I was lucky enough to preview Yoshi and the Mysterious Book back in April, and it genuinely caught me off guard. After all, this Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive seemed to break the mold. Not only did it swap Yoshi’s usual platforming-focused formula for a more explorative and puzzle-oriented adventure, but it also felt like it held the substance and creativity that the dino’s more recent outings lacked.

And I’m glad to report that the full game only reinforced my initial impression — Yoshi and the Mysterious Book feels like a step-up on many of its predecessors, offering a level of intrigue and ingenuity that’s sure to entice players of various ages.

But is this the right game for you? And does it stand among the very best Nintendo Switch 2 games? Well, after playing through the main story and collecting no end of Smiley Flowers, I have a fair few thoughts — which are mostly, but not entirely positive. So, here’s what I made of Yoshi’s latest game.

Whimsy overload

As I mentioned in my preview, two words come to mind when I think of Yoshi and the Mysterious Book: charm and whimsy.

A lot of this stems from the Nintendo Switch 2 title’s art direction, which is truly exceptional. Everything from the hand drawn creatures through to the stop-motion style animation is executed brilliantly, and provides each character with bags of personality and uniqueness. The game is just overflowing with charisma, and I can see the visual style being a hit with younger players and fans of cozy games, for instance.

For anyone out of the loop, this game follows Yoshi’s journey of discovery through the many pages of Mr. E, a sentient encyclopedia filled with many mystical creatures. Yoshi will have to learn about the behaviour, abilities — and even taste — of these characters, and help Mr. E recover knowledge about them.

I loved how each creature had a distinct set of skills, all of which can be utilized to solve puzzles in the game’s various levels. The main puzzles are usually straightforward, and won’t have more experienced gamers scratching their heads for too long, I expect. Younger players may need a while to solve later-game conundrums, although Mr. E is at hand to offer advice if things get too confusing.

Where the real challenge comes in, is in finding the numerous collectibles dispersed throughout each page. There are occasionally secret hollows that you can uncover, and there are coins buried away in harder-to-reach areas too. But the main collectible is the Smiley Flowers, which often require the player to get creative with creature abilities or to stray far from the beaten path.

Some of these flowers are super-easy to find, but many are hidden with great care. Even as someone who’s played many platformers — and indeed, Yoshi games — I still struggled to hunt a bunch of the Flowers down. By keeping some of the collectibles shrouded in mystery, I’d argue that Yoshi and the Mysterious Book does just about enough to maintain appeal for all ages.

Having said that, I did occasionally wish there was a little more difficulty mixed in. Most of the platforming is very easy, and Yoshi’s continuous flutter jump makes getting to distant segments pretty seamless. Most enemies pose little to no threat as well, and Yoshi will quickly respawn in the rare event of a deadly fall or attack. This remains the case in boss fights, which are creatively crafted, but lack threat.

So many secrets

Again, though, the game is not centered around its platforming and action — it’s all about the exploration. As much as I was hoping for a little more difficulty here and there, the straightforward action did keep me laser-focused on learning more about the various creatures and searching for new secrets.

And there are so many secrets to discover. One of my favorites came during a level with Shy Guys, where I was able to give them a range of items to unveil a hidden room and obscured Smiley Flowers. There are six chapters in the main story, and a further four after that, so there really are a huge amount of creatures to learn about and discoveries to make.

These chapters aren’t massively rich in terms of narrative —Yoshi and the Mysterious Book isn’t trying to be a deep or layered piece of media. You’ll repeat the same loop in just about each one: discover a few creatures, run into Bowser Jr. and Kamek, fight the boss, and move onto the next.

In terms of length, then, each chapter can be completed quite quickly — especially if you’re playing through levels without finding each and every secret. Still, I found the game to be best-played in short sessions. The discovery formula is enjoyable, but not addicting to the point that I wanted to play for hours on end. And personally, I enjoyed finishing one chapter per night — almost as if I was reading an actual book.

Wrapping up the story

There’s only one main game mode in Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, but there are a few ways to customize and enhance your experience.

The first thing that comes to mind is your ability to play as multiple different color Yoshi. I played through most of the game in orange, but there’s the typical green, as well as yellow, pink, purple, and more. Another neat addition is Amiibo compatibility. If you’ve got any kind of Yoshi, Poochey, or Bowser Jr. figure, you can ask Mr. E to tell your fortune, and unlock in-game currency.

This currency can be used to reveal hints to new discoveries, enabling you to fill out Mr, E’s pages more rapidly. But it’s also possible to exchange Smiley Flowers that you collect for exploration tools. You can get a radar to discover nearby Flowers, creatures, and the like, a heart-rate tracker, a speedometer, and more.

Yoshi can actually get up to some impressive top speeds, but even when the game is at its most chaotic, it runs without a hitch. I experienced very little in the way of frame drops or delays, with just a couple of rare performance dips in handheld mode. In docked, the game played flawlessly and looked stunning in 4K. It’s hardly the most demanding game, of course, but this is great to see regardless. Yoshi also feels great to control, and I never got frustrated with awkward platforming or janky combat.

With its endearing visual style, enticing exploration, and charisma-filled creatures, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a delight on Nintendo Switch 2. Yes, its low difficulty could leave me wanting more during boss fights, and those hoping for perilous platforming may not gel with this entry so well. But this title concentrates carefully on its core objective — of being an exploration-focused puzzle platformer — and gives Yoshi his most enjoyable game in many a year.

Should you play Yoshi and the Mysterious Book?

Play it if…

Don’t play it if…

Accessibility features

There are only a handful of ways to customize your experience in Yoshi and the Mysterious Book. You can pick between three control schemes, set a ‘patient’ or ‘hasty’ egg toss style, disable rumble, and choose to advance Mr. E’s dialogue manually or automatically. There’s no colorblind mode or way to zoom in the camera, which could’ve been a nice touch.

How I reviewed Yoshi and the Mysterious Book

I spent more than ten hours venturing through Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, during which time I completed the main story and collected a whole bunch of Smiley Flowers.

Most of the time, I played the game in docked mode using the Turtle Beach Rematch Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch 2, with my system connected to the Sky Glass Gen 2 TV and Marshall Heston 120 soundbar. However, I did dip into handheld mode now and then, during which time I connected to the console with my JBL Tour One M3 wireless headphones.

I’ve been a Nintendo Switch 2 owner from day one, and have played many Yoshi games, including newer entries, like Yoshi’s Woolly World and Yoshi’s New Island. I’ve also reviewed a number of Switch 2 games here at TechRadar, such as Super Mario Bros. Wonder - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, Kirby Air Riders and Drag x Drive.

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