Supernatural handyman sim The Lift is coming to PS5 in 2027

Fantastic Signals has announced The Lift, a supernatural handyman simulator launching simultaneously on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S in 2027. While the game was first revealed for PC (Steam) in September 2025, studio director Ivan Slovtsov detailed the console versions today on the PlayStation Blog, describing a game that combines mundane facility maintenance with sci-fi horror. The studio has been quietly building the title for four years.

The premise sounds like a collision between the mundane tasks of House Flipper and the brutalist weirdness of Control. Players take on the role of a handyman tasked with renovating an abandoned research facility that happens to be infested with supernatural anomalies. Simulation games have exploded in popularity over the last few years. They usually offer a low-stress environment where players can power wash a driveway or paint a virtual living room. Fantastic Signals is taking those satisfying mechanical loops and dropping them into a hostile environment.

The pedigree behind the project makes this genre mashup make sense. The Fantastic Signals team includes developers who previously worked on Pathologic 2 and Ori and the Will of the Wisps. Pathologic 2 launched in 2019 and quickly became notorious for its punishing, anxiety-inducing survival mechanics and oppressive atmosphere. Applying that kind of tension to a genre usually reserved for relaxing podcasts is a strange pivot, but an intriguing one. I am curious to see how the studio balances the inherent satisfaction of fixing a broken pipe with the stress of being hunted by an anomaly.

Strugatsky brothers and abandoned facilities

The narrative draws heavily from Soviet science fiction, specifically the Strugatsky brothers' 1965 novel Monday Starts on Saturday. This puts the game in a specific lineage of weird fiction adaptations in the gaming industry. The Strugatskys' work previously inspired the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, and their influence echoes through modern supernatural games like Pacific Drive and Death Stranding. Instead of exploring an exclusion zone with a Geiger counter and an assault rifle, players will apparently be fixing the plumbing while reality warps around them.

To make that work, the gameplay loop borrows from immersive sims like 2017's Prey. Players will need to use interconnected systems and environmental storytelling to figure out how to repair the facility without getting killed. It is not just about clicking on a broken fuse box until a progress bar fills up. You have to navigate a hostile environment, manage resources, and figure out how the facility's broken systems interact with the supernatural entities occupying the space.

PS5 Pro enhancements are already planned

The 2027 release window is still a long way off. Fantastic Signals confirmed the game will utilize the DualSense controller's haptic feedback and adaptive triggers to give physical weight to the various tools players will use. They also noted the game will support enhanced graphics on the PlayStation 5 Pro. I found the phrasing in the original announcement a bit funny, as it almost framed the PS5 Pro as a future console, even though Sony released the hardware back in November 2024. By the time 2027 rolls around, the Pro will be firmly established hardware, and developers will likely have a much better grip on Sony's AI-driven upscaling technology.

While the console versions were announced on Sony's official channels, The Lift is confirmed for a simultaneous launch across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. The game was first revealed for PC (Steam) in September 2025, demonstrating Sony's practice of highlighting multiplatform indie games on its blog.

Pick up House Flipper VR on Humble Bundle.

Pick up PowerWash Simulator on Humble Bundle.

Pick up Prey on Humble Bundle.

Pick up Pacific Drive on Humble Bundle.

Pick up Recon Control on Humble Bundle.

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