Lumines Arise review: the cure for our cynical world

Every morning, I wake up in The Cynical World.

Anger fires into my veins before the cortisol even hits. 
I feel my bodily functions evolving in response to the wretched world outside of my bed, 
Like it's releasing an antidote to the poison seeping into my nostrils. 
The air gets thicker each day to counter my defense. 
It is an arms race with no end.

Every morning, I wake up in The Cynical World. 

If some horror story in the news doesn’t set me off before I can get out of bed, 
I’ll find some other way to get my morning dose of spite. 
A one-sided rival running their mouth again. 
An innocuous opinion on a movie. 
A friend saying something I fully agree with, but in an annoying way. 
It’s black coffee all the same.

Every morning, I wake up in The Cynical World. 

Haven’t I had this argument before? 
Haven’t I fought this battle before? 
I tumble through the circular days,
Like a pair of sneakers in a laundromat’s perpetually-busted washing machine. 
It reaches the end of its cycle with a click, but the dial keeps turning right. 
It slows for a moment, then I am ricocheting off the metal again. 
Thump. Thump. Thump.

In these dim days, light is a precious resource. You have to search the ceiling for cracks and bask in the rays that shine through them. A positive news story. Friendly small talk with your local bodega guy. A good video game.

When I play Lumines Arise, 
I am no longer in The Cynical World. 
I am a cat in a sunbeam.