After playing 20 minutes of Lumines Arise, the team from Enhance presented me with a difficult decision. "We have another 20 or so minutes left. Do you want to spend the rest of your time asking us some questions, or would you like to play a bit more?" And as much as I wanted to jump straight into interviews and pick the minds of the folks who brought us Humanity, Tetris Effect, and Rez Infinite, I found myself betrayed by my own childlike glee.
"Would you mind if I do just a couple more levels?" I asked.
It was in that moment--when the part of me that simply loves games overtook the part of me that tries her hardest to maintain a writer's sensibilities--that I realized I really enjoyed my time with Lumines Arise. And though of course I took time to chat with game and art director Takashi Ishihara and creative producer Mark MacDonald and enjoyed every minute of it, I left the preview event wishing that somehow the next entry in the Lumines series was back at my hotel, loaded up on my Steam Deck, and waiting for me to get back to playing it.
This isn't to say I didn't get enough time to get a sense of how Lumines Arise is shaping up. During the preview event, I played through a pre-made playlist of four songs followed by another playlist with two additional songs after I proved overly voracious. With each track lasting around four minutes, this made for around 30 minutes of Lumines Arise goodness. From what I gathered, it seems as though the mode I played essentially allows players to construct their own setlists by selecting songs from the game's main story, referred to as Journey mode. As such, I encountered the songs out of order and without the context that I assume would be provided in story mode. And yet, that didn't stop them from being visually delightful, memorable, and, most importantly, a lot of fun.
A golden-hued level that sees players arrange dark blue orbs and yellow squares.
For those unfamiliar with Lumines, the overall gameplay feels very similar to Tetris: Blocks fall down, you rotate and place them to help clear the board, and "topping out" spells game over. However, whereas Tetris sees you place tetrominos of various shapes down to help form lines that then clear your board, Lumines focuses entirely on squares. Each construct you are given is 2x2 consisting of up to two different types of blocks; as you place them down, your goal is to form squares (2x2 or greater) consisting of the same block type.
Once a square is formed, you have until the vertical "Time Line" sweeps across the board to add to it, making the seconds between a square's construction and that sweep a rush to extend your block to a 3x3, 4x4, and so on. Though it doesn't directly correlate to the track's RPM, the Time Line helps emphasize the musicality of the game and builds up your internal rhythm. Arise also gets a new twist with its Burst meter, which slowly fills up over time and can then be used to lock a square to your grid for a few passes of the Time Line, allowing you to add to it for longer and subsequently clear more of the board.
Though this is all relatively simple to grasp, it's certainly harder in execution. And interestingly, the more I thought about what I was doing in Lumines Arise, the trickier things seemed to become. Fortunately, everything about Arise--from its music and visuals to its gameplay--encourages you to enter the same trance-like flow state it inhabits. Everything is fluid, stylish, and hypnotizing. And yet, there is an undeniable tension that comes hand-in-hand with these sorts of puzzle games--the ones that can grow overwhelming, constricting, and unwieldy with just a few poorly placed tiles. Ultimately, though, all this makes for wonderful juxtaposition that is not just a core part of Lumines Arise mechanically, but narratively as well.
A darker level that is largely silent and features empty boxes and clunky, metal box fans.
While I didn't play Arise's Journey mode, one of the handful of levels I did play was notably darker in tone than the others, offering a look at places the game's narrative might go. In place of pulsing lights and electronic pop was oppressive silence and mechanical groans; rather than placing down flashing circles and boxes, I was given harsh, metal box fans and hollow white boxes to try to form into squares. Within a minute, I felt incredibly tense, and told the team as much with a nervous laugh.
According to creative producer Mark MacDonald, this was entirely the point, as Arise's story focuses on "life's highs and lows, and how we balance the good with the bad." Naturally, actually tackling this theme and conveying these messages is a bit difficult due to the game's lack of a written narrative. Though having songs with lyrics in the game can act as a sort of "cheat," MacDonald laughed, as it gives players a more clear sense of how they are meant to feel, lyrics can often be a bit abstract or metaphorical. Atmosphere, then, is largely how the team makes this happen, and just as Lumines influenced how Enhance constructed Tetris Effect's environments and storytelling, the team said they looked to Tetris Effect to shape Arise.
"A challenge of our games is that we are telling stories in abstract ways and in ways only we have really done," MacDonald said. "Lumines informed Tetris Effect, and now we're seeing things circle as Tetris Effect shapes Lumines Arise."
Shortly after this interaction, the eerie, monochromatic level started to unweave itself and came to an end. I was then greeted by two dancing chameleons, having the time of their lives, while a fast-paced song thumped away in the background. These levels are indeed an abstract and interesting take on life's "highs and lows," but they absolutely rule, too.
A funky level that features two chameleons and circles and squares to arrange.
As I bobbed my head along to the music and got back into the swing of things, game and art director Takashi Ishihara was delighted that the atmosphere he and the team had constructed was doing precisely what was intended.
"Some people cried when they finished Tetris Effect, and we were blown away by that response," Ishihara said. "I think people who have a deep connection to art and music--who are connected to their emotions and sensitive to atmosphere--will really respond to [Lumines Arise]."
That said, I suspect that even those coming to Lumines Arise purely for a delightful new puzzle game will still be plenty impressed. It's fun, engaging, slightly tense, visually spectacular, and has the same delightful fluidity that Enhance is known for delivering. All in all, I can't wait to spend more time with it once it hits PS5 and PC later this year.
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"Would you mind if I do just a couple more levels?" I asked.
It was in that moment--when the part of me that simply loves games overtook the part of me that tries her hardest to maintain a writer's sensibilities--that I realized I really enjoyed my time with Lumines Arise. And though of course I took time to chat with game and art director Takashi Ishihara and creative producer Mark MacDonald and enjoyed every minute of it, I left the preview event wishing that somehow the next entry in the Lumines series was back at my hotel, loaded up on my Steam Deck, and waiting for me to get back to playing it.
This isn't to say I didn't get enough time to get a sense of how Lumines Arise is shaping up. During the preview event, I played through a pre-made playlist of four songs followed by another playlist with two additional songs after I proved overly voracious. With each track lasting around four minutes, this made for around 30 minutes of Lumines Arise goodness. From what I gathered, it seems as though the mode I played essentially allows players to construct their own setlists by selecting songs from the game's main story, referred to as Journey mode. As such, I encountered the songs out of order and without the context that I assume would be provided in story mode. And yet, that didn't stop them from being visually delightful, memorable, and, most importantly, a lot of fun.
A golden-hued level that sees players arrange dark blue orbs and yellow squares.
For those unfamiliar with Lumines, the overall gameplay feels very similar to Tetris: Blocks fall down, you rotate and place them to help clear the board, and "topping out" spells game over. However, whereas Tetris sees you place tetrominos of various shapes down to help form lines that then clear your board, Lumines focuses entirely on squares. Each construct you are given is 2x2 consisting of up to two different types of blocks; as you place them down, your goal is to form squares (2x2 or greater) consisting of the same block type.
Once a square is formed, you have until the vertical "Time Line" sweeps across the board to add to it, making the seconds between a square's construction and that sweep a rush to extend your block to a 3x3, 4x4, and so on. Though it doesn't directly correlate to the track's RPM, the Time Line helps emphasize the musicality of the game and builds up your internal rhythm. Arise also gets a new twist with its Burst meter, which slowly fills up over time and can then be used to lock a square to your grid for a few passes of the Time Line, allowing you to add to it for longer and subsequently clear more of the board.
Though this is all relatively simple to grasp, it's certainly harder in execution. And interestingly, the more I thought about what I was doing in Lumines Arise, the trickier things seemed to become. Fortunately, everything about Arise--from its music and visuals to its gameplay--encourages you to enter the same trance-like flow state it inhabits. Everything is fluid, stylish, and hypnotizing. And yet, there is an undeniable tension that comes hand-in-hand with these sorts of puzzle games--the ones that can grow overwhelming, constricting, and unwieldy with just a few poorly placed tiles. Ultimately, though, all this makes for wonderful juxtaposition that is not just a core part of Lumines Arise mechanically, but narratively as well.
A darker level that is largely silent and features empty boxes and clunky, metal box fans.
While I didn't play Arise's Journey mode, one of the handful of levels I did play was notably darker in tone than the others, offering a look at places the game's narrative might go. In place of pulsing lights and electronic pop was oppressive silence and mechanical groans; rather than placing down flashing circles and boxes, I was given harsh, metal box fans and hollow white boxes to try to form into squares. Within a minute, I felt incredibly tense, and told the team as much with a nervous laugh.
According to creative producer Mark MacDonald, this was entirely the point, as Arise's story focuses on "life's highs and lows, and how we balance the good with the bad." Naturally, actually tackling this theme and conveying these messages is a bit difficult due to the game's lack of a written narrative. Though having songs with lyrics in the game can act as a sort of "cheat," MacDonald laughed, as it gives players a more clear sense of how they are meant to feel, lyrics can often be a bit abstract or metaphorical. Atmosphere, then, is largely how the team makes this happen, and just as Lumines influenced how Enhance constructed Tetris Effect's environments and storytelling, the team said they looked to Tetris Effect to shape Arise.
"A challenge of our games is that we are telling stories in abstract ways and in ways only we have really done," MacDonald said. "Lumines informed Tetris Effect, and now we're seeing things circle as Tetris Effect shapes Lumines Arise."
Shortly after this interaction, the eerie, monochromatic level started to unweave itself and came to an end. I was then greeted by two dancing chameleons, having the time of their lives, while a fast-paced song thumped away in the background. These levels are indeed an abstract and interesting take on life's "highs and lows," but they absolutely rule, too.
A funky level that features two chameleons and circles and squares to arrange.
As I bobbed my head along to the music and got back into the swing of things, game and art director Takashi Ishihara was delighted that the atmosphere he and the team had constructed was doing precisely what was intended.
"Some people cried when they finished Tetris Effect, and we were blown away by that response," Ishihara said. "I think people who have a deep connection to art and music--who are connected to their emotions and sensitive to atmosphere--will really respond to [Lumines Arise]."
That said, I suspect that even those coming to Lumines Arise purely for a delightful new puzzle game will still be plenty impressed. It's fun, engaging, slightly tense, visually spectacular, and has the same delightful fluidity that Enhance is known for delivering. All in all, I can't wait to spend more time with it once it hits PS5 and PC later this year.
Source