One of the coolest experiences of my holiday break was getting the chance to finally play Tetris Effect, which released this past November for the PlayStation 4.

I was hooked when I saw the original trailer, embedded below, but I didn’t realize how enthralling the game would be.

www.youtube.com/watch

Sure, there have been some hyperbolic pull quotes from reviews —

Sam Machcovech for Ars Technica:

I know how silly this might sound, typing it outside the soothing VR cocoon that is Tetris Effect, but I stand by it. I have never felt so connected to a greater human truth, a cheesy feeling like the one in that quoted song, than in the act of clearing line, after line, after line within this beautiful video game.

Michael McWhertor for Polygon:

Above all, what I love about Tetris Effect is that it is unabashedly earnest. It is a captivating, beautiful thing to experience in a bleak time. It speaks Tetris, the common tongue of video game design, as poetry.

Christian Donlan for Eurogamer:

Tetris is a game for the ages, a game that has always felt like some form of universal constant that has been excavated as much as it was ever actively designed. Everywhere in the universe there is complex life to be found I reckon there will be Tetris sooner or later. I hope they get a game as good as Tetris Effect to truly do it justice.

— but if I’m honest, they’re, well, right.

Much like his prior games, Rez and Lumines, producer Tetsuya Mizuguchi has given us a game which is an incredible synthesis of gameplay, light, and sound - elements all fusing together to make a puzzle game which is both enthralling and transcendent. It’s really something special. And I’m not even playing in VR!

Tetris Effect is a great puzzle game, but more than that, a great experience - and I feel lucky to get to engage with it. Worth checking this one out, PS4 owners.

Now, if you excuse me, I have to get “Connected (Yours Forever)“ out of my head.

Tetris Effect is available digitally or physically from Sony. Get it here on Amazon.com.