Lifted is an unapologetically fun and silly good time. Play as Ari, a college student slacker who asked his professor for extra credit and got sucked into a time-traveling whirlwind adventure. This cinematic platformer with cartoony graphics and two wholesome love stories (plus an important side story about Egyptian pastries!) had me grinning its entire 3.5-hour run time.
Overall Gameplay
Linear platformer with block puzzles, action-packed reaction-focused escape sequences, and plenty of hidden collectibles and optional challenges. I found the platforming (and rock climbing and rope swinging) very fun and responsive. Any time I messed up timing or aim was entirely my fault, and I reveled in practicing and getting better at my Tarzan swings and dodging tumbling rocks. It reminded me of the kind of gameplay you get in the Lego games; it’s 90% exploring the game level at your own pace and hilariously falling off the map because you try to get a collectible that’s just a little too high (and then you have to figure out the correct route and actions to get to said collectible!), and then 10% of the game is dramatic action sequences worthy of a Disneyland rollercoaster.
Accessibility and Options
The game allows you to turn on easy timing (i.e., turns on “coyote time” for quick time events), make puzzles easier by turning on visual outline hints, and easier platforming by making platforms wider. Even with all the easy mode options turned on, the game offers a friendly challenge that will likely take a handful of tries to master, but I never felt totally stuck. I felt extra talented when I had everything on normal mode and I could still kick some pirate booty across the map! For other components of accessibility, the game settings allow you to adjust music, dialogue, and sound effect levels separately, turn on subtitles, choose from five sizes of text, choose white or yellow text color, choose between three text effects to help the subtitles stand out, and adjust the level of background opacity. As a tip: turn on subtitles whether or not you think you want them, because there are some great Easter eggs for some of the nonverbal vocalizations.
Story
This is a fun G-rated story about a young man exploring deserts, jungles, and tundras with his lovesick physics professor—Prof. Raventhorpe just wants to claim a mystical artifact from 1820 to prove his love for Dolores, the history professor (a perfectly normal thing to do and want), and Ari just wants to save his grade in the class and also make it back in time for his own date. Julius the chinchilla just wants the humans to stop mucking around and get down to business, and their guide Maghdi wants to quit the adventuring business and open a pastry shop. Will all four of them get what they so greatly desire? Hopefully the time machine doesn’t break or get stolen by greedy pirates!
Sights & Sounds
Lifted features a fully orchestrated cinematic score with a wordless choir inspired by the epic scores of John Williams (think Indiana Jones or Jurassic Park). The whole audio vibe reminded me of classic ‘80s and ‘90s family films like Honey I Shrunk the Kids and Home Alone. Indeed, the Steam store page calls it a “cinematic ‘80s blockbuster adventure,” and those inspirations are apparent! The visuals are stylized 3D cartoons, again reminiscent of video games from the Lego franchise but with its own clear and unique style. It took me a while to get used to the characters not having arms or legs (they just have floating hands and feet!), but after a while you start to think, “Yeah, why go to the bother of animating and rendering all those limbs if we just need the end bits?” And of course the game writers did give a few tongue-in-cheek nods to this absurdity.
