There are few game genres with as large an audience as puzzles. Seven years ago, Enhance brought fans the release of Tetris Effect, and the dev team at Enhance believed they could deliver a multi-sensory experience, although Tetris boils down to clearing block lines. They remixed the base Tetris formula and pumped it full of bleeding visuals and a pumping soundtrack that locks the player in, regardless of whether the person behind the sticks is a “Tetris guy” or not.
Fast forward to 2025, and Enhance is back at it again with Lumines Arise. Lumines Arise is an enhanced version of the Lumines experience, filled with game modes, infectious music, and visuals that will demand 100 percent of your retina focus. Lumines Arise chains the player to their chair with an addictive gameplay loop that demands ‘one more try,’ then, when you realize you can put the sticks down, you won’t.
For returning Lumines puzzlers, Lumines Arise will be like returning home for the Holidays and realizing that one member of the family you don’t want to be around is missing this year. That’s how much of an improvement Arise makes over its predecessor with its myriad visual and audio innovations. Although the base gameplay has largely remained the same, gameplay has been bolstered with infectious techno beats and a visual feast that cannot be contained.
Enhance brings their trademark ‘multi-sensory’ approach to Lumines Arise, and although there is so much going on at once, the action never becomes confusing. Enhance handles this multi-sensory approach with deft hands, and the player (at least this one) doesn’t feel overwhelmed.
Lumines Arise brings back the music unit, Hydelic (from Tetris Effect), to bring the beats to ‘box Tetris.’ Each time a 2×2 box is cleared, the music and visuals correspond by blasting the player with rewarding feedback. In Lumines Arise, players must clear 2×2 boxes (or 3×3, 4×4, you get it) to clear enough boxes to advance to the next stage.
Think Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine (with boxes of four beans instead of two), and instead of five colours, there are two. In place of facing a CPU/Human opponent, you’re facing the top of the screen like Tetris, and an ever-increasing block speed. The objective is to clear as much as possible without failing.
The main menu features your small avatar called a Loomii (which reminded me of a Mii from Mii Plaza), and a selection of modes to choose from. Journey is the staple, roguelike mode that lets players attempt four Lumines levels in a row. This mode also kicks you back to the beginning (if playing on a difficulty higher than Easy) and promotes player improvement, like how MLB The Show 25 deploys dynamic difficulty. If you are killing it in-game, the difficulty will increase by ramping up the speed, and players can tone it down by choosing between Easy, Normal and Hard modes (although this speed increase will still occur).
There is a Mission Mode in Lumines Arise to show newcomers the ropes in a series of tasks designed to onboard inexperienced puzzlers. These missions do a great job of explaining the ins and outs of Lumines Arise, and after finishing the first dozen or so, these missions become harder. After about mission 40, only the most expert Lumines sweepers can march through.
Inadvertently, Lumines Arise deploys a game structure reminiscent of other puzzle titles. Gravity drops blocks from the top like Hexic, popping 2×2 boxes is as infectious as a big combo in Candy Crush, and if the player has any experience playing similar games, it will feel like riding a bicycle. Lumines (the series) originally came out in 2004, so it’s safe to say that while other puzzlers were inspired by Lumines (Candy Crush came out in 2012), Lumines Arise has adapted to the new generation with the same-minded inspiration, pushing it into 2025 with a flood to the senses.
After jumping into the Journey Mode and firing up a level, it’s clear what separates Lumines Arise from the rest of the pack. At first, I went along clearing boxes like the task demanded, but halfway through, the boxes changed shapes. On one level, it went from being apples to changing into bell peppers and broccoli shapes halfway through. In another, boxes assumed clear blue and yellow squares and spheres. The level design is varied, and the music follows the presentation on screen sharply.
Every time I started up Lumines Arise, I risked entering a fugue state of endlessly clearing lines, while head-bobbing along to the beat. Enhance has included a playlist option (after you complete the Journey Mode, you have access to every stage) to let players skip the stages they didn’t enjoy and make a list of what they want.
“Lumines Arise is an accomplishment.”
To help players stay out of the real world and in the blocks of Lumines Arise, Steam Cloud saves allow players to play on the Steam Deck (with full certification) seamlessly. I was able to stop in the middle of a journey, end my session on the desktop, and jump on the portable Steam Deck easily.
There’s also an included Survival Mode that unlocks after the Journey Mode is completed, adding another mode to Lumines Arise. While I couldn’t join an online game, there is an online plaza (very much like Mii Plaza) where Loomii’s hang around. Here, players can participate in a weekly Quick Burst event and test their scores against the larger Lumines community, or personalize their Loomii and show off accolades with their style.
Loomiis can be customized completely. Lumines Arise gives player rewards for completing hard tasks in-game, and players can then outfit their Loomii with a different head, a different accessory and a different face. Players with the Demon head have completed all the expert-level challenges, etc. There’s also a ‘gacha’ option, where you pay. This is a cool feature to flex new customization options with friends, adding a sense of community and accomplishment to Lumines Arise.
Lumines Arise is an accomplishment. By sticking to the base gameplay that made Lumines a staple in puzzle games for the past two decades, Enhance focused on bringing more bells and whistles to the experience while allowing the gameplay to shine on its own. With infectious audio beats and visuals that bleed off the screen, Lumines Arise beckons players to take a night off from the club to stay in. Lumines. With sharp gameplay, crisp visuals, online matches, and many modes and customization options, Lumines Arise is a puzzle gamer’s dream, and it will let you cut the line to get in each time you fire it up.
