Yoshi and the Mysterious Book Review

A curious reinvention of the Yoshi formula.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is one of the bravest reinterpretations of the Yoshi brand so far. Yoshi’s series has always been rather bold in trying new ideas. From Yoshi’s Woolly World’s hand-knit aesthetic to Crafted World’s cardboard diorama style, each game has approached presentation in its own way while preserving a recognizable, accessible core.

This new game maintains that trend, but it doesn’t just modify the art style; it changes everything about what a Yoshi game should be. This isn’t a standard platforming game where your aim is to reach the end. Instead, it seems like an interactive learning experience, set inside a living storybook. It’s the first major Yoshi game since 2019, and Nintendo clearly wants to attempt new things with the series on Nintendo Switch 2.

On first glance, it appears to be a basic kid-friendly spin-off.

A talking handbook that falls out of the sky, a dinosaur that turns the pages of a book, and cartoon creatures that write "entries" -- the idea sounds almost too ludicrous to take seriously. But below the surface, that perception quickly melts into something more tentative and experimental. Nintendo isn’t content with simply another platformer — they’re also testing the waters of how far curiosity-based games can go with a familiar character.

The game begins on Yoshi's Island with a weird object falling from the sky and ruining the havoc that was just getting started: Mr. E, a living encyclopedia. Mr. E wears a stylish mustache and has forgotten all about the animals that lived in his books.

The book is uncovered in a secret archive by Bowser Jr. and Kamek, who also orchestrate this event. By accident, they set off the book's weird powers, which capture them in its pages and take Yoshi on an exploration and discovery trip. Then Mr. E begs Yoshi to help him recall things by studying the creatures hidden in the book's chapters.

This is a simple frame, but it works well enough for the way the game is designed. Each “page” of the book becomes a playable setting, and each habitat comes with its own set of animals to investigate. The tale itself is basic and light, but it provides players just enough purpose to keep exploring locations that get stranger and stranger.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book doesn’t have a complex or deep story. No big plot twists. No emotional arcs. No complicated character development. Bowser Jr. and Kamek occasionally appear as background villains who appear to be searching the book for a secret, but their intentions don’t vary much throughout the course of the game.

Instead, the story works as a bridge between the several game modes.

The notion is discovery: Yoshi isn't protecting a country or beating a bad person; he's assembling what he knows. Every new creature Mr. E finds is a lost memory, and his encyclopedia is a metaphor for travel. The premise is minimal, and those looking for a story-driven adventure might be disappointed. But when you play through the later chapters and unlockable pages (if you want to), the game hints at a broader world and more in-depth stories.

But these ideas are too late to significantly influence the overall impression of the story. It seems like the plot is more of a skeleton than a major theme. In Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, the main way to play is via interacting with and playing with critters.

Players don't traverse straight platforming stages, but rather enter different sections that are buried within the book. Each location has a different creature that acts, moves, and interacts with other creatures in its own way.

Yoshi can still jump, flutter, swallow foes, and throw eggs, but these abilities are now employed for exploring rather than merely fighting or traveling from one area to another. The core mechanic is discovery - whatever you do to a species might allow you to add fresh facts to Mr. E's encyclopedia.

Interacting with a creature could mean eating it, throwing it, placing it on Yoshi's back, or just watching how it performs in different surroundings. Each time the creature interacts, it records its findings in its research journal. It is crucial that the game not always tell you what to do. Instead, it supports trial-and-error and repeated interaction with objects.

The intriguing thing about this system is that it is not straight. Findings are not necessarily limited to one stage. There’s a cross-chapter logic system that encourages curiosity and recall. An action mastered in one chapter will expose concealed information in another.

The Mysterious Book differs from other Yoshi games in that there is no battling in the traditional sense.

Enemies, yes, but they’re not the big issue. Instead, the “puzzle” is figuring out how each animal operates. All living things function as a system with multiple possible outcomes. Examples include creatures that respond differently when carried, animals that act differently depending on how fast they are going, and animals that entirely transform the world when they mingle with other things.

One new feature of note is the “tail flick” capability, which allows Yoshi to carry creatures on his back. This means you can engage with creatures more intimately as they react differently if you are sprinting or jumping. Each monster becomes more of a riddle than an enemy with these various degrees of gameplay.

There are a variety of methods players can use to deal with hazards like beehives, including eating the bees, throwing eggs, or using nearby objects to block attacks. This flexibility eliminates the concept of a “correct” response and substitutes issue-solving through experimentation.

But this approach can also be difficult to understand. Because the discoveries depend on the player being engaged, it is possible to miss vital exchanges if the player does not take a specific action. Sometimes study logs are incomplete, and completionists get irritated.

In Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, you don’t have to level up or get XP to progress.

Instead, it's more about finishing entries for creature research. Each new finding builds on Mr. E's encyclopedia and fleshes out each chapter in time. To assist players, the game incorporates a currency system. By exploring, you can earn tokens and use them to buy hints when you are stuck. They don't solve problems for you, but they do steer gamers toward possible ways to link with the pieces.

Amiibo support and daily forecasts also grant extra tokens to encourage regular use. But at the end of the day, it is the players' interests that count, not the numbers. Yoshi’s core abilities don’t evolve over the course of the game — there are no skill trees or upgrades.

That makes the game more like a sandbox where you find objects, rather than a standard platformer with levels. This lack of controlled growth could feel limiting for some players, but for others, it makes the discovery feel more organic. 

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is one of the most graphically intriguing games in the series. The game's art style is hand-drawn and stop-motion-influenced, giving it a handmade feel. The characters are deliberately created at varied frame rates, creating a layered aspect to the animation that feels hand-made.

The Nintendo Switch 2’s tech can deliver exceptional performance, targeting 60 FPS and dynamic resolution scaling. As long as the visual style is there, the defects are hidden well, even if the quality is not.

However, when many animals are interacting on-screen at once, performance can often suffer. There are a handful of little technical problems, but this is one of the most graphically appealing Yoshi titles yet. The visual style does an excellent job of creating a universe that feels alive, lively, and ever-changing.

The soundtrack follows the series' joyful, light-music tradition, but it's still not everyone's cup of tea.

And while it’s an upgrade on past games in the series, it’s not always up to the high standards of other Nintendo titles. Long-time fans will be glad to discover that Yoshi’s infamous sound effects are still intact. A few creature encounters will provide new sound cues, giving each find more character. The music, however, is not necessarily memorable on its own and is often part of the games. The overall sound design works and sounds decent, but it’s not as distinctive as the game’s visual flair.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book isn’t exactly a game, nor does it aim to be one. Instead, it becomes a dynamic lexicon for exploration, experimentation, and interaction with the overall system, changing the look of a Yoshi game.

Its best qualities are the animals it creates and the ways you can locate them. Every monster has its own feel and often does something that players didn't expect, making them want to try new things. The game has always rewarded curiosity, and exploration feels vital and entertaining.

However, its shortcomings are also extremely apparent. There isn’t much story, and the structure can become boring, and there aren’t many basic platforming problems. This may be a letdown for fans who were expecting a sequel to Yoshi’s Island. Also, unintentional mistakes in physics might generate complications that block progress.

The game itself is an experiment despite these problems. It’s not the original Yoshi platforming games, but it’s a fresh approach for the series. It doesn’t feel like a follow-up, but more like a new take on things, a fun lab that looks like a video game.