Shacknews Best VR Game of 2025 - Lumines Arise

Enhance continues to create amazing puzzle games that blow minds and make for exceptional VR experiences.

Much of the appeal of virtual reality is taking a first-person journey into other worlds. It's an escape into a world that's otherwise impossible. It's one of the ultimate forms of immersion. Lumines Arise checks all of those boxes, continuing the work that Enhance Games began with games like Rez Infinite and Tetris Effect.

Lumines Arise is a modern reimagining of the classic Lumines puzzle game, combining it with the mind-melting landscapes and musical wonderlands of Tetris Effect. It's an engaging puzzle game on its own, but throw in the artistic worlds crafted by Enhance's Synesthesia engine and the game becomes a visual treat unlike any other.

For as much fun as Lumines Arise is as a traditional PC and console game, the game truly hits new heights in virtual reality. Imagine going from worlds of head-bopping chameleons, to relaxing oceanfront beaches, to a snowy mountain, to various other imaginative lands all in first-person. Picture all of it while the sounds of Enhance's in-house band, Hydelic, crank out sick beats and funky lyrics to match the action. It's an amazing combination that excels in VR.

It's also worth noting that Enhance has gotten tremendously good at minimizing the downsides of playing in VR. Like Tetris Effect before it, Lumines Arise doesn't cause motion sickness or nausea that's often typical of this type of intense VR experience. It's a game that pushes the envelope of what's possible with VR and makes a great case to own a PlayStation VR 2.

The songs never stop and the beats will always drop with Lumines Arise. That's what makes it the Shacknews Best VR Game of 2025.