Lifted is the kind of game that wears its influences proudly, but never seems particularly interested in pretending that it is doing something radically new. From the moment Ari gets dragged into Professor Raventhorpe’s increasingly ridiculous scheme, we are essentially stepping into a playable Saturday-morning adventure movie, complete with time travel, ancient treasure, eccentric characters and plenty of peril. The premise is deliberately silly: Ari is looking for some extra credit, while his physics professor wants to travel through history and retrieve a valuable tiara in the hope of winning the affection of another teacher. Throw in a remarkably capable chinchilla and a succession of historical locations, and we get a story that is far more concerned with keeping us entertained than with making much sense. That approach works surprisingly well, largely because the chemistry between Ari and Raventhorpe gives the journey its personality. Their constant banter and the professor’s tendency to leave the dangerous work to his student provide a steady stream of jokes, while the obvious echoes of Back to the Future and classic adventure cinema give the whole thing a pleasantly nostalgic flavor.
That nostalgia is arguably Lifted’s biggest strength, but it is also where some of its limitations become apparent. The narrative rarely surprises us, and the characters are generally sketched rather than deeply developed, with some of the supporting cast feeling as though they could have benefited from more time in the spotlight. The central relationship between Ari and Raventhorpe is strong enough to carry the campaign, however, and the writing understands that comedy is most effective here when it comes from the characters rather than from constant attempts to force jokes into the action. There are plenty of playful references and moments of self-awareness, including jokes about the game’s own mechanics, but they tend to complement the adventure rather than derail it. The result is a story that is predictable without being dull, and uncomplicated without ever becoming entirely disposable.
Mechanically, Lifted keeps things similarly straightforward. This is a 2.5D platforming adventure built around exploration, environmental puzzles and movement rather than combat. We jump, double-jump, climb, swing from vines and ropes, manipulate objects and occasionally find ourselves running for our lives as the environment collapses around us. The lack of conventional fighting is actually a sensible decision because it allows the game to concentrate on the part of its design that works best: movement. Basic platforming is responsive and satisfying, and when we make a mistake it generally feels like our own fault rather than the game refusing to cooperate. The combination of relatively relaxed exploration and short bursts of cinematic action also gives the campaign a good rhythm, preventing the puzzles and platforming from becoming too monotonous.
The environmental puzzles fit this philosophy. They ask us to push boxes, activate mechanisms and work out how the surrounding spaces are meant to be traversed, but rarely demand much head-scratching. For experienced platformer players, some solutions will be immediately obvious, which does make certain sections feel more like a brief interruption between the story and the next set-piece than a genuine puzzle challenge. There are optional collectibles and objectives, though, and these provide a more meaningful reason to explore every corner of the levels. Some of them require considerably more precision than the main route, giving players who want more from the relatively short campaign something worthwhile to chase. The accessibility options are also particularly well done, allowing puzzle assistance, more forgiving timing and wider platforms to be adjusted independently rather than forcing us into a single difficulty setting.
The controls are mostly excellent, although Lifted occasionally exposes the limitations of its cinematic presentation. The dynamic camera makes the environments feel much more like animated film sets than traditional 2D platforming stages, but sudden perspective changes can make judging a jump or identifying the correct route more difficult than it should be. Grappling and swinging sections are particularly susceptible to this, with a poorly positioned jump sometimes resulting in a missed rope or an awkward loss of momentum. The final sequence pushes the need for precision considerably further, and this late difficulty spike feels noticeably harsher than what comes before it. We appreciate that the game gives us frequent checkpoints and gets us back into the action almost immediately after a failure, but some of those final challenges can still feel less like a test of mastery and more like a demand for repeated trial and error.
Visually, Lifted has a charming animated-film identity that suits its ambitions perfectly. Its colorful 3D environments move through a variety of historical settings, and each location brings enough visual variation to keep the relatively short campaign from feeling repetitive. The character designs are certainly unconventional, with floating hands and feet replacing conventional limbs, but what initially looks strange eventually becomes part of the game’s visual language. The expressive faces and exaggerated animation sell the comedic tone, while the moving camera gives larger environments and action sequences a suitably cinematic quality. It is not technically flawless, with occasional asset pop-in and some less flattering close-up shots, but those shortcomings are easy to overlook when the game pulls back to reveal its larger environments.
The audio work does perhaps even more to establish the game’s personality. The orchestral soundtrack deliberately channels the grand adventure scores of classic family blockbusters, giving even relatively simple platforming sections a sense of importance, while the voice performances bring much of the humor to life. Joe Gaudet and Ray O’Hare give Ari and Raventhorpe distinct personalities, and their back-and-forth is one of the reasons the relatively simple gameplay structure never becomes tiresome. The music also knows when to become playful or dramatic, helping the transition between exploration, comedy and danger feel more natural. We would recommend enabling subtitles even if we normally prefer playing without them, since they can capture some of the smaller vocal details and jokes that might otherwise pass unnoticed.
Where Lifted ultimately struggles is with its ambition – or rather, the lack of it. We can finish the main adventure in roughly three to three-and-a-half hours, with perhaps a couple more available if we return for collectibles and optional challenges. There is something refreshing about a game that refuses to pad itself with unnecessary systems and busywork, and Lifted ends before its core mechanics have had much opportunity to become stale. At the same time, the short campaign leaves us wanting more from a world and cast that have clearly been designed with a larger adventure in mind. The puzzles could have been more demanding, some characters could have received greater development, and the final stretch could have used a smoother difficulty curve. These are not fatal flaws, but they do keep Lifted from becoming the memorable adventure classic it so clearly wants to evoke.
Still, there is something genuinely appealing about Lifted’s refusal to overcomplicate itself. You get a colorful adventure, responsive platforming, amusing characters, cinematic presentation and just enough optional content to make exploration worthwhile, all wrapped up in a compact package. It is not going to satisfy players looking for deep puzzle design, demanding platforming or a lengthy narrative campaign, and its occasional camera confusion and uneven final difficulty spike can certainly test your patience. But when everything clicks, Lifted captures exactly the kind of uncomplicated fun it is aiming for. It feels like a game made by people who understand why old adventure films remain so enjoyable: not because they were particularly complex, but because they knew how to make us want to see what happens next. For families, newcomers to platformers and anyone with a soft spot for lighthearted 1980s-style adventure, that makes Lifted an easy recommendation. For veteran platforming fans, its simplicity and brevity may prove less compelling, but even then, there is little reason not to enjoy the ride while it lasts.
Score: 7.9/10