Nintendo has been getting crafty with the Yoshi series for some time now. Even from the first Yoshi’s Island, the games have carried a distinct visual style. Nearly a year into the Switch 2, we are blessed with a new Yoshi game in Yoshi and the Mysterious Book. I checked out a portion of the game previously in a preview event, and now I’ve seen the whole game/book. 

From the beginning, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a joyful game, filled with cute creatures and plenty of charm. Mr. E, a mysterious talking book, winds up on Yoshi’s Island with no memory of the information held within his pages. It turns out his pages were once full of information about a variety of creatures that has now been forgotten. Mr E. asks the Yoshis to help recover the creatures hidden amongst his magical pages, being transported into them. Bowser Jr. and Kamek are also searching within the pages for something mysterious as well. 

So far, the Yoshi games have not been renowned for their stories; they’re usually fun and cute adventures, and it’s no different here. While there are a few pretty interesting story moments, otherwise, the plot is fairly thin.

Your main goal is to help Mr. E gather information, uncovering all the different creatures hiding amongst the different habitats within his pages. Making discoveries about each creature is a part of that journey. It’s easy to start with the basics: can Yoshi eat it? Can Yoshi stomp it? Or can Yoshi carry it? There are a few other safe standard discoveries to try. For example, is the creature able to eat fruit/chillies? How do they interact with different creatures? It sounds like it can be repetitive, but in practice, they’re discoveries that you make along the way as you explore the creature’s unique abilities. Even when there might be similar discoveries to make across different habitats, the way you go about this is usually different. 

What really helps is that the creatures are so varied and unique in their own ways. Almost every creature brings a distinct ability to the party, so it’s pretty enjoyable doing all the different research to see just how much Nintendo/Good-Feel took into account, as you poke and prod at everything. It’s even more rewarding when you unlock a discovery for your efforts, encouraging you to try every way the creatures and environment can interact. On top of that, the game is leatherbound-packed with charm, so there’s plenty of silly and entertaining interactions with the creatures. Some of the ways Yoshi interacts with things are wild and made for some interesting screenshots, and I am still amazed at how the game manages to keep so many of the creatures unique. The devs could easily have made a handful of different game mechanics and just put a little spin on it, so it was surprising that the majority of the creatures would bring something new to the game no matter how far in.   

Making discoveries is vital to progressing in the game, and you get points for each one found in a habitat. These points go towards unlocking other chapters, and if you’re a thorough explorer, it doesn’t take long to open up a bunch of chapters.

It isn’t just discoveries that you need to find and collect; there’s still Smiley Flowers and a currency called tokens. The Flowers help unlock a variety of onscreen meters, whether it’s an indicator of where you are in the level, speed, or tracking tastes. Honestly, I didn’t come across this until later on in the game, and even then, they really weren’t needed. Given the game isn’t that difficult, I’m pretty sure it’s more of a novelty feature rather than a necessity. While tokens can be used for unlocking hints towards unfound discoveries. 

To get to the end of all the chapters, it took me about 10-12 hours. This was scouring for as many discoveries as I first ran through. Yoshi’s work isn’t done, though! For many of the habitats, once completed, you unlock additional objectives. Returning to the habitat, you have the option to investigate a creature that’s intruded, providing potential new discoveries for both creatures. Some of the objectives even change up the level, although most are more shorter revisits; they are a fun extra regardless. There are also ink spots that show up, helping to direct you to achievable discoveries too. This is less of an addition to a habitat but more just to help 100%. 

Once the Yoshis enter the book, everything is presented in a lovely illustrated storybook art style, with an element of coloured pencils and watercolours. Some of the newer creature designs have a real Aardman Animation vibe to them, while still keeping that traditional Yoshi’s Island whimsical look. The animation on the game takes on a stop-motion appearance, and it keeps consistent throughout. I didn’t notice any performance issues through the 10+ hours with the game. It also happens to run well and look lovely in handheld mode too; if it had any trouble keeping up, it didn’t show it.

Really though, with the extra horsepower of the Switch 2, this will hopefully become less of a focal point when looking at Nintendo games. Especially when more often than not, they’re no stranger to making good-looking games on more limited hardware. I look forward to seeing more of what happens when it’s even less of a barrier now! Whether it is on the TV or in handheld mode, the habitats within Mr. E’s pages really pop. The different chapters change up the environment, with each representing different ecosystems and a variety of different creatures. 

While for the most part Yoshi remains a relaxed game, there are two levels in particular that lose that chill. One requires you to save multiple CrazeeDazee’s, with even one being eaten by the other creatures resulting in a no-win situation, leaving you to start the habitat over. Another has Yoshi stalked by a mysterious creature, which can send you back to the start of the habitat if it gets you with its scythes. Neither are particularly difficult habitats, but they can definitely test your patience and will potentially frustrate younger players.

Overall, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book manages to strike a nice balance between being accessible for younger players and enjoyable for the young at heart. Death is no longer an issue for Yoshi, there’s no health counter or lives to lose. The game’s focus around exploration and making discoveries would become more frustrating if you took damage in the process. Yoshi isn’t there to defeat Bowser’s armies, this is a peace mission! And even then you can still be knocked about and no death doesn’t mean no challenge. Also Yoshi is in a book world, once you play the game it just feels like it makes sense to remove health meters. Outside of the very rare occasions where the game has no margin of error, you can take your time to explore every nook and cranny. This game not only encourages exploration, you won’t get far without it.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a joyful expedition, taking the Yoshis into another beautiful visual style. The focus on documenting discoveries about the different creatures within the mysterious book adds another layer to the traditional platformer. The more relaxed nature of the game is great for younger audiences, while also being a delight for older audiences who enjoy Yoshi games. If you’re looking for a challenging traditional platformer, you’re not going to find that here, but Yoshi is a ray of light that will bring a smile to many faces.  

Rating: 4/5