I thought I knew what to expect from Yoshi and the Mysterious Book when Nintendo invited me to a recent hands-on preview ahead of the game’s launch next month. I had played a good chunk of Crafted World and Woolly World (still waiting on that Switch port, Nintendo) in years gone by, and the trailers for the latest adventure had clued me in on all the familiar beats: charming but simple platforming with an adorable art style. Happily, I was wrong.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is much of what made the series so cute and accessible in recent entries, but there is a surprising amount of depth under the hood. I went in expecting to fly through levels in a matter of seconds with a genuine, albeit short-lasting, smile on my face. I never thought that those levels would hook me in with their secrets, then bring me back once I had discovered more about the world. After a few entries firmly at one end of the scale, it feels like Yoshi is finally hitting the sweet spot between a game aimed at both kids and long-time fans.

But perhaps I’m getting a little ahead of myself here. As its name suggests, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book sees Nintendo’s delightful dinosaur team up with a (you guessed it) Mysterious Book, named Mr. Encyclopedia — or Mr. E, for short. Determined to discover the secrets of his pages, Yoshi agrees to dive into the book’s contents and examine the creature inhabitants within.

Each level thus plays out like its own mini (Yoshi) safari. He’ll stumble across a new creature, observe it in its natural habitat, and then do everything he can to uncover all of the being’s quirks: What does it taste like? What happens if you jump on its head? Can it survive a drop from a great height? You know, all your classic Attenborough tests.

The creatures all bring a unique skill to the table, be that blowing bubbles, growing plants, or engaging in a spot of petty theft, and you’ll have to make use of all of them to uncover everything there is to know about the species. At the end of the level, usually once Yoshi has completed its big, main task, everything you have learned is recorded in Mr. E, and you’ll see a clue for some of the scenarios you overlooked before you name the species yourself. If you think the Glubbit, which featured in a recent trailer, looks like more of a ‘Keith’, this is your chance to rectify that.

It’s a very sweet premise, one that’s part puzzle platformer, part wildlife documentary, but, much like in the wild, the creatures you uncover aren’t tethered to their own areas, so you can expect to see them pop up time and time again, opening new avenues of exploration.

My playtime started in the game’s first chapter, Wildwoods. I uncovered a few different species while getting used to the gameplay, but then noticed the pages of the book had started to change. A flying bee-like creature that I discovered mid-way through had migrated back over to the flower creatures I found at the beginning. I headed back into the level and was faced with a batch of new discoveries as the two species interacted.

Things got even more complex as my hands-on jumped forward to Chapter Four’s Settled Valley, where the discoveries in the interim led to levels packed with different routes to explore if you knew how to use the creatures’ unique abilities to your advantage.

I fed a Glubbit a nearby chilli to turn its bubbles into spiky rising orbs, which let me access a fruit to boost a Croakaoke’s trampolining ability, which I picked up with a Tail Flick and took over to a previously unaccessible area where I found a… I could keep going like this for a while, but let’s save some surprises, eh?

The level of interaction caught me off guard. Just when I thought I had found everything there was to know about a creature, I’d stumble into a different scenario and see another of its skills on display. Whereas Crafted World might have seen me return to the odd level to mop up a missed collectible, I get the impression that The Mysterious Book is going to encourage level replays far more frequently.

It’s a good job that it’s all so charming to look at, then. Aside from being catnip for the fan artists out there, the pencil-coloured aesthetic is a real looker on Switch 2 — and a nice nod to Yoshi’s Island’s hand-drawn visuals of old. I particularly enjoyed coming to the edge of a level, and seeing the colour fade from the visuals as if it were a real page that has only been inked so far. It’s all par for the course after the unrivalled joy of Crafted and Woolly World’s visuals, but it’s relieving to see the trend continue, nonetheless.

It’ll be interesting to see how far The Mysterious Book can push the sense of inter-level interaction before things become too messy. As it stands, this feels like a flutter jump in the right direction for Yoshi, as far as appealing to a more experienced audience is concerned, with one of the Switch 2’s most eye-catching visual styles to match.

Hey, it looks like the old dino might have life in him yet.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book arrives on Switch 2 on 21st May.

What’s your hype level looking like for Yoshi’s latest adventure? Let us know in the comments.