The Lift Escape Rooms: Comic Chaos (Brighton)

A black and white world? Interesting

You and your team of mighty heroes are the world’s last hope against the nefarious Dr. Riddlesworth.

This brilliant but twisted villain is draining the world of its colour, leaving everything in a lifeless monochrome. It’s down to you to solve Dr. Riddlesworth’s intricate puzzles and restore the world’s vibrant hues. Work together to thwart Dr. Riddlesworth’s plan before time runs out and he returns to lock you in his lair… FOREVER.

Only you can save the world from a dull and dreary fate. Can you rise to the challenge and bring back the brilliance? The clock is ticking!

It had been nearly two years to the day since we last visited The Lift in Brighton. When we were last there they only had one game, The Lift Shaft, but in that time they have been very busy. Not only have they redesigned the original Lift Shaft game into a full 60 minute experience, but they’ve also opened two new 60 minute games too – Comic Chaos, and Lock & Rock.

We were in Brighton for a conference so decided to see what had changed at this often under-the-radar venue. Our first game was the refreshed/renewed Lift Shaft (2.0), and then we headed back downstairs and slightly around the corner to check out Comic Chaos.

Our host for all three games was one of the owners, Sam. We met Sam on our last visit and it was lovely to spend a little time chatting with him about what they’ve been up to and what their plans are for the future. Before long though it was time to get down to business. Sam disappeared and then reappeared in a white lab coat, as one of Dr Riddlesworth’s assistants. Our health and safety briefing was delivered in the main waiting area, and then we were also given the mission briefing there too.

I must admit that as a colour blind person, Dr Riddlesworth’s plan to rid the world of colour actually didn’t seem too evil – this was an evil scheme I could get behind! So maybe failure was an option?

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

The Lift is an interesting venue as two of their three rooms are located in shipping containers, so there’s not too much that they can do with their sets, at least in terms of surprises. That being said, I actually really liked the design of Comic Chaos and thought it was done really well considering their limitations with the space. Comic Chaos did indeed feel like it was right out of a mono-chrome comic.

To add to the fun, there was an ‘AI’ which would interject at various points during the game. This AI could either be there to mock you, help you, hinder you, or just straight out try and distract you from what you are doing. I don’t believe we had too much interaction with the AI, but I do distinctly remember telling it to ‘go away’ on a few occasions.

To take away from the silence of the room there were some odd AI beeping noises that seemed to accompany us throughout the experience. I can’t decide if I liked these noises or not, as they did get a bit annoying at times, but it was still better than silence.

PUZZLES

I quite enjoyed the puzzles in this game as they were quite varied and if one thing didn’t click, I could move onto another (within reason). For a small space, they managed to cram in a lot of puzzles and as a team of two we always had something to work on – and things we could work on simultaneously.

Searching (not much), observation, directions, audio, decoding, basic maths, and a little dexterity made up the bulk of the puzzles. When solved, they mostly resulted in combinations for padlocks – although signposting was very good so it was always easy to know what code when with which lock.

I found this game an interesting one from a colour blind perspective as the game is about restoring colour to the world. It would have been very easy to have some complex colour puzzles thrown in, particularly late on in the game and thus make it hard for us colour-limited players. What was nice however, was that this seemed to have been a consideration (perhaps accidentally), so all the puzzles were solvable thanks to a little extra signposting/detail in the right places.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

Sam was keeping a close eye on our game, which was good because at one point we did manage to confuse ourselves and needed a little assistance as we couldn’t see something that was right in front of our faces. Help came in the form of a note in a little ball that was delivered into the room via a tube.

There was a timer in the room so we had an idea of how well we were progressing. But it wasn’t as simple as a clock. They had devised a different system for telling the time which was creative and something new.

ANYTHING ELSE

I enjoyed this game, probably more than I expected to. Ok, compared to some of the world-class TERPECA games we’ve played, it doesn’t stack up, but as just a fun escape room with a quirky theme and fun puzzles? It’s a winner.

The Lift is a lovely venue, run by lovely people. They often get overlooked in favour of the big boys in town (Bewilder box and Pier Pressure), but if you’re looking to play some fun games then do check out The Lift, especially as they now have three 60 minute games.

Success / Failure

Final Rating:

Team: 2 players

Address: 10 New England Rd, Brighton and Hove, Brighton BN1 4GG

Website: https://theliftbrighton.com/