Room Escape Artist

Elevated pulses

Location: Brighton, England

Date Played: April 16, 2026

Team Size: 2-4; we recommend 2

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: £29-31 per player depending on team size

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: All players must climb stairs to get to the game

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

The Lift gets their name from their first escape room: The Lift Shaft. What originated as a pop-up has now been transformed into a permanent installation, and I’m glad that The Lift Shaft is around to stay.

Upon arriving at The Lift, we were instantly struck by the unusual design of the building — which was actually a set of shipping containers covered in colourful murals. The Lift Shaft was appropriately located up a flight of stairs in the chimney-like high point of this shipping container sculpture.

The experience itself was contained in a single small room, appropriately sized for an elevator, with various controls, posters, and maintenance boxes covering all four walls. The gameplay was fully linear, and we procedurally made our way through a list of necessary repairs that needed to be completed before the lift came (metaphorically) plummeting down on our heads. Along the way, we encountered a range of communication challenges and layered puzzles which utilized truly every element in the space. While the space was low lit, the torches provided offered more than enough light to see all relevant puzzle info.

The Lift Shaft was well balanced for a duo, and even for newer players, I’m not sure that I’d recommend this game for more than two players. For puzzle lovers looking for a cozy challenge, The Lift Shaft would make an excellent addition to your Brighton escape room itinerary.

Who is this for?

• Puzzle lovers
• Any experience level

Why play?

• A puzzle-packed experience
• Well-balanced gameplay for a small team

Story

As we arrived to repair a broken lift shaft, the lift above us started dropping. We had until it came crashing down to repair the mechanism and get out of there.

Setting

Set in an actual shipping container, The Lift Shaft was a small square room with maintenance boxes and puzzle components covering all four walls.

Gameplay

The Lift’s The Lift Shaft was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around solving puzzles, communicating, and making connections.

Analysis

➕ The Lift Shaft efficiently packed a ton of gameplay into an appropriately elevator-sized space. The small space added positively to the energy of the game, as we zig-zagged back and forth, constantly discovering newly relevant details hidden in plain sight.

➕ A thematic timer counted down floors from 12, dropping every 5 minutes.

➕ The puzzles were varied and logical, with clear signposting and clean flow. Of The Lift’s current three games, this was their most well-balanced gameplay throughout the entire experience.

➖ For a game that was all about the puzzles, there were a few opportunities to add more depth to specific puzzles, without unreasonably increasing the game’s overall difficulty. In particular, we encountered an ambiguity in a logic puzzle that also could have had more interesting logic to it.

➕ The gameplay was fully linear, effectively counterbalancing the potential chaos of a dense small space and offering a satisfying progression for a small team.

❓ While players are never actually locked in, The Lift Shaft was a very small escape room. If you’re claustrophobic, this is probably not the game for you.

Tips For Visiting

• Limited street parking is available nearby. Brighton is a very walkable town, and The Lift is easily accessible by foot or public transit.
• We enjoyed a lunch at No Catch, a plant-based fish & chips shop.

Book your hour with The Lift’s The Lift Shaft, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: The Lift comped our tickets for this game.