4.5/5 ★ – NiGHTS108's review of Tetris Effect.

It only took me until I was a legal adult while being a video game guy for almost that entire time, but I think I understand Tetris now. I'm not going to fully expound on my opinions of Tetris by itself in this review, that'd take me many thousands of words that I just can't dish out right now, but I can give you a good little handful of words on my opinions of Tetris Effect. This game is very evidently by the Lumines guy. I mean of course it is, that's why I got this game, because I love Lumines. In all honesty I have a hard time talking about Tetris Effect without talking about Lumines because the two games present themselves honestly more similarly than I was expecting. When you boot up Tetris Effect, they could not be any more not kidding when they say to use surround sound or headphones while playing the game. So much of what Tetris Effect bets on is it's immersion, so you might as well help it out in that regard. I personally also recommend playing it in a pitch black room, ideally at night with just the light of your TV or computer monitor. Actually, wait, there's a VR version of this game for a reason. I feel like I really just can't talk about this game without reviewing both Tetris and Lumines first which as I've said would take several hundred minutes. On the surface level I can say that I do think Tetris Effect is an incredibly presented game. It's amazing how practically every element of the game's sound and aesthetic changes from area to area. Many of these areas are delightful, and it's so easy to lose yourself in all of it. All that I really have to say negative about Tetris Effect is that the song in the second part of the first area of the journey mode sounds like a dollar store Kids See Ghosts song which was the only time I was really taken out of the immersion. You know, Kids See Ghosts also dropped in 2018, so maybe it was just the style at the time. I do prefer Lumines by the way.