Yoshi and The Mysterious Book REVIEW

Yoshi and The Mysterious Book is essentially Yoshi Does National Geographic.

And weirdly, it feels like a perfect fit for a character that has probably needed more to do for a while now. Yoshi has been in a state of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” from a gameplay standpoint since he debuted in the 90s, which is why his more recent outings - Woolly World and Crafted World - have been more about playing with the setting and the visuals for that traditional gameplay to happen on top. That’s still true of The Mysterious Book, but it’s a whole other animal.

Many, many animals, in fact.

Because Yoshi has all the same abilities you’re used to - flutterjump, eating, egg-throwing - the real stars of the show in this game are the variety of OTHER creatures you discover, each with their own stage and unique mechanics. Every level is about understanding what makes these individuals tick, and using that knowledge to overcome an obstacle.

The Mysterious Book is, therefore, less of a platforming game. Even where Woolly World and Crafted World were easy before, The Big Yosher’s 2026 outing is very much not interested in confrontation. It’s about exploration, experimentation and, weirdly, documentation (but in a fun way).

How does it react to its environment, with other creatures, different fruit, and how does it taste? These are the kinds of questions put to you by Mr E, the Mysterious Book himself, and the kinds of things you’ll be discovering as you fill out his pages. Once you’ve made the major discovery associated with each creature, you’ll be tasked to put some really important ink down: its name.

What’s really clever is that the game gives you the language to write your own names for these as you go. For example, Mr E might describe the cloud creatures as “fluffy friends” which feels like the game is deliberately trying to give you inspiration. Then when it comes to naming them, he’ll suggest Floofly.

I called mine ClodStrife, because I can’t resist a stupid pun or reference.

If you really like nicknaming your Pokémon then you’ll love coming up with clever names or, indeed, really dumb puns or references in Yoshi - it's essentially the same thing. There's classic, instantly recognisable enemies in here that you can pick new names for (those shy guys in masks and coloured robes? Yeah, they're Timid Dudes) and brand new ones to put your own stamp on (there's a sentient surfboard with snail eyes which, even though it isn't perfect, was never going to be anything but Tony Stalks).

But if you don’t care for this then it’s fine, you can focus on the exploration and the pace is very much dictated by you. Each page only requires you to finish that main discovery and then you can move on immediately afterwards. These can take between five minutes and or even sometimes just 60 seconds, since each stage tends to be one tight little area; but it’s completely up to you whether you keep experimenting to complete more hidden objectives or hunt for (as is franchise standard) well-hidden secrets.

Weirdly, there’s another Pokémon correlation to make because it’s kind of like Pokopia’s habitats. If you open up a previous chapter, you’ll get a hint of what to do next on each creature’s page so you can instantly start checking things off. Maybe you should’ve ground-pounded it? Perhaps you didn’t have two of them interact? The game is strictly single-player but, playing in a room with a friend or relative, it's easy to imagine a collaborative effort of "did you try this yet?" arising.

That said, there’s something very alluring about the fact that you know for certain that every next level is something different and, as such, Mysterious Book becomes quite a moreish affair. It’s certainly not all that challenging, but it makes up for that by being inventive and earnest.

Woolly World and Crafted World were far more traditional in their gameplay but leant, quite ingeniously, on their visual flair for setting up some fun ideas. The Mysterious Book does this to some extent but it’s very easy to forget about it as it’s far less pronounced than its predecessors. The “Yoshi is in a book” concept isn’t so much about interacting with pages or stationery, it’s instead hyper-focused on the idea of understanding the unique wildlife of each stage. That said, like its forebears, the game is still a gorgeous, colourful slice of Nintendo goodness that runs completely flawlessly.

There’s very little bad to say about Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, except that maybe the name is a bit unimaginative and, frankly, hides its strengths.

It won’t be for everyone, and it certainly won’t light the world on fire either, but it really pulls off this new format and that’s the best bit: it’s something new for Yoshi to do that’s as reliably bright and twee as you’d expect.

Review Score: ★★★½

Game code supplied by publisher for review, played on Nintendo Switch 2.