The Lift Escape Rooms: Lock and Rock (Brighton)

Rock out with our… clocks out?

Time to rock out like there’s no tomorrow! Mosh to an energetic playlist while solving a mystery with a dark twist…

Music journalist Sarah Keys is missing. Her last known location? Lock & Rock rock bar! You and your team of investigators will try to retrace her steps at the bar and find out what’s happened and who is behind her disappearance.

The Lift Escape Rooms often seem be overshadowed by the slightly longer standing escape room companies in Brighton (Pier Pressure and Bewilder Box). Maybe this is due to their start with the original Lift Shaft which was only a half an hour and almost felt like a pop-up. Since their start, however, the company have expanded and now have three full length games to choose from. Not only that, but their games are consistently decent, fun, and with The Lift’s convenient proximity to the station, they’re well worth a visit if you’re in Brighton.

It had been nearly two years to the day since our last visit to The Lift, but finally the planets aligned and Gord and I finally found both of ourselves in Brighton at the same time, which meant we could finally see what the team at The Lift have been up to since our last visit. We started by repairing their Lift Shaft (again, well Lift Shaft 2.0), which took a bit longer than last time, and then saved the world from a life without colour in Comic Chaos. The final game on the list was their newest venture: Lock and Rock, and after a short interlude and a bit more chatting with Sam, our host and one of the owners of The Lift, it was time to get cracking once again.

Now, Lock and Rock isn’t located in the shipping container structure that houses the other games by The Lift, but their second venue isn’t far at all. In fact, it’s just across the street. So, without much ado we “Froggered” our way across the road and found ourselves outside the door with some subtle signage to let us know we were in the right place.

Sam opened the door and we made our way down the stairs into the basement – the perfect location for an underground “club”! We took a seat in the small briefing area to go over the necessary information with Sam, before heading through to the Lock & Rock Rock bar to solve a mystery.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

The space for Lock and Rock is large (by UK escape room standards, anyway), with plenty of room for larger teams to spread out and not feel too cosy. I’d have no trouble believing that it actually doubles as an underground nightclub in Brighton, except for the fact that the bar itself probably isn’t large enough. The music playing throughout the game certainly helped add to the club-like atmosphere though.

As you’d expect for a club, the space is sparsely furnished, and there aren’t many sneaky hiding places, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t plenty to explore. We took a few minutes to take stock of our surroundings, but we were relatively quick to find a starting point; several in fact, as Lock and Rock isn’t totally linear, allowing us to divide and conquer, coming back together for certain puzzles, and at the inevitable choke points, as we made our way further into the game.

While the energetic music helped to keep the pace moving, it wasn’t the only thing that did so. Although Lock and Rock isn’t overly narrative-driven, being essentially a detective mystery, there is an element of story revealed as you solve, especially as you reach the end and discover exactly what happened to Sarah Keys.

PUZZLES

The puzzles in Lock and Rock were fair and logical in their execution, with a broad range of puzzle types to keep players on their toes. But not only that, they were thematic, with tasks that just seemed to fit into their surroundings. Scavenging, observation, logic, pattern recognition, and even testing your musical skills (sort of), will all come into play. There’s no shortage of padlocks here, but they’re not the only thing barring the way in the quest to solve the mystery, so be prepared for anything. Of course, there’s also no shortage of satisfying “Ah-ha!” moments either, making the puzzles immensely pleasing to solve.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

Sam had already hosted us on our first visit to The Lift Shaft 1.0 in 2023, not to mention the two games that we played immediately prior to undertaking Lock and Rock, so I think it’s safe to say he had a pretty good feeling for how Gord and I operate as a team. He knew exactly when to nudge, and when to let us puzzle it out.

The screen in the room kept us up to date on our time, as well as sending through whatever help Sam felt we needed. Plus, it also provided a lovely little conclusion video once we had solved the mystery of exactly what happened to Sarah Keys.

ANYTHING ELSE

Lock and Rock was a good game with a fun vibe, thanks to the rocking playlist that accompanied us along the way. The game is an ideal choice for larger groups, thanks to the space, but totally achievable for smaller teams as well.

Success / Failure

Final Rating:

Team: 2 players

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

Website: https://theliftbrighton.com/