A new post on the PlayStation blog has confirmed details for the upcoming Tetris Effect: Connected expansion, which adds multiplayer game modes and will be available as a free update for all owners of the base game.
More importantly, a PlayStation beta will run next week, with the full launch set for late July.
As with the original game, all of the new modes are playable both in and out of VR — you can choose to use your PSVR headset, or simply play flatscreen without it. The blog also confirms that everything remains backwards compatible on PS5, for those who are using a PSVR headset on the next-gen console.
There’s a bunch of new multiplayer modes, too. Connected mode sees you form a team of three players, fighting against an AI-controlled boss, as shown above. Zone Battle is a simple 1v1 mode that follows the same rules as single-player Tetris Effect, but in a competitive environment. Score Attack is a similar 1v1 mode, but the aim is to build the highest score in the round’s limited time.
Classic Score Attack is the same mode, but with old-school Tetris settings — this means no hard drops, no holding pieces and only one visible piece in the pieces queue. Tetris blocks in this mode will also lock immediately when touching a surface, which is slightly less lenient than other modes. This is supposedly the “unforgiving” version of Tetris that is played professionally in competitions. There’s also PAL Speed and Slow Speed game modes as well, which you can read about here.
Come the public release, cross-platform play will also be supported and will be automatically enabled for ranked matchmaking. For private games, you can share a 4-digit room code with your friend, which will work across all platforms. Up to four others will also be able to join matches between friends as a spectator.
The PlayStation beta will be available to download for owners of Tetris Effect on PS4/PS5 from June 23, 8pm PDT and will run until July 5. The full release is set for “late July”, which should also include other platforms like PC VR and potentially Quest, though we have no confirmation of the latter just yet.
You can read more about the Tetris Effect: Connected update over on the PlayStation blog.
