Yoshi and the Mysterious Book: Reviews, Sales and Free Demo for the Switch 2 Exclusive
- Update (October 2026): Yoshi and the Mysterious Book launched on May 21, 2026.
- Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is out now on Nintendo Switch 2, and critics mostly liked it.
- It is the first new Yoshi game since Crafted World, and it is only on Switch 2.
Update (October 2026): Yoshi and the Mysterious Book launched on May 21, 2026. We first wrote about it in April, before release. This version adds how it reviewed, early sales and the free demo Nintendo released in July.
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is out now on Nintendo Switch 2, and critics mostly liked it. The game holds a Metascore of 80 from 122 critic reviews on Metacritic, as of October 24. That puts it a little above Good-Feel’s two previous Yoshi games: Yoshi’s Crafted World scored 79 in 2019, and Yoshi’s Woolly World scored 78 in 2015.
It is the first new Yoshi game since Crafted World, and it is only on Switch 2. The digital edition costs $59.99 on the US Nintendo eShop, which lists a 19.8GB download.
What kind of game is it?
A talking encyclopedia called Mr. E crash-lands on Yoshi’s Island and needs help remembering the creatures inside his pages. Yoshi jumps into the book, explores each creature’s habitat and experiments with it to learn “all kinds of surprising facts,” in Nintendo’s words. Bowser Jr. turns up in some habitats, and Nintendo has kept his role vague.
The focus is on discovery rather than straight platforming. You carry creatures, jump on them or introduce them to things around them, then log what you learn to earn Stars and unlock more pages. You can also name each creature. The art style is meant to look like stop-motion, with some animations, such as Yoshi’s jump, deliberately shown at a lower frame rate.
The game was announced in a Nintendo Direct on September 12, 2025, during Super Mario Bros.’ 40th anniversary, and dated in a trailer on March 10, 2026. Good-Feel, the studio behind Woolly World and Crafted World, developed it for Nintendo.
How the reviews split
An 80 average hides a wide spread. Players on Metacritic gave it an 8.0 from 300 ratings, but some well-known outlets were cooler. Nintendo Life scored it 6 out of 10. Its reviewer liked the music, the sound design and the large cast of creatures, but found the game too easy, the levels repetitive and the visuals soft in handheld mode. The review also points out there is no co-op.
Previews before launch noted that many creature puzzles have more than one solution. The reviews suggest the challenge stays low, though, so players looking for a hard platformer should know that going in.
How it sold
In Japan, the game sold 39,661 physical copies in its first week and debuted at No. 2 on the Famitsu chart, behind Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, according to Gematsu’s report of Famitsu data. In the US, it entered Circana’s top 10 best-selling games for May 2026 at No. 8, Nintendo Life reported. The Famitsu figure counts physical copies only.
We could not find a sales total for the game from Nintendo itself.
Try the free demo first
If you are unsure, there is now a free way to find out. Nintendo released a demo on July 8 that lets Switch 2 owners play the first chapter. Your save carries over if you buy the full game, so nothing you discover in the demo is lost.
Since the reviews disagree mostly on difficulty and pace, the first chapter is a useful test before you pay $59.99.