Room Escape Artist

Eep! Sploosh! Clang! Aargh! Pow! Eeeyow!

Location: Brighton, England

Date Played: April 16, 2026

Team Size: 2-6; we recommend 2-4

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: £27-31 per player depending on team size

Ticketing: Private

Game Breakage: Some indicator lights weren’t functioning

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Comic Chaos delivered exactly what its name promised: a real-life comic book world, imbued with a bounty of puzzle-fueled chaos.

But this wasn’t just any old comic book world. It was fully monochromatic, with all the color having been stolen by a cartoon villain. We were tasked with recovering the individual colors (by solving puzzles, of course) and finding some way to shut down the evil Dr Riddlesworth’s vile contraption before it was too late.

The puzzles in Comic Chaos were arguably the most layered and most difficult of The Lift’s current three rooms. With eight different puzzle threads to complete in any order, we could unlock up to two threads at a time. After completing one, we earned back a color and could unlock a new puzzle thread, and so on. Overall, these puzzles were fair and well clued, with some satisfying aha moments.

There were also some opportunities to tighten up certain puzzles and better balance overall difficulty, ensuring smoother flow regardless of which path teams take through the game. Certain puzzles felt like riffs on puzzle types found in The Lift’s other games, and while I enjoyed the single-room, puzzle-focused style, I’d love to see The Lift further diversity their enigmatic vocabulary as they continue to expand their offerings.

For puzzle-loving small teams looking for a challenge, or for slightly larger teams looking to divide and conquer, Comic Chaos is worth a visit.

Who is this for?

• Puzzle lovers
• Comic book fans
• Any experience level

Why play?

• You want to experience a comic book in real life
• You love puzzles
• You think most escape rooms have way too much color in them

Story

Comic book villain Dr Riddlesworth was determined to suck all the color out of the world! It was up to us to find a way to shut down his evil machine before it was too late.

Setting

Comic Chaos was set in a real-life comic book world which was fully black-and-white. Flat comic book graphics were mapped onto the 3D space in a true intersection between our dimensions.

Gameplay

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

Core gameplay revolved around solving puzzles. The majority of the game consisted of eight different puzzle threads that were solvable in any order, but only two were available at a time. The unlock order was fully randomized.

Analysis

➕ The intro video presented the zany character at the center of Comic Chaos through engaging graphics and entertaining audio.

➕ The set decoration offered a cleanly executed cartoon aesthetic, transforming a smallish single room into a fun space to spend up to an hour. The story offered a clear reason for this aesthetic, and we enjoyed the small pops of color we earned along the way.

➕ Comic Chaos was comprised of eight puzzle threads. Each thread consisted of multiple steps, and there was a range of puzzle types with some satisfyingly layered solves in the mix. For the most part, the signposting was clear around which components associated with which puzzle, with some early-game difficulty emerging from sorting through the density of details throughout the space.

➖ Puzzle difficulty varied between puzzle threads, and randomizing the unlock order added minimal value for the players, especially if a team were to struggle with a more difficult puzzle early on. This sort of nonlinearity is only effective if players are able to make a reasonably informed choice around which puzzle to unlock. For Comic Chaos, steady increase in difficulty could help players get better acclimated to the flow of the game, and also teach them how the game wants to be played.

➕ At its best, the gameplay elegantly prompted dynamic interactivity within the small space. One puzzle got us to reflect on the full layout of the room. Another puzzle was effective in choreographing our perspective.

➕ We were delighted by a surprise delivery. It was a cheesy but adorable interruption to all the elements that had been visible since the start of the game.

➖ Parts of Comic Chaos were built with finicky consumer-grade hardware that wasn’t always properly mounted in place and led to some small tech failures. Some of the non-tech elements, like handwritten permanent marker on plastic buttons, also showed signs of wear that were starting to affect legibility.

➕ Comic Chaos included cute in-world seating options.

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 Comic Chaos, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: The Lift comped our tickets for this game.