Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a game with no stakes, no difficult gameplay, and no challenge. I know the Yoshi and Kirby games are not exactly hard, but there is a difference between not hard and too easy. First, there is no repercussions for taking tons of damage Yoshi cries in pain, but that’s it. Yoshi’s Story had you lose lives and the Yoshi’s Island series had you lose star points that help your timer and both Crafted and Wooly Worlds have a health system. Here I actually stood in a swarm of bees and nothing happened.

Now, Yoshi games are Explorative Platformers you explore entire levels grabbing all collectibles available to you. The game has two collectibles: Stars and Smiley Flowers. Stars are collected when you make discoveries about the creatures and at first this is a sort of interesting concept, but the levels are short and several discoveries require you to make other discoveries about other creatures which sounds nice until you realize the creatures rarely interact and what is there is minor. Smiley Flowers are the main collectible there are 3-5 in each level they aren’t so much hidden as you simply need to figure out how to get them. While not that changed from before without stakes it can be rather tedious to do anything.

Also the whole game seems to take place in a book more than being a level select. You are seemingly looking for Bowser Jr. and Kamek and helping a book discover creatures. The worlds not at stake, yoshi’s island will be in one piece regardless, and there is no reason to do anything other than the game wants you to care and I just didn’t. Why am I making discoveries on creatures when this knowledge means nothing? Why should I save Bowser Jr if Kamek seems to be taking care of it? Why do I need to replay the same level over and over if there are no changes except minor ones?

I understand wanting to expand Yoshi’s World of games more Mario has his own platformers and RPGs that have built the world around him, the Pokemon games all have a Pokedex to tell you about the creatures, and the legend of Zelda has companions and characters such as the Figures and Navi that tell you information about the world. I understand wanting the same for Yoshi, but there needs to be a fun game around it.

Score: 2/10