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.
