Yoshi’s Crafted World

Yoshi's Crafted World Let's Play 1

The diorama-like design of Yoshi's Crafted World falls somewhere between capturing how a child might imagine a world and being a joyful expression of imagination in its own right, with washi tape. May 11, 2019 A 100% video guide showing all the locations for every souvenir in Yoshi's Crafted World for the Nintendo Switch. I attempted to make the video as straightforward as possible, by speeding up certain parts and cutting some other parts, while still clearly showcasing each item's location.

Yoshi's Crafted World

There are few games in the video game marketplace that pack as much charm as Yoshi titles, and with each subsequent release, Nintendo pushes the boundaries just a little bit further. I thought they had hit the top when they launch Yoshi’s Wooly World; how could that creativity and cuteness be topped! I know how: Yoshi’s Crafted World, an all ages accessible title that will be enjoyed by everyone. But just because we think it could have universal appeal, doesn’t mean it will. Does Yoshi’s Crafted World hold up to the green dinosaur’s high bar of expectations? Let’s dive in!

There is plenty to do in Yoshi’s Crafted World with over a dozen worlds to explore and 40+ levels to interact with, further added to by a secret final few levels after the game concludes. There is a ton of content here, and by limiting each world to only 2 or 3 levels, you get to see plenty of variety that you normally wouldn’t see in a 6-8 world game that has been so typical of Nintendo in the past. This approach limits each world, but also makes the game more interesting throughout. During my 8 or so hours with the campaign – that is just getting from A to B on each world – I enjoyed the variety.

It is all about accessibility with Yoshi’s Crafted World. In fact, across the entire Nintendo Switch lineup, it has been accessibility first and foremost. Building a game from the ground up that will appeal as much to a 9 year old as it will a 30 year old, as much to older teens and young adults as it would to married couples with kids. And Nintendo nails it here, yet again. Even on normal mode, getting from A to B is rarely that difficult, but for those finding some levels more challenging than others, Nintendo has built in a mellow mode that gives even the most casual gamer a chance at seeing each and every gamer reach the end.

Yoshi's Crafted World Soundtrack

But for those looking to find everything, and 100% the game, a stiff challenge awaits, which could be controller throwing inducing during more than a few moments. It’s the perfect balance between hardcore and casual that Nintendo so often perfects. But while the game play can adapt to all audiences, what about the story?

Yoshi titles have never particularly had a strong story component, and that has not really changed here, for better or for worse. You’ll be tasked with travelling around the various worlds and collecting the gems that were stolen from Yoshi’s Island. If you’ve played a Yoshi’s Island game in the past, this will all feel very familiar. Progression through the world’s and beating bosses will lead to each one of the gems. Find one, rinse and repeat for two, and so on. The story variety is lacking, as it always is, but yet Nintendo has created something I don’t want to miss.

The game lives on more than its charm, though, as it’s backed by strong game play. While attempting to find all 20 red coins in a level can be infuriating – as can the other collectibles, including the flowers – it was a way to make me explore every corner of the game, and not missing a single bit of what has been so excellently crafted. Visually, nothing should be missed. So much love and care and thought was put into this game, and I hope we see a developer diary or two like we did when Yoshi’s Wooly World originally launched on the Wii U. I want to see how the team put this together!

The cardboard crafty nature of Yoshi is enough to keep you pressing forward as you attempt to see what crafty awesomeness Nintendo has for you around the next corner. It’s almost as exhilarating as the game play itself. I could never wait to see what was next, and fell into the one-more-hour problem. And while you think there are limitations on what aesthetically can be done with cardboard, think again. Every level was more impressive than the last, with the cardboard not only providing a specific look to each world and level, but played heavily into the various puzzles as well, each as interesting to figure out as the last.

But the game goes even deeper than that. When you look closer at each level, you quickly begin to see the multitude of 3D elements. Doors that lead to secret behind-the-scenes areas, walkways that take you into the foreground, and so much more. On the surface you have a side scrolling platforms that quickly falls away to a much deeper experience. All of this buried behind a cutesy cardboard world.

The game is not without its share of problems however, most of which could be fixed with quality of life improvements. Each level needs to be played a minimum of 4 times to get that 100% target, and even then you could play it 7, 8, perhaps even 10 times. There are too many steps involved in getting, for example, the souvenir in each level: receiving the request, fulfilling the request, returning to the quest giver. Even if you had technically completed that request in a previous run, it doesn’t register or count, meaning you’ll have to complete it again.

Ultimately, though, when you get tired of the aesthetics, tired of the collecting, and may be even tired of Yoshi himself, you can bring along a friend and do all those things in a slightly different way. With each of you controlling a Yoshi, you’ll need to find 3 Poochy’s within the world and make it to the end of the level, within the time frame. I never found this overly difficult, but experiencing the uniqueness of this title with a friend was a great experience overall.

Overall, Yoshi’s Crafted World is a fantastic experience that I’m glad I played through. While collecting everything ratchets up the difficulty, it can also become a severe chore as well. And unfortunately, a lot of the things you unlock for your efforts – whether using coins for outfits in the candy machine, or even the 100% completion prize – it all feels a bit weak, and a letdown overall. Is this game worth it? Definitely. Should you feel the needs to get 100%? Not really, unless you really want to maximize your experience with the game.

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Nintendo has a balancing act to perform when putting out demos for its console platformers: they have to appeal to both the core fans, who've been playing for years, and the more casual or first-time player. In theory Nintendo could serve both but, in practice, it often ends up falling down heavily on either side.

Such is the case with the demo for Yoshi’s Crafted World, which was released on eShop during tonight's Nintendo’s Direct presentation. The demo shows off the unique visual design, but doesn't really go deep into what might differentiate this entry, and ends up a slightly unsatisfying experience.

The level featuring in the demo, Railyard Run, is a linear experience that's focused on teaching basic Yoshi mechanics. Obviously it looks incredible.

Players move along a set path within a 3D space. It's a pretty-looking road with minor branches, and you're swallowing enemies to create eggs. Whereas most past Yoshi games have egg-throwing limited to a 2D axis, here eggs can be thrown into the foreground or background too by aiming a reticule with the analogue stick. The contextual depth is great, and hitting what you're aiming for is easy.

Beyond that, this demo is short and simple. There’s a host of collectibles around the level which are, to the designers' credit, often cleverly hidden, but combat and platforming are so basic they really don’t showcase where this game is going. I 100%-ed it with every hidden collectible in under ten minutes.

Still, getting to play a segment of Yoshi’s Crafted World rather than simply watching footage of it does sell the joy of the game’s visual style. Environments are 'built' out of household craft materials, and left me itching to try creating level dioramas. Watching characters like Kamek and Bowser Jr destroy a train made of a cola can really sold the tangibility of this style. It's a world constructed by geniuses to look like it was thrown-together by children.

The demo for Yoshi's Crafted World does allow players to try out two player co-op, but this mode felt confused. Yoshi games involve players turning enemies into eggs which then follow behind the player. The level at times either featured too few eggs for both players to consistently take part in the action or, if both players did have full eggs, there were too many things moving around in too close a space to properly tell what was happening. When both players are fully stocked, it’s too chaotic to really enjoy.

Players can ride each other in co-op, or swallow each other, but the level encourages sticking close together. It means you'll frequently accidentally interact, which can be as annoying as it is funny.

The demo does allow you to play this first level in reverse after completing it, with the backs of surfaces shown, but it is essentially just a reversed version of the level with three collectables to find and a time limit applied to the player. While it's undeniably adorable seeing the reused food cardboard boxes repurposed to create the sets, without knowing if this is the structure of every reversed level or not it's tough to tell how much gameplay value the reversed levels will bring to the table. It was fun once to replay a level backwards, it's a smart reuse of assets, but it feels like the formula could potentially get repetitive. Maybe I'm judging too harshly too soon, but it's a concern I had with this particular demo.

After completing the level forwards and backwards, you unlock a very basic challenge, find five cows in the level and hit them with eggs. If you did this already it won't be counted, so you will have to go replay the level. Your reward is a basic flower collectable which you're not able to use for anything in the demo, nor are you told what they unlock. It's a weird addition that adds little to the demo.

Yoshi's Crafted World Switch

Ultimately, while this demo does a good job showing off Yoshi's Crafted World's art style, it doesn't fully sell it as a game. We all know Yoshi platformers aren't exactly what you'd call hardcore, but is the game really this simple? Is there any challenge to it in later levels? Does the level-flipping mechanic, where you replay levels looking at the back of dioramas, change anything substantially enough to make it worth playing a level twice, or is it basically always a time trial revisit? Is the craft style just aesthetic, or does it play more of a gameplay role? Let's hope the final game turns out to be more interesting, because this demo makes an exciting prospect seem a little duller than it probably is.