Lumines Arise Drops Today for PS5 and PC: Get Ready for another Rhythm Puzzle Masterpiece from Enhance

The beats, and blocks, drop today with the launch of Lumines Arise on PlayStation 5 (with PS VR2 support) and PC via Steam. More than 20 years from Lumines' launch alongside the PSP, Enhance and Monstars Inc. have come full circle from their success with Tetris Effect to bring their special blend of sight, sound, and gameplay back home in this latest installment. As our hands-on preview raved, this successor to the PSP classic evolves the formula with the addition of Burst Mode and a new level of dynamic visuals and music that immerse and involve you in the experience more than ever before.

Drop Blocks to the Beat and Lose Yourself in the Music

Lumines Arise retains the series' signature gameplay beats of rotating and dropping 2x2 squares to form matching blocks that are cleared by a scrolling timeline sync'd to the music. Lumines has always had a great core gameplay experience, and that is no different here. The big gameplay innovation of Arise is Burst Mode, which allows you to hold matched squares on the screen for multiple timeline passes in order to grow and expand the combo to otherwise impossible heights. Blocks that do not match the current clear are tossed off the top of the screen until Burst Mode ends, then they come raining back down onto the playfield and make matches of their own. It is a blast to play with, a much more strategic power than Tetris Effect's Zone, and it enables some incredible clear totals that I'm sure will be lighting up social media over the next few weeks.

Journey Mode takes place over 35 single-player stages, each with dynamic environments that react to the music and your gameplay to make you feel more connected to each level. Multiplayer comes in the form of Burst Battle, which pits online players against each other to see who can clear the most blocks, and rain the most garbage down on their opponent. Honestly, I'm not good at this aspect of the game, and will likely stick to solo and offline play, but more power to you if you're an elite level Lumines player.

Additional features include customizable avatars, PS VR2 support on PS5 and a Steam Deck Verified designation to bring Lumines back to its portable roots.

Critical Reception: The Crowd Goes Wild

Reviews are positive across the board, earning Lumines Arise a MetaCritic average of 86, with several critics awarding the game a perfect score. Overall, it seems that how much you enjoy losing yourself in the experience will help determine how much you love Arise. For many, it is a game they expect to continue coming back to year after year, others feel like it's a great game but one that they will likely only experience once.

Here are a collection of reviews from various outlets to give you an idea of the breadth of opinions:

PlayStation LifeStyle: 100/100 Lumines Arise takes Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s puzzle game masterpiece to a new level. With plenty of mesmerizing stages and gameplay that is as entrancing as ever, this is one of the best puzzle games ever made. - Full Review

Shacknews: 90/100 Arise is an absolute triumph. The visuals are some of Enhance's best, utilizing the best of both Unity and its own proprietary Synaesthesia Engine. It's wildly fun and unexpectedly challenging in places, but above all, it's a relaxing pleasure. - Full Review

GameInformer: 88/100 Lumines Arise is stirring, beautiful, and always engaging. Like its cousin Tetris Effect, it's the kind of game that I won’t delete from my hard drive because I will always want the option to lose myself to the game periodically, which Arise is consistently excellent at. - Full Review

GameSpot: 80/100 Regardless of the context in which I experience each stage in Lumines Arise--whether that is competing against another player on a stage they selected, or curating a playlist and taking my time with it at my own pace--revisiting them is never arduous. Sure, it's a testament to the conceit of the series and how well-designed Lumines is. But it also speaks to the main attraction, which is simply to experience--and then re-experience--each setpiece, with its visual gimmicks and stimulating sounds coming together to create a singular ambiance. It doesn't matter that the apples will always turn into peppers, or that the dancers will always be caught in the rain--Arise puts on a show with each stage, revitalizing the series by grabbing a familiar foundation and playing a dozen different concerts with it. - Full Review

Eurogamer: 80/100 These games have always come with oddities, but the central mode is so staggeringly joyous and compelling that it draws my eye and my attention and leaves me powerless to do anything else. Unlike Tetris, Lumines didn't need a borrowing from Lumines to become even better. All it needs - and this may just be me, and I know we have the Steam Deck - is a release on Switch 2, where that glorious panoramic screen that you hold in your hands is waiting to take this absolute dazzler back home to its portable origins. - Full Review

A Puzzle Experience You Can't Find Anywhere Else

Enhance games are always something special, and Lumines Arise is no different. It expands the audio/visual/gameplay synthesis of Tetris Effect and takes you on a journey of discovery, both of yourself and the world at large. It also expands on the Lumines gameplay with the introduction of Burst Mode and integrates it so well that it feels like it's always been there. It's an excellent expression of what games can do with just a few basic building blocks, and a piece of art that can only be fully appreciated as an interactive experience.

So go grab your PS5 controller, or Steam Deck, and settle in. It's time to take a trip.

Lumines Arise is available now for PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam. It is price at $39.99 but still has a 10% launch discount on Steam. It is also compatible with the Steam Deck for portable play, and the PS VR2 and various PC VR headsets for virtual reality play.