Lumines Arise Reviews
A nightmare to navigate, but you wake up to the most beautiful clash of non-intrusive puzzle gameplay, and fully realised visual design; the game Lumines was always meant to be.
Lumines gets the Tetris Effect treatment, and it's incredible. Is anyone really surprised? Don't worry - the gameplay is enough to sustain you through the trippy synesthesia and then some.
Lumines Arise takes a now-iconic formula and revamps it in a way that truly stimulates the senses. When you’re in a flow-state, headphones in, matching blocks, vibing with the gorgeous soundtrack and being mesmerised by the dazzling visuals, time simply melts away. It’s the most diverse and interesting the series has ever been, punctuated by a killer tracklist from its talented composers. Sure to be a regular puzzler to pick up in anybody’s library, there’s simply nothing else quite like Lumines Arise.
Lumines Arise, despite not being the full package, is a once-in-a-generation puzzler where Enhance has, as they did with Tetris, extracted the spirit of an iconic puzzler, they have taken all of its fundamentals, and form-perfected it alongside irresistible, cosmic audiovisual splendour that really does need to be seen, heard, and played to be believed.
Lumines Arise is a must play for puzzle gamers, and a must try for fans of trap music.
Lumines Arise is a successful return of a formula that still works today, dressed in an aesthetic that unabashedly pays homage to the Japanese Experimental Wave to which it belongs by DNA. When everything clicks (music, effects, difficulty, grid readability), it's exactly the kind of experience that makes you say 'just one more skin and I'll stop,' only to realize an hour has passed.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Lumines Arise is a masterful reinvention of the series, blending hypnotic music, vibrant visuals, and intuitive puzzle gameplay into an immersive and deeply satisfying package. Whether in standard 4K or fully in VR, the game captivates, offering both a relaxing experience and moments of intense challenge. With its rich single-player Journey, robust multiplayer options, and deep customization, it caters to both newcomers and long-time fans. Minor accessibility tweaks and occasional visual clutter are small trade-offs for what is otherwise one of the most polished and enjoyable puzzle games of 2025. Lumines Arise is a must-play for anyone who loves puzzles, music, or games that truly make you feel the beat.
The point I’m really getting at here is that Lumines Arise has a meditative-like quality to it. Lumines has always offered rich and vibrant soundtracks backed by gorgeous visuals and an incredibly intense, yet rewarding gameplay loops. Lumines Arise is the ultimate realisation of that vision, and quite possibly the greatest puzzle game I’ve ever played.
Beautiful visuals and an excellent soundtrack collide in Lumines Arise, the latest entry in the long-running Lumines series. This block puzzle game is as timeless as Tetris, and as long as you can get your head around the strategies required here, it's going to keep you entertained for dozens upon dozens of hours.
Music to our ears, Lumines Arise is a stellar puzzle game that provides the ultimate timeline cleanse.
A deep, demanding and hypnotic puzzle game that blends music and gameplay into one seamless flow. Lumines Arise isn't for everyone, but once it grabs you, it becomes impossible to let go.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Lumines Arise is one of my favourite puzzle games of all time with classic gameplay and flashy new visuals that really pop in VR. Whether you're new to these games or not, you're bound to adore what's in store, especially if you enjoy achieving higher and higher scores. 🎵
Lumines Arise successfully refines a proven formula with thoughtful mechanical additions, exceptional audiovisual design, and a wealth of modes, though HDR support is sorely missed.
Lumines Arise is yet another brilliant work bearing the signature of Tetsuya Mizuguchi. Magnetic and addictive, the return of the puzzle game that debuted twenty years ago on PSP is another cherry on top of a stratospheric 2025. Aesthetically hypnotic and with a practically perfect soundtrack, Arise also offers incredibly generous content ranging from single-player modes to a robust online component. Today, as then, the saga continues to be an experience not for everyone due to its unique gameplay and steep learning curve. For lovers of the genre, but also for anyone who wants to try something truly different and original, this is a precious little gem not to be missed.
Review in Italian | Read full review
As a whole, Lumines Arise absolutely delivers what a modern Lumines should be. A nice spread of solo modes and multiplayer extends the replayability, and it all comes together as one of the best puzzle experiences on PS5.
Combining a powerful musical score and striking presentation with tight puzzle-solving mechanics, Lumines Arise is a sleeper hit of 2025. Honoring the gameplay from the original Lumines while adding a robust suite of modes, this musical symphony of puzzles is one every fan of the genre shouldn't miss.
Lumines Arise on PS5 is exactly the kind of follow-up that a game like Tetris Effect deserved to have at its side: a companion piece that riffs on the same synaesthetic ethos but leans into its own identity as a more aggressive, combo-hungry block puzzler. Even without strapping on a PSVR2 headset, this flatscreen version is a gorgeous, absorbing way to lose an hour to rhythm and light, backed by a generous suite of modes and some of the best audiovisual design in the genre.
Lumines Arise is an incredible game played on any size screen, whether on a 70-inch OLED TV or a handheld. But it shines like a diamond in VR, and I feel privileged that I have the equipment to experience it at its best. It’s one of my games of the year, a title I’ll buy on multiple platforms, and will be a permanent install on any device I own that can run it.
Lumines Arise is an absolute showstopper of a title for the PlayStation VR 2 and I suspect will play much the same in VR on PC as well. In any other context it’s still an excellent puzzle game albeit one that you’ll likely finish with rather quickly. Still, if you remotely enjoyed Tetris Effect then Lumines Arise is just as well made and is well worth your time.
umines Arise is, to sum it up in a single word, brilliant. Its simple to learn mechanics make it easy to get started, but very difficult to stop once you do. It’s a sensory feast for three of the five senses, and I suspect that’s only because smell-o-vision and taste-o-tron never took off, or Enhance would find a way to incorporate those, too. I’ll be playing this game for many months to come. As it is, it’s the best version of Lumines, full stop.