I love Yoshi as much as the next guy, but I’ve never found myself head over heels for any of the Yoshi games. While I often love the way they look and how they’re presented, the gameplay has never really done it for me. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book heard me make that complaint and decided to introduce dozens upon dozens of gameplay ideas and mechanics. It’s hard to explain just how many ideas the game brings to the table. The best part is that most of them are home runs, and the ones that aren’t never overstay their welcome.
In the game, Yoshi meets a mysterious talking book – hence the name – who has seemingly forgotten what fills his pages. Yoshi is the only one who can help him figure out all his mysteries and secrets locked away inside. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a very unique platformer designed with younger audiences in mind. There’s no real difficulty to speak of, as there aren’t any enemies, and Yoshi cannot die (thank goodness). Each discovery gets penned into the book, and it’s your job to help Mr. E, the book in question, to refill his pages. It’s a cute way to explain why every single thing you stumble on is completely new to you, while it’s something the book is slowly remembering over time – it’s very Dora the Explorer, if you think about it.
My favourite little detail is that every single time you discover a new creature, Mr. E will tell you what he thinks they should be called, but you can totally give them your own names. Giving the player the agency to give each creature a unique name made the game feel even more whimsical and fancy-free than it already was, which is a feat in itself!
Each level acts as some sort of contained biome rather than a right-to-left platformer, a la Super Mario World, and has a unique creature or obstacle that you can discover that will help you solve a puzzle. Typically, once the puzzle is solved, the level is done, and you move ahead to the next one. However, many levels have an alternate version where a different creature not previously there will be the solution to a new puzzle. However, not every level has these alternate versions, so replayability is hit-or-miss. If a level has no alternative version, it implies there’s only one proper way to beat it. While the game is mainly about discovery and experimenting with what’s available to you, there’s rarely more than one way to solve any given situation.
The best thing about Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is how visually striking it is. The art style blends highly detailed crayon aesthetics with characters that resemble Jim Henson puppets. My favourite creature in the game is this big sleeping grass giant. How they managed to make him look like a real felt puppet is beyond me, but the art team really went insane on this project. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book has a dangerous amount of charm. It looks stunning, it’s got a ton of unique visual identity, and I think other games down the line are going to try and steal this aesthetic. I love when Nintendo takes massive graphical swings like this. It reminds me of Kirby’s Epic Yarn in the way that it is taking a major left turn for the series, while also remaining true to the character and overall vibe of the series. It’s a very difficult thing to get quite right, and I think Nintendo really nailed it here. Each level has its own distinct visual signature that makes it stand out amongst its contemporaries. I was always excited to see what kind of vibe would be next!
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a complete delight from top to bottom, and it’s very difficult to pick out anything wrong with what’s on display. Perhaps the game’s biggest issue is that there is quite literally zero challenge. Most of my favourite video games have high stakes and feel good to progress through. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is fun and a joy to play, but it doesn’t light up the neurons in my head that tell me I am really getting into a video game. There is a ton of dopamine to be experienced here through the visuals and sound design, but its focus on being a game that literally anybody of any age can play really takes away from its overall enjoyment for me.
But I’m not here to play Castlevania or Dark Souls, I’m here to play a Yoshi game, for Pete’s sake! Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a whimsical delight, and if you’re okay with a pretty straightforward one-time-through sort of experience, then look no further!
