Lumines Arise Is Going To Be Your Chill Out Game Of The Year

As soon as I saw Lumines Arise by Enhance make its debut at the State of Play, I was excited. While I haven't played Lumines titles in the past, I was one of the millions to get hooked into the gameplay-audio-visual experience that was Tetris Effect. Lucky for me Lumines Arise was also at Summer Game Fest where I was able to check out the first three levels of the game.

Lumines Arise is a block-dropping game where your aim is to destroy enough blocks to be able to complete a level. 

In Lumines Arise, you're always dropping a 2x2 cube made up of two different types of shapes. Much like in Tetris Effect, as you progress through different levels and songs what you're dropping will pretty much always be changing. Even across the few levels I played I saw the blocks include coins, spherical wind effects, a nut (as in 'nut and bolt'), and what seemed to be AC Compressors.

As you're dropping your 2x2 cube of differing units, your goal is to create squares out of the pieces that have already been dropped. When you have a 2x2 cube of a single shape that's easy enough, but sometimes they'll be one shape on the left and one on the right, or opposite corners from one another. Create a 2x2 cube, 4x4 or even larger cubes to earn points.

A major difference to a title like Tetris Effect, where when you achieve a line it disappears, the squares you make in Lumines Arise only disappear once the line that is continuously moving from left to right passes over it. This opens up fast gameplay to creating combos, and even setting up additional cubes for when one set disappears.

The further you progress the faster the game plays, you'll need to work even harder to ensure you're spinning boxes appropriately, making quick matches, and giving the line enough time to clear out the groupings you've made.

While it wasn't on display at Summer Game Fest Lumines Arise will also support PSVR2 and PCVR for those who REALLY want to get in on the relaxing gameplay.

The Audio-Visual Feast Of Lumines Arise

At time-limited gameplay appointments it's key to be able to talk about a game while playing it, maximizing your chance to not only experience the game but hear from an expert near you about what the game will entail and why excited gamers will want to play it. That was not the case for me at Lumines Arise.

Sitting there with headphones on, watching the colorful blocks spin, strange chameleons dance, and the score rising I took 15 minutes to get through the provided levels and it was one of the most relaxing and focused experiences of the show for me.

A Game For Many Experience Levels
After my completion I was advised that what took me 15 minutes took some returning players 7 minutes, and others 22.

Much like Tetris Effect, each level of the game has a unique soundtrack, effects, and symbols. Each of these isn't just a repetition, a song on loop, but also speeds up, and slows down with the game pairing together all elements of the game to be in sync in an incredibly satisfying way.

There will also be playlist options so while you're playing, you can jam out to your favorite tracks.

Lumines Arise Confirms Multiplayer And Campaign

In talking with CJ, Product Manager at Enhance, about the gameplay options when Lumines Arise releases on Steam and PS5 later this year he indicated that it would come with a full Journey mode, taking players through keenly curated levels, but that it would also have an Endless mode to zone out and try for your highest score.

"At it's core it's about forming two by two squares, but the skill ceiling is so huge" - CJ, Product Manager at Enhance

Additionally, Lumines Arise will have multiplayer modes, though he wasn't able to tell me more about those at this time. Whatever those multiplayer modes are though will be enjoyable in the Summer Demo that will be coming along before too long.

One gameplay mode that CJ advised a lot of effort was being put into was the training mode. This is being developed so that while the game is completable by simple clearing each level when you want to challenge others online or go for the longest streak possible in Endless mode that you'll have all of the tools at your disposal.

Accessibility At The Forefront

If you're not a fan of loud music, pulsing and shifting icons, and technicolor images moving up, down, around, and through your screen then worry not. Lumines Arise features a wide variety of accessibility options to make sure as many players as possible can experience the game.

Some of the accessibility features mentioned were that you can change any of the screen effects, make the play field static, can normalize the look of the blocks for easier recognition, and Lumines Arise will also include colorblind settings.

The game also has three different difficulty modes, and an additional setting that the blocks are the top of the screen won't start dropping automatically.

You can control nearly even level of the single player experience.

Lumines Arise Preview | Final Thoughts

Lumines Arise is doing for Lumines for Tetris Effect did for Tetris. It's bringing a curated story experience, perfect to zone out to, and a fun new level of play for fans of the dropping blocks genre.

It's a game where you'll be able to continuously challenge your speed and wit while getting to enjoy beautiful visuals and engaging music.

That being said, at it's core it is still a game about dropping blocks to solve puzzles and moving on. If you're not a fan of this genre then it's not likely Lumines Arise will be what convinces you to enjoy it, but if you do at least enjoy good atmospheric EDM tracks then it's probably at least worth a few rounds.

Lumines Arise was previewed at Summer Game Fest 2025.