Review #065 – Yoshi and the Mysterious Book

Although it retains the side-scrolling traversal and many recognizable Yoshi-isms, Mysterious Book isn’t really a traditional platformer. It’s more about discovery and piquing your curiosity, urging you to poke around, experiment, and problem solve at your own pace.

Every stage is themed around a specific creature and you’re essentially tasked with exploring and discovering their unique traits. Uncovering new idiosyncrasies earns you stars which are needed for progression, but stages also contain other secrets that are worth hunting for. I really like the way the game quickly jots down new discoveries in the background while you explore.

It’s clearly made for people of all ages but it’s a very fun concept with satisfying progression. You won’t necessarily be challenged in the traditional sense but you definitely have to think outside of the box in order to discover everything.  It even does the modern Nintendo thing of offering a fairly robust selection post- credits levels and features for players that want to keep playing.