Tetris Effect, revealed just before E3 2018, looks absolutely trippy. Which is as expected when it is helmed by Rez and Lumines developer Tetsuya Mizuguchi. While it should play and feel like Tetris, there is a new mechanic added to this game, as explained in now post on Playstation Blog.
The mechanic is simply called the Zone. You will build a meter as you stack those tetrominoes and when it’s enough, you can get into the zone, which is essentially time stop powers. Tetrominoes will stop falling down gradually so you have ample time to figure out where to place it, but it is also stops any lines from clearing out when it is filled.
While it sounds useful for beginners- and it indeed is- that latter part is where the mechanic may prove to be something satisfying. Since lines are not cleared, you can stack multiple tetris chains (clearing the maximum of four lines in one move) and have it all clear out when you’re out of the zone. You can form Octoris, Dodecatris and even Decahexatris, scoring even bigger points and hopefully, an even trippier sensation.
A tetris pro could possibly fill the whole board while in the Zone, which would have been inadvisable in other Tetris games.
Just look at this short snippet, showing the Zone in action:
Tetris Effect will be available later this year for the PS4 and PS VR.
via Playstation Blog