REVIEW | Yoshi and the Mysterious Book

You know how a good book can suck you right in and not let go until you finish? Well, our green dinosaur friend Yoshi stumbled upon one just like it, because he gets transported into a world of weird creatures and must help complete their encyclopedia in Yoshi and the Mysterious Book.

Bowser Jr. and Kamek are searching for a bird with magical powers, and they have flown right into a giant talking book to find it. It’s up to Yoshi to dive in after them and learn more about the wonderful creatures that live inside and make sure the duo do not get up to too much mischief.

Things I liked!

• The visual style is great | There is a fantastic mix of art styles at work here that go pretty well together. During cutscenes and outside of the book, it looks like a standard modern 3D Mario title, but once inside the book, the backgrounds look hand-drawn, and all objects you can interact with have an almost clay-like aesthetic to them. I think they wanted to go for a crayon-coloured approach instead, but you’d have to be sitting very close to your TV to notice. Overall, it looks great!

• Experimentation is key | The main goal of the game is to complete the encyclopedia and learn about all the special traits of each creature inside of it. This means you’ll be trying to lick them, swallow them, groundpound on them, make them ride your back (this is not sounding like a children’s game at this point, but trust me that it is). The level in which you’ll find a new creature is always catered to their abilities and the game motivates you to experiment with them as much as you can. There is always a reward of extra stars, flowers or coins to be found.

• Impressive interactions | Some of the interactions in the game really surprised me. If you come up with an idea of combining two creatures’ special abilities in a clever way, it’s possible. There was even a level where you could turn into any creature you’ve already encountered, and it was honestly shocking how well thought-out it all was.

• Custom UI | You can use flowers you’ve found in the levels to completely customise the game’s UI, showing indicators for the nearest creature, secret or other random things you might be interested in. The only really weird decision here is that this feature only unlocks after you’ve beaten Chapter 6, which is where the main story ends. Still it’s a fun reward and I was always curious about the new ones each time I had found 5 flowers to unlock it.

• Pick-up-and-play-friendly | With its level-based approach and a save system that tracks every minor thing you achieve, this is the perfect game to play when you don’t have big stretches of playtime available to you. In that aspect, it’s a game most parents will surely appreciate, as you can have a quick 5-10 minute session and still feel like you’ve accomplished something. Each level has a natural stopping point if you can complete its main objective, but you can also jump in, discover one minor new thing and jump back out, and it’ll have saved your progress. I loved this.

• Hints | When you exit the pages for a creature, it’ll automatically drop a hint to an undiscovered secret in that level. You can spend 100 coins to get more information on it, or 20 coins to buy new hints. I love that I was able to complete like 80% of the game without ever having to search for clues online.

• A LOT OF CONTENT | I thought 6 chapters with 6 creatures each was already some pretty decent content, but then 4 more unlocked after beating the main story, and 2 more after that when I unlocked even more stars. I’ve spent over 20 hours in the game and haven’t 100% completed it all yet.

Mixed & disliked!

• Levels are small | While there are a ton of levels to explore, they are usually super small and only a few screens wide. It’s great for the pick-up-and-play nature of the game on one hand, but I felt like some levels were almost claustrophobically small in scope.

• Going through the motions | Remember how I said you have to interact with each creature by trying to eat them, hitting them with an egg and so on? That quickly becomes old if you have to do it 72 times. My advice is to NOT binge this one and take it slow, one level at a time, or you’ll bore yourself from doing the same thing over and over again.

• Uuuuugggghh! | That’s the sound Yoshi makes when he’s doing his little air-walk to keep floating down. You’ll have to use it in almost every level to reach certain platforms and it’s by far the most annoying sound effect in a videogame I’ve heard all year.

• Physics aren’t your friend | A lot of unlocks in the game require very specific sequences and perfect execution of certain abilities, but the physics-based world is often working against you. You’ll need exactly the right momentum, or you’ll need to spend time clearing other objects out of your path, just to achieve the current goal you’re going for. This can get tiring and frustrating very fast, and there were over a dozen instances where I just decided it wasn’t worth the hassle to go for 100%. Parents with kids who easily get frustrated if something doesn’t go their way should keep an eye out while their kids are playing this or you might have to order new Joy-Cons soon.

• How long did I play the review before publishing? 21 hours
• How long to beat the story? 6-8 hours to reach Chapter 6’s ending
• How long to get 100%? | 30h+ (I’ve gotten ~1600 out of 2200 stars in 21h)
• You’ll love this game if you like these | Skribblenauts, Donut County

Score: 80/100

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a game where experimentation and curiosity lead the pack. If you can think it, it’s probably possible, and that is honestly amazing. The development team had their fun with this and didn’t stop at the bare minimum; they went above and beyond. But at the same time, it can also be a little frustrating and repetitive, so my main advice for this title is to take things slow and leave enough breathing room between each play session.