I’m going to start this off being honest. I love puzzle games and puzzles in general, but I had never touched Lumines before. I had always heard it was one of the greats and beloved by many, but I just never got around to it. That was until at Summer Games Fest when we got out of an appointment early and had time to spare. Luckily, we walked by the Lumines Arise booth, and they had an opening to check out the game. I’m so glad that we decided to take that opportunity as this was one of the most enjoyable hands-on experiences I had during the weekend.

This time around Lumines Arise is being developed by Enhance who are the developers behind the amazing Tetris Effect. After that game, pairing them up with Lumines is like a match made in heaven. The visuals happening on screen as you play and the music pull you in completely and don’t let you go. With so many effects happening or changes to the blocks and backgrounds, you would worry that it would distract players while their engaging in the puzzle aspects, especially since the board here is bigger than in Tetris Effect. However, that’s not the case at all as I felt more locked in and just vibing along with the music as I kept playing that time flew by while I was enjoying myself.

As for the gameplay, Lumines Arise still keeps to the classic formula of building bigger blocks of the same type as they fall from the top of the screen while a bar moves from left to right to clear blocks as it passes them. This game also gives you an ability that builds up over time that will pause the bar as you try to build the biggest block you can before it is cleared and you gain all the extra points. I was so engaged with just playing this game overall that I could’ve spent hours on that couch just continuing playing and enjoying myself.

Eager fans and newcomers to the franchise won’t have to wait too long to get their hands on it as Lumines Arise launches this Fall.