Lumines Arise Revitalizes a PSP Puzzle Classic with the Breathtaking Tetris Effect Approach

For those who owned a PlayStation Portable and had an eye for quality games, Lumines Arise is a dream come true. This title sees Tetris Effect developer Enhance reimagining the Lumines puzzle formula through a vibrant and extravagant lens: the rhythm-based matching of 2x2 blocks, brought to life with mesmerizing visuals that evoke a similar brain response to the iconic stargate sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey. At the Summer Game Fest, GamesIndustry.biz mentioned to creative producer Mark MacDonald that giving Lumines the Tetris Effect treatment was exactly what fans wanted next from the studio. 'We've heard that a lot,' MacDonald says. 'It's been great to hear that every time we've spoken to fans here.' The Lumines formula is straightforward yet has a high skill ceiling. Players drop two-color 2x2 blocks onto a grid to form squares of the same color, scoring points in the process. A 'Timeline' sweeps across the grid, removing matched blocks and applying time pressure to match more squares or increase their size before scoring. Failure occurs when the player can no longer fit a 2x2 square onto the grid due to overcrowding. Lumines has a touch of Tetris in its design, but the audio-visual experience is vital, with the grid's colors changing and the music intensity shifting as the player progresses. The last Lumines game was a 2018 remaster, which brought the original PSP title to modern platforms, including the Nintendo Switch. Seven years later, Lumines Arise takes the audio-visual aspect several steps forward, featuring over 30 stages and evocative music by Hydelic, the team behind Tetris Effect. 'When we worked on Tetris Effect and its Connected edition, our team felt like we accomplished something significant,' says director Takashi Ishihara. 'We took a well-known franchise and added our unique style, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. I believe our team created something special with an existing IP.' Tetris Effect won numerous awards, including Eurogamer's best game of 2018, and subverted expectations for those who thought they had seen everything Tetris had to offer. 'We gained a lot of knowledge and techniques from that experience, and after its success, we asked ourselves how we could apply those learnings to our next project,' Ishihara explains. Enhance, whose CEO is Rez and Lumines creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi, found that both new and old fans still had a passion for the Lumines series, leading to this being their next project. 'We wondered how we could make Lumines special if we were to bring it back, and that's how we started working on Arise,' Ishihara says. Arise is not entirely the same as the older Lumines games. While the core puzzle formula of matching squares by color remains, a new 'Burst' mechanic allows players to charge up a bar and build a high combo by adding blocks to a growing square. The visuals for Arise are stunning, with a treat in store for those with a PlayStation VR 2 headset. From dancing chameleons to fish swimming through oceans and people walking Tokyo streets, the visual variety promises to be an event. Ishihara, responsible for the game's art and direction, says there are always more visual ideas than the team can fit into a game. 'As an artist, and my art team can back me up on this, there are many worlds and environments we'd love to create, whether in a Lumines world or not,' Ishihara explains. 'But after Tetris Effect and Connected, we were eager to revisit some of the stages or ideas we had that didn't make it into those games or that we wanted to pursue further.' Ishihara's personal experiences, including his time at Q Entertainment, help shape the stunning worlds in Lumines Arise. 'A lot of the inspiration comes from my travels, interactions, and so on,' he says. 'One fun fact: the chameleon stage in the demo was inspired by a framed piece of artwork I saw at Q Entertainment's office.' With Hydelic on board, there was no chance of licensed music in Lumines Arise. The collaboration between the sound and art teams during development is key to the game's impact, according to MacDonald. 'The art team gets inspired, comes back with something, and then the sound team sees what the art team does and wants to step up their game,' MacDonald says. 'That back-and-forth results in a better end product.' Building a soundtrack from scratch enables the team to break down each track into individual components and add reactivity to the gameplay. 'Previous Lumines games with licensed tracks created a certain experience, but with Arise, we want to provide an overall story arc and fluid experience,' Ishihara says. The game's Journey mode features thematically tied stages with music. 'We feel like there's a story arc and fluid experience we want to provide, and to achieve that, we applied a similar formula to Tetris Effect, with Hydelic overseeing the entirety of Lumines Arise,' Ishihara explains. One disadvantage Lumines Arise has compared to Tetris Effect is the popularity and reach of Tetris, which has sold 520 million copies across all iterations. A PSP classic, even with its numerous excursions onto other platforms, doesn't have the same familiarity as Tetris. The developers are aware of the gap in comprehension between Lumines and Tetris. 'I think you're selling yourself short, and you're actually a pretty good player, but we notice there can be a gulf between a beginning player and the different avenues of depth the game has,' MacDonald says. Enhance is working on ways to educate players to improve at Lumines, with more to be revealed around the time the game's demo is released this summer. 'We'll have a way to take you from a low or mid-level player to at least knowing the high techniques,' MacDonald says. Enhance is using Lumines Arise as an opportunity to create the most definitive version of Lumines yet, including a multiplayer offering that exceeds previous attempts. 'We're talking about Journey mode, but we'll have a big multiplayer mode at launch, which is something Lumines has never been known for,' MacDonald says. 'I think we have an idea for a good, true, competitive multiplayer paradigm that leans into what Lumines is known for, which is the music, along with the Burst mechanic.' The game is also aiming for day one Steam Deck verification, with MacDonald showing a sharp-running demo on the system. In some ways, Lumines feels like a series waiting to have its moment, despite selling a few million copies over the past two decades. Arise's more elaborate treatment has the potential to finally elevate the franchise to the level of popularity it deserves.