Even if Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is not for you, it’s hard to ignore the immense creativity that Good-Feel and Nintendo packed into this game. This puzzle platformer gives the player the warmest of hugs – hugs that make the player forget about their worries and leaves them with a big ol’ grin.
The Yoshi titles are best known for their inescapable charm. They strip away most negative themes used for storytelling vehicles and instead rely on a kiddish thematic to leave the player feeling warm and fuzzy. Yoshi, Nintendo’s childlike dino that throws eggs and flutters in the air, is always presented with a novel and seemingly-handcrafted art style. Where Yoshi’s Story utilized cardboard and plastics, Yoshi’s Island leaned into a pop-up book aesthetic. Yoshi and his childlike wonder makes for a unique spin on traditional platforming. The newest Yoshi title, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, sticks with that thematic all the while taking our favorite dinosaur down an unfamiliar path.
In its first few minutes, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book introduced me to Mr. E, a magical encyclopedia who is struggling with a bout of amnesia. He calls on several Yoshis (going so far as to call them brave, which is just so cute) to help him discover and re-remember the creatures living within his pages. Some familiar faces appear along the way for us longtime Yoshi fans, making for a delightful romp through a hand-drawn world of colored pencils and stop-motion Claymation.
This game does not attempt to be a 2026 sequel to Yoshi’s Island or Yoshi’s Story. At its core, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a field journal game. You’re literally tasked with filling out a talking field journal by poking and prodding the game’s universe in creative ways. A flower riding your back unlocks a journal entry, as does eating it to figure out how it tastes, as does throwing it into some mud to get the flower and Yoshi and its eggs covered in sludge. Tight platforming ventures are few and far between in favor of the player discovering nuances within a thoughtfully crafted world.
Nintendo is known for ice boxing game ideas until they can find something to innovate. Doing so reduces the likelihood of games being repetitious, regardless of the demand for the novelty and fun of the original idea. For Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, Nintendo has innovated in a space that frankly didn’t need it in the form of stress testing miniature sandboxes. Yes, the discovery is fun and sparks moments of joy, but it feels like that discovery element took the place of making a bolder attempt to innovate in the platforming genre.
The resultant gameplay loop walks a hazy line of uncertainty, debating as to whether it should be a platformer or a puzzle game. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book lacks the peaks and valleys of a traditional platformer where mechanics are introduced in increments. Levels are self-contained, far and away from the linearity one might expect from previous Yoshi titles. Instead, the act of “level completion” often surrounds solving a puzzle like capturing a golden variant of the current level’s creature or bringing a group of creatures together. The “boss levels” incorporate the creatures of the current biome, pushing the player to see how the creatures can work together rather than the isolation of levels past.
If this sounds like I’m dissatisfied with Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, it’s because I recognize that I am not the intended audience. I had a big goofy grin on my face as I completed Mr. E’s chapters, even though I wanted a deeper foray into the platforming space with one of my favorite characters in Nintendo’s universe. As much as I like watching other players poke and prod at a game’s sandbox (like videogamedunkey does with Tears of the Kingdom), it’s not something I like doing in my spare time. If it was, though, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book would be a game that I needed in my soul.
I’m sure that some players may pick this game up and find that this Yoshi game is a game that didn’t even know they wanted, but I’m even more sure that “uncs” like me are craving Yoshi’s Island or Yoshi’s Story and will feel disappointed by the focus on puzzles. This is an experimental and highly creative Nintendo game whose demo should be a requirement before dropping the $60 on the digital version ($70 if buying physical).
Even if Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is not for you, it’s hard to ignore the immense creativity that Good-Feel and Nintendo packed into this game. This puzzle platformer gives the player the warmest of hugs – hugs that make the player forget about their worries and leaves them with a big ol’ grin.
