Microsoft debuted the announcement trailer for Tetris Effect: Connected at the Xbox Games Showcase, with a nod to the current state of the world. This new take on the classic tile-matching strategy game is being developed by Japanese duo Monstar and Resonair with help from Stage Games. The theme is being connected, which seems aptly timed with so many people being stuck in quarantine for so long due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The trailer plays a hopeful tune performed by Hydelic, eponymously titled “Connected.” It shows clips of people in their homes, presumably playing the game together in its all-new multiplayer mode.
Tetris Effect: Connected will launch alongside the Xbox Series X during the 2020 holiday season as a console exclusive. Ports will also be available for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Game Pass. The base game will have an optimized single-player at launch and is advertised as the original Tetris Effect with expanded features. Multiplayer mode will arrive as a free update in the Summer of 2021 for all existing versions of the game. Moving toward a multiplayer experience is a really smart move considering how the world has been impacted by the recent global health crisis.
This was an obviously a calculated decision, which Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Founder, and CEO, Enhance, highlighted in a recent blog post, saying “…we also kept hearing that players wanted to share that experience with others. We want that, too – and especially as the world continues to adapt to unprecedented forms of isolation, it felt like worthy challenge. Tetris Effect: Connected is our attempt to do just that…” He also shared detail on these new modes like Zone Battle, which shakes up traditional 1-on-1 versus Tetris with a time-stopping Zone mechanic. Then there’s Connected mode, where players can literally connect their Tetris playfields together and play as one as they work together to take down a series of bosses. This new take on the long-standing game franchise seems to have many excited about the new features. Visit the Xbox website for more details on Tetris Effect: Connected.