is a fictional secret organisation that deals with anomalies. There seem to be quite a few of them in «The Lift». In addition to the aforementioned black slime, I also find objects that shimmer strangely.

Puzzle for electricians

I'll deal with this later. The first thing is to provide light. To do this, I unscrew the cover of a switch cabinet with a screwdriver. I then use the cables I collected earlier to restore the circuit. I can then flip the associated switch and the light is back on.

The components can be inserted and removed as required.
Source: Fantastic Signals

Such switch puzzles make up a large part of the game. They are inspired by real-life programming problems, the developers explained during a Discord presentation. There is also supposed to be a bit of engineering involved. But don't worry, so far neither Javascript nor in-depth
maths knowledge required. However, the circuits are getting more and more complicated. If a few cables that I sometimes have to bend or stretch are enough at the beginning, voltage transformers, electric motors and other components are needed later on.

After I have restored the power, I get a call. An unknown person tells me that I have to repair the lift next. Not the one from the tutorial, but one that consists of several rooms. This serves as my base from now on. I can use it to reach the various levels of the research station and get them up to scratch. This is the core task of the game.

The radio tells me what I have to do.
Source: Philipp Rüegg

More than just pressing buttons

For the lift to work, I first have to clear up the mess and get a generator up and running again. This includes replacing light bulbs, screwing down seat benches or repairing the air conditioning systems. Often all it takes is a twist with my trusty screwdriver, sometimes I need an additional screw. If I don't have any, I can buy them from a vending machine. I get the coins for this by recycling broken items at another machine.

Unlike Ikea furniture, a single screw is enough here.
Source: Fantastic Signals

If I don't have enough money or the vending machines are empty, I can also make items myself. As soon as the corresponding room in my lift base is open, I interact with three machines there. The first converts scrap into resources. The second unlocks crafting items from resources and blueprints. The third machine produces the desired items.

Many actions require more than one button press. Depending on whether I'm playing with mouse and keyboard or controller, I have to move the mouse around to turn a screw or move the analogue stick to open a door. This makes the work more physical, more tangible and simply more satisfying. The game reminds me favourably of «Pacific Drive», which also focused on individual hand movements.

For the generator, I first have to consult the instructions printed on a board nearby. Only after I have turned a turbine round, inserted a mechanical bee - yes, bee - and operated several levers in the right order does the generator work again. The lift then starts running again and the demo jumps to a later point in the game.

Bees serve as an energy source in the game.
Source: Fantastic Signals

Globber suckers and glue guns

I find myself at the post station. Here, too, the first task is to restore the power supply and repair the broken equipment. I get to know other people over the radio. Apparently an entire rescue team is involved in the repairs. The short conversations are a pleasant change from the otherwise lonely daily routine. I have already bumped into a chatty robot and an oddball trader, but such encounters are probably rare. There are also audio cassettes that reveal more about the events on the station.

I'm not completely alone in this mysterious research station.
Source: Fantastic Signals

By the way, there are no combat or other threats in the game. The studio experimented with this, but it wouldn't have created the atmosphere they wanted. The game is supposed to be cosy and not scare you with monsters that could rip your head off at any time, they explained during the presentation.

Because various fittings and machines on the post office level are blocked by black goo, I first have to find a kind of hoover. A few repaired circuits later, I arrive in a shimmering blue room. There is a human inside. At least that's what I assume. However, he doesn't move. He looks like a grey statue. It's not the only person I find in this state. Something has gone very wrong here. But this question will have to wait. The statue is holding exactly the tool I need: the goo extractor. I use it to clean up the dirty areas and make some progress. Shortly before the end of the demo, I also find a glue gun, which I can use to seal strangely glowing holes in walls and floors.

Made the dab in the wrong place.
Source: Philipp Rüegg

In the meantime, I'm juggling a constantly growing inventory of different components, tools, scrap and documents. Complicated inventory management is still not necessary. The game usually selects the appropriate elements automatically depending on the context, so I only have to press one button.

After just under four hours, I've unfortunately already reached the end of the demo. There is still so much to do. I can hardly wait to continue playing next year. That's when «The Lift» is due to be released - as a 1.0 version without Early Access. The cosy mix of repair, renovation and puzzles is incredibly motivating. There's no time pressure or threats from nasty monsters - just me, my lift and my screwdriver. What more could I want?

«The Lift: Supernatural Handyman Simulator» will be released for PC in 2026.

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Philipp Rüegg

Senior Editor

Philipp.Rueegg@digitecgalaxus.ch

As a child, I wasn't allowed to have any consoles. It was only with the arrival of the family's 486 PC that the magical world of gaming opened up to me. Today, I'm overcompensating accordingly. Only a lack of time and money prevents me from trying out every game there is and decorating my shelf with rare retro consoles.

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