Developer of Tetris Effect Brings You Lumines Arise, a Hypnotic Puzzle Game for the PS5 and PS VR2

Enhance, the studio that spun Tetris Effect into a hypnotic masterpiece, just pulled back the curtain on Lumines Arise at the June 2025 State of Play, and it’s shaping up to be a dazzling mash-up of music, visuals, and puzzles that’s as easy to pick up as it is tough to put down. If you missed the Lumines craze when it hit the PlayStation Portable back in 2004, it was a rhythm-puzzle lovechild that blended block-dropping with a pulsing soundtrack. Now, 21 years on, Enhance is giving it a modern glow-up that’s ready to mess with your senses in the best way.

At its heart, Lumines Arise is a puzzle game where you drop 2×2 blocks—each rocking one or two colors—onto a 16×10 grid, twisting them to form single-color squares. A “Time Line” glides across the screen, grooving to the game’s thumping beats, clearing those squares for points. Stack blocks to the top, and you’re done. It’s simple but sneaky deep, and the new “Burial” feature cranks it up a notch. Burial lets you lock a square in place, grow it bigger, and unleash huge combo scores when the Time Line hits. “Our goal is to hit you right in the emotions,” says Enhance’s Ivan Nikolai Barkow Castilho, hyping the game’s mission to plunge players into a “sound and light experience” that’s more than just puzzles.

Enhance packed in over 30 unique stages, each a vibe of its own—think lush jungles, neon-drenched Tokyo streets, or cosmic starscapes, all designed to tug at your feelings. The soundtrack, a Lumines hallmark, dishes out electronic bangers from chill to high-energy, locking you into that sweet flow state where nothing else exists. “You’re racing to make combos, feeling the DualSense controller’s vibrations sync with the music,” Castilho says, pointing out how the PS5’s haptic feedback pulls you deeper. For PS VR2 owners, optional support wraps those visuals around you like a psychedelic cocoon, amping up the immersion.


You can go wild with customization, too, decking out avatars with a massive design catalog that’ll keep growing after launch. It’s a way to flex your style as you clear stages by hitting square quotas to unlock the next. The game’s got a social kick, with single-player and multiplayer modes that shine—both will be in a free demo dropping this summer. Whether you’re grinding for high scores alone or duking it out with pals, it’s built to keep you hooked. “It’s about entering that state where your pulse quickens, and you’re fully in the moment,” Castilho nails it, summing up the game’s addictive rush.


What makes Lumines Arise stand out from its ancestors is its bold push to crank the series’ audio-visual magic to 11. Built for the PS5, it flexes the console’s muscle for crisp HD and 4K visuals, paired with a soundtrack that feels like it was ripped from your dream playlist. Unlike Tetris Effect, which remixed a classic, Lumines Arise feels like a fresh spin on its own roots, balancing newbie-friendly gameplay with deep strategy via Burial and combo-chasing. Puzzle game skeptics will find it less about brain-busting mechanics and more about riding the rhythm, with stages that unfold like a road trip through shifting moods. Slated for fall 2025, with a demo this summer, it’s looking like a trip you won’t want to miss.