Yoshi and the Mysterious Book review: "A charming platforming adventure driven by discovery and experimentation"

When I boot up Yoshi and the Mysterious Book for the first time, I fully expect to step into another charming platformer from Nintendo. Now, after 10 hours of playtime, I can say it does live up to that expectation, but what comes as a very welcome surprise is just how refreshingly adventurous the green dinosaur's debut on Switch 2 feels – and that's thanks to the way every level is entirely driven by your own experimentation and discovery.

Breaking away from the more traditional, albeit creative, platforming fare of Yoshi's Crafted World, Mysterious Book invites me to explore the pages of a talking tome called Mr E (who rocks an impressive mustache and monocle). Broken up into chapters that are home to curious creatures, hovering over a critter with a magnifying glass opens up a level – each essentially serves as a habitat for one of the book's funny little guys. With their unique abilities for me to discover, I then have to puzzle out how to use their skills and behaviors to clear each stage.

With some set actions I can perform as Yoshi, it becomes a rewarding game of trial and error as I figure out how I can use any given creature. The variety of mysterious inhabitants also means no one level ever feels the same, and every time I step into Mr E's pages, I have no idea what discoveries I'll make, or what I have to do to complete the level. But therein lies the magic of Yoshi and the Mysterious Book: it's all about the playful way it encourages you to mess about and see what can happen when you do.

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Popping into pages

When you first meet Mr E, you find out his real name is actually Mister Encyclopedia, and the mysterious creatures I'm tasked with investigating are the subject of his pages. After falling from the sky onto Yoshi's Island (the sight of which instantly fills me with nostalgia), he seems to have lost his knowledge of those that inhabit his chapters. So, with nothing else for it, Mr E asks the Yoshis on the island to step into his pages and learn about every critter so he can catalog them in true encyclopedic fashion.

With the option to play as Yoshi in a variety of colors (another Yoshi's Island throwback I appreciate), diving into the pages transforms the intrepid dinosaur adventurer into a delightful storybook style, as though he at once belongs within the book. With colorful level designs that also capture this aesthetic, there's almost a stop-motion quality to some of the movements that adds to the charm. Mysterious Book really does look wonderful on the Switch 2, popping off the screen just as the creatures appear to leap from Mr E's pages.

The first few levels really give you a feel for the overall experience, which is all about trying things out with Yoshi's set of moves. There's nothing too surprising in this department if you've ever played a Yoshi game before, with the green steed being able to tail flick whatever's nearby, use his tongue to gobble things up and turn them into projectile eggs, and jump flutter through the air. While this is all standard stuff, it's really the creatures that elevate Yoshi and what he can actually do on a level.

From tossing a creature on his back to holding them in his mouth to make use of their abilities, Yoshi can also directly jump on certain creatures to ride them like a mount and direct their movements. There's all kinds of surprising ways the creatures can help you navigate and overcome obstacles, which makes Yoshi's normal set of skills more playful and entertaining.

The controls, for the most part, work well, but it did take me a spell to get into the groove of it. It's so easy to accidentally fling a creature off your back when you mean to jump, and the ground slam ability, which smacks you down Mario-style, is tied to a flick of the analog stick, which I did find finicky to use as I wanted to during certain levels.

Adding shifting powers on top of Yoshi's regular abilities sometimes lacks the delightful simplicity the similarly power-absorbing Kirby often manages. I do, however, appreciate that the Mysterious Book includes controller settings which let you choose from a few different layouts, so there's a bit of room to find a set-up that works for you.

Creature collector

My first instinct every time I meet a new creature is to give them a taste. Yes, sometimes it means I simply learn their flavor profile (which honestly makes me smile every time) – or if I can gobble them up and transform them into eggs to lob at targets – but my taste testing routine can pay off in unexpected ways.

One time, for example, I give a surreptitious lick to a new wiggly creature in the ground during a later chapter. The appendage on its head latches onto my tongue like a rope, allowing me to pull its long form and stretch it over long distances. What I can do with this newfound discovery takes further investigation as I move it this way and that, but this is the great joy of Yoshi and the Mysterious Book: your experimentation is always rewarded in some way. It constantly pushes me to try out new things and think outside the box… or, well, book.

What if I use this creature's water on that mud? What would happen if I fling this sharp beaked insect-thing at that tree trunk over there? Your tests may not always pay off in the way you expect, but I've lost count of the number of instances that had me slapping my knees with joy because a creature either reacted to my actions in some way I didn't see coming, or I could use them in humorous or playful ways.

Every time you make a discovery – no matter how small – in any given level, it will get recorded by Mr E. Not only does this earn you stars that you need to gather in order to unlock later chapters, but it also logs them in a storybook sketch style, which gives me little bursts of serotonin. In a way, it's like seeing trophies mapped out for all the times you experimented and found out something a creature can do within its habitat.

Dinosaur discoveries

The main challenge of the Mysterious Book lies in me being able to figure out how to both overcome obstacles with the creatures, but also uncover and perform a particular discovery that then allows me to catalog them and add them to Mr E's index. Since making this discovery hinges on your exploration and experimentation, it can be quite head scratching at times to figure out what you need to do.

Certain levels can definitely be more challenging than others in this respect, causing some frustration when I can't figure out what's left to try. You can ask Mr E for suggestions, but he often states the obvious without giving you proper clues. There's also a hint system where you can spend any coins you've gathered on if you're really stuck, but it doesn't always make it obvious. I can imagine younger players finding it quite tricky in places, with some smaller (but often pretty breezy) boss fight scenarios at the close of chapters, too.

How satisfying the controls work also tend to be tied to the nature of a creature. Naturally, with so many different kinds of critters to investigate, some are more enjoyable than others, and you'll likely have your own personal highlights. I've got plenty of standouts of my own, including a bubblegum-like creature that immediately brought to mind my favorite pink puffball, Kirby.

With the option to name each and every one of the creatures you discover, I love the way this can make it feel more personal to you – that bubblegum friend is now called Korby forever more. You might recognize some of the creatures if you're a longtime Yoshi fan, too, and if you don't want to name them, Mr E will drop name ideas of his own (many of which are just downright charming and even sometimes familiar).

Yoshi isn't the only one delving into Mr E's pages to investigate these curious creatures, though. Bowser Jr and Kamek are flying through them to try and make a discovery of their own. While I can't go into what that discovery is, I do find myself wanting more from the game's overall narrative. With discovery shaping the experience, the story definitely takes second fiddle to the mysterious creatures in the book. The experimentation you're encouraged to do does lead to some delightful surprises, though, and the creatures themselves bring about some standout moments that do go some way to making up for it.

Like so many who grew up playing Nintendo, I've always had a special affinity for the little green dinosaur. From the days of Yoshi's Island on the SNES, right up until Yoshi's Crafted World, the adorable steed has had his share of memorable adventures. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is certainly a wonderful and more than welcome addition to his lineup, but with the likes of Super Mario Odyssey taking the famous plumber to new heights, and even DK's recent debut on the Switch 2 – which, in the words of our Donkey Kong Banzana review, is "one of the best inventions Nintendo has had for years" – I'm still hoping for the day we see Yoshi get even more ambitious.

Even so, I have to give a lot of kudos to the way Yoshi and the Mysterious Book breaks away from the more traditional platforming fare to deliver a creative experience that hinges exploration and discovery. Packed with delightful surprises, a little helping of Yoshi's Island nostalgia, and great level variety for good measure, Yoshi's latest adventure is worth diving into on Switch 2 if you've missed the dinosaur as much as I have.

Look ahead to exciting future releases in our roundup of upcoming Switch 2 games.