Yoshi's Crafted World (2019)

Trying this one...again. I've picked it up and put it down a few times over the years. Honestly, it feels like a walking simulator with Yoshi. I'm really struggling to find the draw. It looks nice, though not amazing. The gameplay is fine, but not very engaging. It just feels like something I should be playing for 20 minutes or so after popping some melatonin and chasing it with a cup of Sleepytime Tea before drifting off.

This is my last attempt with this one before I retire it permanently. I better stop here before I start thinking of all the other things I could have spent $60 on.

Here is a very simple and very easy 2D platformer starring a cute wool Yoshi in an arts + crafts world. This is one of those games where, instead of a game that feels aimed for all ages (something like Mario Odyssey), this is a game that feels very much intended for young children specifically. Which is fine and good of course, if anything there should be more games of the sort that help kids learn the ropes (and can get extra help if needed via a super-easy mode and/or help from a second-player parent or sibling). For me though, this was just too monotonous and the soundtrack kind of drove me insane. The arts + crafts stuff could have probably been pushed farther too. (I've been spoiled by Tearaway.)

I've heard Yoshi's Wool World is better? I'll keep it in mind to try one day.

Having never (really) gotten into a Yoshi game before, I decided I wouldn't buy this one until I played the demo, and waited a bit to see if I'd still be interested if I did buy it. I finished the demo and was immediately sad that there was no more. A week later, I grabbed it.

This game encapsulates the perfect level of Nintendo charm, while combining Eye Spy and Hide n' Seek to introduce an incredible entry into the mainline Yoshi games.

Each level is literally a work of art - upon each completion, you unlock the "flip side", that is, the entire level played backwards and look for more collectibles from a flipped viewpoint. Seeing the level from this alternative perspective shows all of the tape and Popsicle sticks and make-shift structural support of the front part of the level, as you're now looking at series of 2D cardboard plains from the other side. It's art within art, and it's an incredible journey through each and every level.

I've been slighty obsessive about finding everything on my first playthrough, and I'd just like to recommend potential players to avoid doing what I've done. I would play through each level first, before going back to 100% complete each level, should you be so inclined. Burn-out will definitely set in fast, because some of the collectibles are extremely difficult to find, and you'll tire quickly from repeating a small collection of levels, as opposed to waiting until post-game when you've unlocked them all.

Yoshi's Crafted World is relaxing gaming bliss in it's purest form and would make a great pairing with a glass of chardonnay and something more heavy-hitting. When I need a break from life (or Dragon's Dogma), Yoshi's Crafted World is where I choose to go.

I appreciate how much content this game has, but I have a pretty major gripe with the way it's rolled out. Once you beat every level, it has a flipside where you look for poochy pups hidden through it. Love this. But once you beat a world, you get these side-quests where you just go back through every level and look for hidden items. I like it in theory, BUT rather than just give you a list of all the hidden items at once, it gives you them one by one. That means that you end up replaying the same level 3-4 times. By the end, I was kind of burned out, but I pushed through and beat the game. Once you beat it, the game unlocks ANOTHER item hinting type mission, sending you back through some levels for a 5th time.

I really do appreciate the game giving me so much to do. But it is very tedious approach to extra content. It just kind of tests your patience for each level by sending you back through it over and over. I kind of wish you just got the lists of hidden items all at once, letting you really closely explore the levels once or twice, rather than sending you back through them over and over for little reward.

Overall, enjoyed this, but the tedium definitely drags it down. Rather than being a fun exploration game about being perceptive in your surroundings, it teeters into being a grocery list of collection. I adored Wooly World for how creative and rewarding it was, but this feels a step too far.

So my lovely wife bought me a copy of Yoshi's Crafted World over the weekend.

It relaxes me to my core to play a game like this. Sometimes I need action packed stressful gameplay, so I pick up X-COM. Sometimes I want fantastic puzzles I have forgotten how to solve so I play Braid over again. With Yoshi's crafted world I get vibes of Little big planet, Castles in the sky, and of course, Yoshi's woolly world. I get waves of nostalgia from the many hours I've smacked Yoshi on the back of the head playing Super Mario World.

If you're ever tired of aggressive, complicated games, and you want a colorful, happy replacement, give this game a go.