Lumines Arise bursts onto PlayStation 5 this Fall

Life is rhythmic. It has a pulse. We, as living beings, experience highs and lows. Sometimes together, other times alone. Games have the power to tap directly into that rhythm, stimulating all your senses to put you into a flow state. Everything around you disappears, and you fall into the game’s world. When this happens, it’s a magical feeling that can stir powerful emotions within you.

You’re going to feel that in spades with Lumines Arise, a brand-new entry in the critically acclaimed series which began on the PlayStation Portable 20 years ago (available as Lumines Remastered on PS4). Lumines is back, and to everyone who’s been a fan since the original, I hope you’re excited about this new chapter built from the ground up to push the synergy of audio, visuals, and gameplay beyond any previous title in the franchise.

Lumines Arise bursts onto PlayStation 5 this Fall

Embark on a journey paved with sound and light

Lumines Arise on PlayStation 5 with optional PS VR2 compatibility is more than just an ordinary puzzle game—our aim is to hit you right in the feels. You emerge from the darkness in the first stage (a glimpse of which you saw in today’s announcement trailer), and every stop on the over 30-stage journey evokes a different and complex emotional response. From lush jungles, oceans teeming with life, and snakes preparing to strike, to more electronic frontiers like the bustling streets of Tokyo and the endless expanse of outer space. All with visual flourishes to incite synesthesia.

Simple mechanic, surprising depth

It all starts with a seemingly simple puzzle mechanic. If you’ve never played a Lumines game before, here’s how it works: rotate and place a variety of 2×2 blocks made up of one or two colors, forming squares of a single color/pattern. The Timeline sweeps across the playfield to the beat of the thumping soundtrack, erasing completed squares in its path. That gives you a light time pressure to form squares and build on them, making bigger and bigger squares to clear combos and score even more points.

You race to create combos, ever mindful of the constant movement of the Timeline, feeling the vibration of the DualSense controller while the music radiates between your ears and the vibrant, lively background draws you in. That’s when you enter a flow state, and the world around you vanishes. Your pulse quickens as your breath holds still.

Introducing Burst

Now, to amp things up! We’re introducing a brand-new feature to Lumines’ core gameplay: Burst. As you play, you charge up a gauge, shown at the top of the Timeline. When ready, tap a trigger button to activate Burst and lock a formed square to the playfield. Build it as large as you can before time runs out. Watch screen-clearing combos rack up massive points when Burst is complete and the Timeline starts clearing that color again. Clear enough squares to meet the stage’s quota, and you’ll zoom to the next environment.

Avatars are making a comeback, too. Customize your own from the largest catalog of designs in the series ever, and we’re adding more as we go, so stay tuned for updates. It’s the perfect way to express yourself and your personality when setting off on your in-game journey.

Music to your ears… And eyes

In the announcement trailer, you got a taste of Lumines Arise’s phenomenal new soundtrack. If you like that, check out the single of “Only Human” on Bandcamp (coming to other streaming services soon) for a closer listen. Arise features brand-new music composed by Hydelic, who was also responsible for Tetris Effect: Connected’s award-winning score. And just as with Connected, everything you do in-game impacts the soundscape.

More to come in the future

Stay tuned for information about a demo coming later this Summer that you might even want to play with friends.

Now that you’ve seen and know more about Lumines Arise, I hope you’ll agree that this is not just an ordinary puzzle game. It’s an experience of sound and light that will move you like no other. We’ll have plenty more to share as the launch date of Lumines Arise approaches in the Fall.