Yoshi and the Mysterious Book Reviews
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a totally different experience from past Yoshi games, and that’s pretty much entirely to its benefit. Exploration and experimentation take center stage here, allowing for a riveting and charming platformer that leans more towards the puzzle genre than you might expect. While not every level is a winner, there are far more hits than misses, cementing this game as one of the most unique platformers around.
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book innovates on a stagnant franchise by being a really interesting mixture between platforming, puzzle-solving, and zoology cataloguing. Collectathon enthusiasts and cozy gamers will have a blast with this low-stakes experience. It’s super easy but not condescending, adorable to look at (in docked mode, that is), chock-full of content, and best enjoyed in smaller sessions.
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is an extremely creative and charismatic experience, relying much more on curiosity and experimentation than on traditional challenges. Its calmer pace and focus on discovery certainly won't appeal to all players, especially those looking for constant action or a more straightforward adventure. Still, for those who buy into its premise from the first few hours, it's an addictive, relaxing game full of personality.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Overall, I’ve had a fantastic time with Yoshi and the Mysterious Book. However, it is a game you have to persevere with. Initially, it appears short and underwhelming, and although you never get the mega boss battles or tricky jumping of other Mario franchise platformers, the content does slowly unlock and eventually makes it worthy of the Yoshi brand.
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is not the traditional Yoshi platformer some players might expect, but that’s also what makes it interesting. Its cosy exploration, strange creatures, and hidden layers make it a charming adventure that rewards curiosity more than skill.
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.
It's hard not to appreciate the creative courage behind a project like Yoshi and the Mysterious Book. Nintendo takes one of its historically more laid-back series and transforms it into something that completely rejects modern platforming conventions, crafting an experience centered on pure fantasy, curiosity, and the joy of discovery.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a captivating game. If the game mechanics of our little dinosaur are the same (eggs, tongue...), the experience is unique and completely different from the usual proposal. No more question of crossing the levels in a classical way, it will be necessary to think about interacting all the creatures of this Mysterius (the book) with its environment to discover all the secrets. Certainly, we are far from a nervous platform game, but we are clearly placed in an excellent family game, focused children (with the help of a “grand-e”) whose main defect remains that it is only played solo.
Review in French | Read full review
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book invites us back to Yoshi's Island with a fresh, fun, and original adventure that will keep us hooked "between its pages" for hours. It’s a game that sets aside the traditional focus on difficulty and reflexes, choosing instead to center on curiosity, investigation, and experimentation—a cocktail that makes it a highly compelling choice and a must-have for our Nintendo library.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book understands that happiness is to be found in simple astonishment, not in perpetual worsening. It invites you to look at, experiment with, and enjoy the little nuances about the environment that most platformers would skip right over.
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book turns a gentle Yoshi adventure into a clever creature-research game built around Mr. E’s missing entries. Carrying creatures, testing odd interactions, and revisiting pages give the book structure more personality than a standard platformer. The softer challenge and shorter main path won’t be for everyone, but if you enjoy games that reward curiosity, this one is easy to get behind.
At its best, the game feels like stepping into a living picture book where curiosity is constantly rewarded and every new creature adds another small piece to a larger, playful ecosystem. That sense of wonder carries a lot of weight and makes the experience genuinely enjoyable in short, focused sessions. However, once the initial novelty settles, the repetition and simplicity of its structure become harder to ignore, especially for players looking for more mechanical or narrative depth. It’s a game that succeeds more in moment-to-moment discovery than in long-term retention, resulting in an experience that’s easy to appreciate, but not always easy to stay fully invested in.
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is undoubtedly one of Nintendo's most intriguing experiences in years. It's incredibly charming and relaxing, piques your curiosity, and its short levels are unexpectedly dynamic puzzles, but it suffers from a fragmented structure and a lack of a sense of progression or reward.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book swaps traditional platforming levels for a cozy, creature-cataloging safari set in a gorgeous sketchbook world. While praise is due for its charming visuals, the experience is held back by restrictive, tiny levels and tedious trial-and-error puzzles. Ultimately, it remains a beautiful, worthwhile ride for fans despite its stop-and-start pacing.
For us, however, this laid-back exploration concept works very well, especially since the manageable gameplay challenge is, in our opinion, ultimately exactly the right decision. We enjoy the diverse creatures, the use of their abilities, and the presentation, which is brimming with countless loving details.
Review in German | Read full review
Whatever it lacks in story or challenge is made up with clever gameplay mechanics disguised as weird and wonderful creatures. It’s unfortunate that some of that magic dissipates on a replay, but even when you’ve filled all of the mysterious book’s pages, you’re still left with another charming Yoshi platformer to enjoy at leisure.
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book offers a surprising amount of depth as you explore imaginative worlds, researching even more imaginative creatures. While it doesn’t offer much of a challenge, its engaging gameplay loop and great sense of discovery kept me intrigued throughout.
It’ll be too simplistic for some, but Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a game full of whimsy, wonder, and creativity that rewards you for experimentation and exploration.
Expectation management is the magic word when it comes to Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, which is, in itself, a wonderful game. Anyone looking for an extremely relaxing adventure that primarily sparks curiosity will find exactly that here. The little dinosaur also makes for a perfect introduction to video games. Experienced platformer fans, however, should keep in mind that there is virtually no gameplay challenge beyond thoroughly exploring every corner of a level. Hardcore gamers, in particular, may potentially find themselves bored here.
Review in German | Read full review
"Yoshi and the Mysterious Book" is an entertaining game full of cute characters. It isn’t particularly challenging, and if I get stuck, I can unlock hints. I feel right at home in the book’s picturesque landscape and look forward to meeting new creatures in every level.
Review in German | Read full review