Yoshi and the Mysterious Book Review – A Charming Research Expedition

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book takes a familiar green dinosaur and drops him into a completely new adventure, exclusive to the Nintendo Switch 2. Instead of running from the left side of the screen to the right to reach a flagpole like the earliest adventures of his overall-wearing partner, Yoshi’s new outing operates as a puzzle-platformer focused entirely on research and curiosity. The inquisitive focus makes for an incredibly charming experience, one bursting with creativity and adorable creature designs. But the game also struggles to capitalize on its best ideas, and it leaves much of its mechanical depth only light explored.

The premise begins when a sentient, talking encyclopedia named Mr. E crash-lands on an island inhabited by Yoshis. Bowser Jr. and Kamek quickly follow, and they start tearing through the book’s pages in search of a rare, powerful species. The Yoshis must jump into the pages to solve the mystery and help Mr. E remember the flora and fauna of his various biomes. The plot remains thin for most of the runtime, providing just enough momentum to move characters from one world to the next, but the story does culminate in a twist near the end.

Visually, the game looks stunning. The developers utilize a colored-pencil aesthetic combined with skipped animation frames to mimic stop-motion. The worlds of Mr. E come to life as vibrant, standalone biospheres. Yoshi himself is highly expressive. His face contorts into funny reactions whenever he tastes a new creature or takes a hit while traversing the varied environments. It’s the job of this lovable icon to explore each stage as a research assistant rather than a conquering hero. The primary goal involves studying different animals and plants. Through actions like licking, eating, jumping, and throwing eggs at whatever moves, Yoshi pulls back the mysteries embedded in each locale. The creatures react in unique ways, and these interactions form the core puzzles. For example, a pink circular creature can be chewed like bubblegum or jumped on to cause them to multiply. A dandelion-like plant can spread seeds that can penetrate rocks and leave them brittle, easily destroyed with Yoshi’s slam.

Puzzling Plants and Crafty Creatures

The game includes dozens of unique species of animal and plants adorning the vibrant pages of the talking encyclopedia. A giant jellyfish absorbs water and functions as a jetpack. A spider spins webs that allow Yoshi to reach high ledges. A drill-nosed warthog serves as a mount for breaking through tough blocks. The game even lets players name the creatures once they complete their research assignment. Mr. E offers canonical suggestions with clever puns, like a group of bees called Bunchabee or a singing frog named Croakaoke. These small touches add charm to the initial playthrough.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book removes traditional difficulty almost entirely. There is no fail state. If Yoshi touches a spiked enemy or falls off a ledge, he simply shakes off the damage and respawns without any real penalty. This lack of stakes reinforces the family-friendly nature of the experience, but it also means the stages rely heavily on the novelty of discovery to stay engaging. This novelty works wonderfully the first time through a map as players earn stars for finding hidden creatures, interactions and combinations.

However, the excitement fades when revisiting old stages. Players are asked to return to previous levels to find missed Discoveries or to see how a newly unlocked creature interacts with an old environment. Once the map is already covered in stamps and achievements, wandering around a small area to make everyone play music at the same time feels tedious. The non-linear structure lacks a concise stopping point, leaving the player-controlled Yoshi wandering aimlessly at times. Some levels also suffer from wonky physics. Players must ricochet a spinning top, wall-jump off a springy bug, and surf over waves on a wobbling pirate ship. These interactions aren’t always as polished and consistent as desired.

A Glimpse of Greatness

The game features a ten-hour main campaign, but its greatest mechanic arrives far too late. A later level completely changes the formula. In this stage, Yoshi gains a new ability, which I’ll avoid discussing in detail for the sake of spoilers, that drastically modifies how the game flows. No longer is the player asked to merely check boxes on a list. Instead, it asks them to apply their knowledge. Players must recall specific details of their prior expeditions to successfully overcome a specific obstacle. This transforms the growing tedium of research into actual training, and provides a better sandbox where players can get creative in their problem solving. Sadly, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book quickly pivots after this transformative introduction and abandons the newfound ability almost immediately, returning to the standard formula.

For completionists, there are several extra hours that can be spent hunting down Smiley Flowers. Three to six of these yellow flowers are hidden in every stage. Finding them feels much like a classic Yoshi game, and it usually requires throwing eggs at hidden clouds or exploring secret areas. The reward for collecting these flowers is strange. After finishing the main story, players can exchange Smiley Flowers for a modular UI system and Exploration Tools.

Players unlock a grid overlay to customize the information on their screen. The options range from a Bioscanner that tracks nearby creatures to a thermometer that monitors the temperature. Players can even unlock graphs that display the flavor profile of anything Yoshi licks. None of the levels ever ask players to care about the water quality or the temperature, which makes the system value questionable given the useless data covering the screen. It is a head-scratching feature to lock behind the post-game, especially since the main adventure feels mechanically simple.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book Review Verdict

[Editor’s Note: Yoshi and the Mysterious Book was reviewed on Switch 2, and a copy was provided to us for review purposes.]