Summer Game Fest: Hands-On Preview of Lumines Arise

The latest entry in the series introduces a new mechanic to throw into the mix.

Not gonna lie, the reveal of Lumines Arise was one of the announcements that I found to be the most exciting during the State of Play showcase from the other day. I've been a huge fan of the series from the beginning. Its block dropping puzzle mechanics take just enough from Tetris and other titles like Puzzle League while infusing its own unique rules, not to mention the incorporation of music and psychedelic visuals. Lumines is something special, and the fact that the series hasn't gotten a new entry in over a decade is an absolute crime.

That's all going to change this fall when Lumines Arise comes to PlayStation 5, PlayStation VR2, and Steam. During the first day of Play Days at Summer Game Fest, I had a chance to sit down and give the game a spin. I was immediately sucked in by the visuals. Developers Enhance and Monstars Inc. have taken things to the next level with Lumines Arise. Yes, the games have always boasted trippy backgrounds and unique shapes for the blocks, but everything in Lumines Arise is so much more vibrant and intricate.

The first song/stage played against the silhouette of a walking man while blue and glowing gold orbs and crosses fell from the tops of the screen. The second had a large pair of robotic hands with blocks shaped like industrial fans and others that looked like they came from a technical schematic. The last bore giant chameleons sidling the edges of the screen. The variety in just the three stages alone that I played was memorable, but the music, which ranged from atmospheric to energetic techno, really helped to make the experience even more memorable.

Music, as it so happens, is a huge part of the Lumines experience. The setup in these games is pretty straightforward: 2x2 blocks fall from the sky and you have to rotate and maneuver them to form sets of four matching colors/shapes/patterns. Once you've made a set of four, you can then chain and additional two to four blocks, growing the chain as much as possible until it finally disappears. What makes the blocks disappear? The timeline.

The timelines is a glowing vertical line that sweeps across the playing field. Once its wiped across all of the chained block, they disappear. The Timeline itself tends to move in tandem with the rhythm of the music that's playing in any given stage. So, depending on the song, the Timeline might go quickly, or might go slowly, Each variation offers new challenges—fast makes it harder to make combos, slow let's the combos rack up, but the blocks start to stack rapidly and you run the risk of losing the match once they hit the top.

There's one other component to consider. Although it doesn't impact gameplay, every round of a Lumines game is technically a little different than the last, no matter how many times you've replayed the same song and the same stage. The reason is that every twist and turn and manipulation of the blocks emits tones and chimes. These little bits of music add to the overall song, like texture, except it comes from the player. These small bursts of sound are a big part of what makes Lumines so memorable; it's a treat to hear what comes from the player's movements reflected in the game.

When I've taught game design classes, Lumines is a title that I regularly like to show off to demonstrate what exquisite game design looks like. Lumines Arise is shaping up to become part of the rotation. It's more of what has already made the series so great, but while I would have been happy with more of the same, vanilla Lumines of old, Enhance wasn't interested in resting on its laurels. For Lumines Arise there's something new to try out: the Burst mechanic.

Players build up a charge as they delete blocks. This charge can be engaged at 50%, but is most effective at 100%. Once triggered, Burst will freeze the next color combo of blocks that is formed, but will prevent them from being deleted as the Timeline passes. This means players can keep building up the chain to insane proportions. The remaining color can still be chained and will fly up towards the screen (not unlike another puzzle game legend, Meteos) and disappear. After Burst wears off, all of the chained blocks will vanish. Burst takes cues from the Zone mechanic in Tetris Effect: Connected, but I honestly enjoyed it more here as it feels like a natural part of the Lumines experience in a way that Zone did not in Tetris.

Sadly, there's no release date, but we do know that Lumines Arise will launch in fall of 2025. It was an absolute pleasure playing this game and I sincerely hope that fans will come out and show the game some support when it does.