Verdict
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a charming, family-friendly puzzle platformer with all the beauty and comforting vibes of a bedtime storybook. Approachable for younger gamers, but with enough challenge and collectibles for experienced players, this game is sure to make you smile.
Seven years since its last stint in the spotlight, Mario's beloved green dinosaur companion takes center stage once again in Yoshi and the Mysterious Book. Yoshi has been my favorite Mario character for as long as I can remember, so getting the chance to review this game has been a delight. Let's get stuck in.
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book takes place on Yoshi Island, as a talking book called Mr. E falls from the sky and encourages the dinosaurs to explore the various habitats within his pages. You take control of your favorite Yoshi and dive into the book, interacting with and documenting dozens of unique creatures and their abilities.
The core gameplay loop for Yoshi and the Mysterious Book breaks away from the classic linear platforming of some of the dino's previous outings, with each level's end goal revealing itself through your exploration. In a way, Mr. E's documentation of each of the many creatures in the game reminds me of filling out a Pokédex - through Yoshi's attempts to pick up, throw, bounce on, and even eat them, we learn more about these beings and how they operate, scribbling notes as we go.
Each time you find out something new about a creature, you earn stars. The more stars you earn, the more habitats you can visit, and the more weird and wacky friends you can meet. While these stars are the main source of progression, there are also Smiley Flowers to collect in each level, just like in Yoshi's Island. One thing that I initially found frustrating about the star system in this game is that it's extremely unlikely that you'll find every single discovery about a species in your first run-through of a level. The puzzle game elements are a lot more prominent than I was expecting, which took some getting used to, but once I settled into a rhythm with the gameplay loop, it made a lot more sense.
See, once you've encountered a creature once, it can appear in different levels as well, so some discoveries for its pages are directly linked to how it interacts with other species and habitats. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book encourages backtracking in this way - at least for the completionists among us - without forcing it for story progression, which makes it both accessible for younger audiences and rewarding for adults. Figuring out the solutions to certain puzzles feels almost sandbox-esque, as I sit there throwing everything at the wall (sometimes literally) to see what sticks, which is the kind of freedom I don't often experience in traditional Mario games.
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book definitely has a distinctive art style, taking a stylistic approach similar to Crafted World and Woolly World before it. The little time you spend outside of Mr. E's pages is rendered like a standard Mario series game, with vibrant colors and smooth 3D models, but the inside of the book has a colored pencil-style overlay that makes some of the animations intentionally fuzzy at the edges. I quite like this style, and it definitely creates the feeling of being inside a book, but I can see that it might not be to everyone's taste. I've mostly played this game in handheld mode, and the fuzziness does sometimes make scenarios hard to read, but this is rare.
As for performance, unsurprisingly for a Nintendo first-party game for the Switch 2, it runs like a dream. I've encountered zero stutters or other visual issues, and the only notable thing is that some of the loading screens between different levels are a touch longer than I'd like, but still notably faster than many original Switch games. The controls, for the most part, are pretty intuitive, with Yoshi's swallow and egg throw abilities getting dedicated buttons, and any one-off mechanics displaying useful tooltips to help you out. There's one fishing minigame in particular that caused me some trouble, but it's hard to tell if that's my problem or down to the control scheme.
Overall, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a lovely, vibrant romp through some beautiful environments alongside some of the strangest and funniest creatures I've seen in a long time. While the puzzles can be frustrating at times, the overall vibe is approachable, entertaining, and well-suited to short gameplay sessions, which is great if you have young kids. I'm happy to see my dinosaur friend in the spotlight again.
If you're keen to get your hands on a copy of the game with some sweet bonuses, check out our Yoshi and the Mysterious Book pre-order guide. We've also got some great lists of the best upcoming Switch games and upcoming mobile games to fill your wishlist.