‘Yoshi’s Crafted World’ Review: Pulling the Wool Over Your Eyes

Dom Peppiatt
Game Reviews Games
Game Reviews Games Super Mario Nintendo
3.0
of 5
Review Essentials
  • Creative and inventive world
  • Self-aware retread of Mario enemies and tropes
  • Predictable level and zone design
  • Never seems to really get going
Reviewed on Switch

Yoshi’s Crafted World is one of those games that immediately catches your eye. Brimming with an almost offensive amount of colour and charm, it looks like the kind of arts and craft utopia every child dreams of making…..but without all the screaming and mess. It’s an ode to recycling, a celebration of rubbish, a bric-a-brac kitbash. Elastic bands, push pins, curled paper cones and corrugated cardboard replace pixels and polygons, and best of all? The little crocheted creature in the middle of it all is you: surrounded by all these cast-offs, left to discover the joy in everyone else’s trash.

In other words, this time, Nintendo has cast its Willy Wonka magic on garbage, turning the offcuts of a primary school art lesson into a living, breathing world. Something about Yoshi’s Crafted World — realised in 720p on the Switch — imbues Yoshi’s island with more resplendent magic than its 3DS or Wii U predecessors. There’s more soul, more vibrancy, more charm. The secret sauce? This is the first Nintendo first party game to make use of Unreal Engine 4, and it shows.

Thanks to its mix of vibrant visuals and clever depth of field, this world looks so sweet it’s sickly at times, with billboards for fictional candy and breakfast cereals decorating the horizon, bottle cap boats and foil fish dressing the levels. But for all its creativity — for all the imagination that’s gone into making these Blue Peter diorama levels — unlike most Nintendo platformers, Yoshi’s latest adventure feels hard to love.

 Spin a yarn

In many ways, Yoshi’s Crafted World is Nintendo by committee: a cutesy platformer guiding the player down linear paths in themed worlds with a token sprinkling of collectables hidden throughout each 2.5D level.

Thankfully, this crafted world is an incredibly endearing place to be. On your first run through any given zone, you’ll gawk and croon over the gorgeous little touches that make the area feel special. ‘Awh look, the Shy Guys are wearing sailor hats!’ or ‘that’s cute: the Mousers are playing with magnets!’ and it says a lot that this twee take on Mario’s rogue’s gallery never really loses momentum.

The same goes for the puzzling. Throughout the 20 hour run time, you’ll laugh, smile, chuckle and groan at the predictably wholesome puzzles developer Good Feel sends your way. Maybe you’ve got to figure out how to use your body weight to operate a lever, maybe you’ve got to stack swallow-and-spit items on top of each other, maybe you’ve got to find a hidden switch. Keep an eye on the foreground, background and sniff out hidden corners and you’ll breeze through 90% of the game no problem (and the other 10% might require some good timing).

These copy/paste puzzle solutions, on their own, are sort-of entertaining — the kinds of activities you give the kids on a hungover Sunday morning to keep them busy whilst you search for the paracetamol. They take enough low-key brainpower for you to distractedly pluck through, but it’s never enough to really get your head whirring.

The stop/start nature of the game doesn’t help: short levels and unskippable segues create a staccato rhythm that — when paired with shallow puzzling and simple platforming — fails to ever get in your head the way that recent, better platformers have done (Dead Cells, Hollow Knight, Shovel Knight, Celeste and Rayman Legends you can all take a bow – you may have ruined Yoshi).

Say it ain’t sew

This game isn’t aimed at mature audiences, though. We know that. It’s easy to be cynical about a game that’s even got a setting that ensures you pretty much can’t die. But even in some of the later levels — you know, where the game is supposed to get hard Yoshi’s Crafted World fails to glue together a crafty challenge that respects the player’s time investment.

Shunting the game down to the easiest difficulty (Mellow Mode) gives you wings that allow you to float forever, and it feels like Nintendo could have taken advantage of that to let the latter levels spice up the vanilla platforming even a little. Collect-a-thons are all well and good, but even the checkbox structure of a game as wholesome as this becomes tired 20 hours in.

Disappointingly, even in co-op, the game doesn’t really change all that much — it’s just more of the same,  but with two people. Some levels might flow better when you’re working together (you can navigate vertical obstacles easier, or take on timed tasks quicker), but other than some incidental hilarity when you swallow each other or nick each other’s eggs… you don’t particularly get much more out of playing with someone else than when playing solo.

Yoshi’s Crafted World tries to jazz up the gameplay muzak by taking you out of the standard levels and dropping you into special ones every now and then. Maybe you’re operating a big vehicular Yoshi, maybe you’re fighting off a boulder-spitting bird, maybe you’re running an infestation of moles out of town. But even at the climax of these boss fights and mini-games, it still feels like you’re riding in the same old elevator and not getting anywhere.

 Is Yoshi’s Crafted World any good?

Yoshi’s Crafted World is not a bad game. The ingenuity in how it shows off its world is consistently inspiring, and the way the developers have taken a box of odds and ends and somehow made a living, breathing world out of it cannot be praised enough.

The problem with the green dinosaur’s latest is, it just feels like all the good ideas were spent on the setting — and the developers had checked out creatively by the time it came to designing the levels. It’s a platformer by numbers, and if you strip out those lovely visuals and that inventive packaging it all comes in, it feels much like the colourful pieces that hold together its landscapes — recycled.

Yoshi’s Crafted World hasn’t done much wrong, but held up against the other better (cheaper!) platformers you can currently pick up on Nintendo Switch hardware, it’s hard to recommend. It’s charming, it’s sweet, it’s peddling a message of kinship and harmony… but it does it all so dryly.

Sorry, Yoshi – you’re a good boy, but you’ve got to learn some new tricks.

Dom Peppiatt
After cutting his teeth on magazines at games™, Dom has written for everyone from Xbox Achievements to The Daily Star. Terrible puns. Obsessed with dogs. Somewhere between Squall and Ignis.
One Chicago Showrunners Preview All Three Emotional, Game-Changing Finales
Car accidents, pregnancy news, a wedding, and more hit the Windy City
Copied to clipboard
Murderbot: Alexander Skarsgård on Crafting an Android With Neurodivergent Traits
'The core idea of the show is you shouldn't reduce personhood.'
Copied to clipboard
Murderbot: Alexander Skarsgård on Crafting an Android With Neurodivergent Traits
'The core idea of the show is you shouldn't reduce personhood.'
Copied to clipboard
The Overwatch 2 X Street Fighter Collaboration Is "A Match Made In Heaven"
Two of Overwatch's key art directors discuss bringing Capcom's fighter to Blizzard's hero shooter.
Copied to clipboard
Some $80 Games Are A "Steal" Based On What They Offer, Former Sony Exec Says 
"As long as people choose carefully how they spend their money, I don't think they should be complaining."
Copied to clipboard
New Xbox Update Makes A Key Improvement
Microsoft is delivering an improvement that fans have been asking for.
Copied to clipboard
The Last Of Us Season 2 Finale's Intense Trailer Sets Up A Dramatic Conclusion
Season 2 wraps up this Sunday with what looks like a powerful episode.
Copied to clipboard
Red Dead Redemption At 15: There Will Never Be Another Spaghetti Western Like It
Even in its own trilogy, there's nothing quite like Red Dead Redemption.
Copied to clipboard
15 Games Like Call Of Duty To Play With Your Friends In 2025
Here's our full list of the best games like Call of Duty to play right now if you need a new multiplayer shooter to dive into.
Copied to clipboard
Magic: The Gathering - Final Fantasy Through The Ages: Every Bonus Sheet Card
Here are all 64 cards from the special subset included within the MTG Final Fantasy expansion.
Copied to clipboard
Switch 2's Bravely Default Remaster Rings In 3DS Nostalgia Era With A Great RPG
The retro-throwback RPG looks beautiful in some ways, and charmingly rudimentary in others.
Copied to clipboard
Murderbot Review: Alexander Skarsgård Is Hilariously Awkward in Sci-Fi Dramedy
Skarsgård plays a rogue cyborg in Apple TV+'s somewhat shallow but appropriately snarky adaptation
Copied to clipboard
The Handmaid's Tale Cast and Crew React to the Show's Own Red Wedding Episode
'People are going to have their minds blown by what happens.'
Copied to clipboard
All The PlayStation Plus May 2025 Games For Premium And Extra Subscribers
PS Plus subscribers can look forward to a diverse selection of games this month.
Copied to clipboard
Duster Review: Thank You, J.J. Abrams, for Another Josh Holloway Show
The new crime thriller from Abrams and LaToya Morgan is a messy delight
Copied to clipboard
Capcom Fighting Collection 2 Review - Completing The Set
Capcom delivers another great fighting game collection--even with varying quality in the selections this time around.
Copied to clipboard
Control Spin-Off FBC: Firebreak Is A Defiant, Punk-Rock Take On Co-Op Shooters
Remedy's three-player FPS combines a DIY spirit with Left 4 Dead-like chaos.
Copied to clipboard
The Bear Season 4 Has a Tasty Premiere Date
We'll be back in the kitchen imminently
Copied to clipboard
FX Just Dropped a Ton of Alien: Earth Info, Including a Premiere Date
Noah Hawley's take on the sci-fi franchise is set somewhere Alien has never been
Copied to clipboard
Tracker Boss Unpacks That Season 2 Finale and What's Coming in Season 3
Elwood Reid says Justin Hartley evokes a certain classic tough guy
Copied to clipboard
Marvel Rivals Battle Pass Season 0 - All Skins, Emotes, And Other Rewards
The free-to-play hero shooter Marvel Rivals has arrived, launching with a short Season 0 battle pass.
Copied to clipboard
Marvel 1943: Rise Of Hydra Delayed
The new Marvel game won't make it out on time.
Copied to clipboard
The Best And Wildest Grand Theft Auto 6 Theories We've Seen So Far
Even with limited footage and screens, the GTA community has some big ideas for the next game.
Copied to clipboard
WoW Legion Is Getting The Remix Treatment, Blizzard Confirms
Legion Remix has been officially announced at PAX East.
Copied to clipboard
Fallout Renewed For A Third Season, But Heading To New Vegas First
Prime Video has greenlit Fallout Season 3 while we're still waiting for Season 2 to premiere later this year.
Copied to clipboard
Boba Fett, Final Fantasy 7's Aerith, And The Best Cosplay From PAX East 2025
Halo, Helldivers, Fallout, and much more were on display by fans at PAX.
Copied to clipboard
GTA 4 Remaster May Be In The Works
We might get GTA 4 a second time before GTA 6.
Copied to clipboard
Magic: The Gathering Final Fantasy Collab Led To Spirited Discussions Over Cuts
"I had to say 'Daniel, if they don't make it in, I will be very upset, because someone will get very upset with me if they don't make it in."
Copied to clipboard
Nintendo Reveals A Switch 2 Setting That Prevents Its Battery From Deteriorating
Make sure you turn on this Nintendo Switch 2 setting if you don't want your battery to deteriorate as fast.
Copied to clipboard
Magic: The Gathering – Final Fantasy PAX East Panel: See The Revealed Cards Now
The mad dash to June 13 has begun, as the PAX East panel revealed over 20 cards from the upcoming set.
Copied to clipboard
Borderlands 4 Will Feature Substantial Changes For Co-Op Players
From improved lobbies to the ability to fast-travel directly to your friends, Borderlands 4 looks like it'll be a blast of fun for fans of co-op games
Copied to clipboard
Andor's Kyle Soller: Syril's 'Finally Understanding That He's Been the Patsy'
'He's in such a primal state of transition, it's like he's leaving a cult'
Copied to clipboard
The Hilarious Peacemaker Season 2 Trailer Features Some DC Cameos
Check out the Superman connection in the first Season 2 trailer
Copied to clipboard
Revenge Of The Savage Planet Review - A Goo(d) Time
A bigger and better sequel, stretching out its joyful mix of platforming, exploration, and puzzle-solving across four diverse and lively planets.
Copied to clipboard
Doom: The Dark Ages Review - The Old One
Doom: The Dark Ages reinvents and reins in with equal measure, taking the series in a bold new direction without straying from its captivating roots.
Copied to clipboard
Europa Universalis 5 Is Unabashedly Hardcore, And I Love It
Europa Universalis 5 features all of the thorough mechanical depth Paradox Interactive’s grand strategy series is known for.
Copied to clipboard
How To Survive Fortnite's Painfully Slow Star Wars Meta
Zero Build players should never leave home without shield bubbles.
Copied to clipboard
8 Horror Subclasses Join Unearthed Arcana For Dungeons And Dragons 2024
New D&D horror subclasses announced with the latest Unearthed Arcana.
Copied to clipboard
Squid Game's Season 3 Trailer Teases a New Deadly Game
Let's talk about that gumball machine in the new trailer
Copied to clipboard
The Best Anime TV Shows on Netflix
The biggest streamer has a ton of Japanese imports and exclusive originals worth watching
Copied to clipboard
GTA 6 Trailer 2 Breakdown: What's Happening In Leonida?
You'd be amazed how much can be packed into two minutes and 46 seconds.
Copied to clipboard
Disney Lorcana Next Chapter Livestream: Everything Revealed For Lorcana's Future
Ravensburger's hit TCG has some big plans for its third year.
Copied to clipboard
Games Joining Game Pass In May 2025, Including Doom: The Dark Ages
Three day-one releases are part of this wave for the subscription service.
Copied to clipboard
GTA 6 - Here Are 177 Screenshots To Ease The Wait Until 2026
Grand Theft Auto VI is coming in May 2026.
Copied to clipboard
Filming The Last of Us Episode 4's Subway Action Scene Was No Easy Task
Go behind Episodes 2 and 4 with cinematographer Catherine Goldschmidt
Copied to clipboard
Apex Legends Season 25 Patch Notes: New Legend, Arenas Mode, And More
Season 25: Prodigy includes a new audio bug report system, the return of Arenas, and a new Legend named Sparrow.
Copied to clipboard
Nintendo Switch's Latest Update Disables Popular Game-Sharing Loophole
Switch owners have lost a helpful way to share online-enabled games thanks to the latest hardware update.
Copied to clipboard
Fortnite Star Wars Battle Pass: All Skins And Other Rewards
Fortnite is going all in on Star Wars this month.
Copied to clipboard
GTA 6 Delayed To 2026
Rockstar's giant open-world game will not make it out on time.
Copied to clipboard
FX Gives First Details on Shōgun Season 2
Production is set to begin in 2026
Copied to clipboard
Sam Elliott Joins Landman Season 2, as He Should
A legend of the West is joining Season 2 — yeehaw!
Copied to clipboard
Everything New In Fortnite's Star Wars Season, Galactic Battle
For the next five weeks, Star Wars is taking over Fortnite battle royale and Lego Fortnite.
Copied to clipboard
Fortnite Returning To US iOS Soon After Judge Slams Apple For "Insubordination"
The latest chapter in the Epic Games/Apple legal battle gives Epic a big win.
Copied to clipboard
Xbox Consoles, Games, And Accessories See Price Increases Starting Today
An Xbox Series X system will now cost $600 in the US, after previously being listed for $500.
Copied to clipboard
PlayStation Plus Free Games For May 2025 Revealed
Here's what PS Plus subscribers can look forward to in May.
Copied to clipboard
These Nintendo Switch 2 Titles Have The Full Game On The Game Card
Only certain physical releases for Nintendo Switch 2 will contain the entire game on the Game Card. These are all of the ones confirmed so far.
Copied to clipboard
Best Oblivion Remastered Mods To Download So Far
Mods are available to download in Oblivion Remastered, but which ones should you prioritize first for your journey in Cyrodiil?
Copied to clipboard
Borderlands 4 Release Date Moved Up
Gearbox's looter-shooter is now coming a few weeks sooner.
Copied to clipboard
Skin Deep Review - System Snark
While rewarding creativity like any great game in its genre should, Blendo Games' Skin Deep also offers a refreshingly lighthearted take on the im sim
Copied to clipboard
The Best Games Of 2025 (So Far)
2025 is off to a great start, thanks to games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and Civilization VII.
Copied to clipboard
Gameloft CEO Reflects On 25th Anniversary:"No Miracle Recipe For A Blockbuster"
The CEO of the tenured game maker speaks about agility, collaboration, and vigilance in a volatile industry.
Copied to clipboard
You Won't Find Switch 2 Consoles On Amazon, But You Can Get Games & Gear
Here's why only select Nintendo Switch 2 products are available at Amazon right now.
Copied to clipboard
Andor's Undocumented Labor Subplot Hits Terrifyingly Close to Home
The Star Wars series draws real-world parallels with its harrowing refugee storyline
Copied to clipboard
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered Review
Despite its name, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered comfortably toes the line between a remake and remaster
Copied to clipboard
You Season 5 Takes a Strange Detour but Ends Where It Must
The final season of the twisted Netflix drama knows what Joe Goldberg deserves, even if it takes too long to deliver
Copied to clipboard
Getting A Switch 2 Was A Chaotic, Stressful Mess
The floodgates opened, and online retailers nearly buckled under the surge of Switch 2 seekers.
Copied to clipboard
Fortnite Star Wars Map Revealed A Week Before Major Update
The next Fortnite update might not be Chapter 6 Season 3 like players expected.
Copied to clipboard
What's Coming to Netflix in May
Check into the Four Seasons with Tina Fey and Colman Domingo on May 1
Copied to clipboard
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Review - Light And Shadow
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a phenomenal RPG, telling a heartbreaking tale while incorporating thrilling action into its tactical turn-based combat
Copied to clipboard
Everything Sucks, But Video Games Help Me Process It
As much as the world needs games that make us feel secure and cozy, I believe we need games that encourage and empower us, too.
Copied to clipboard
Best Classes In Oblivion Remastered And All Elder Scrolls IV Classes
There are nearly two dozen classes to choose from in Oblivion Remastered, so which ones are the best to use for your character?
Copied to clipboard
Oblivion Remastered Is Steam Deck Verified And Steeply Discounted For PC
If you want the newly released remaster of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion on Steam, check out Fanatical's deals on the standard and Deluxe Editions.
Copied to clipboard
73 Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remaster Screenshots Showing Off The New Visuals
Bethesda's new Unreal Engine 5-powered RPG remaster is out now, and it looks pretty great.
Copied to clipboard
New Max and HBO TV Shows and Movies in April 2025
I couldn't help but wonder, what's coming to HBO in May?
Copied to clipboard
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered Full Walkthrough
Oblivion Remastered is here, and we have a full walkthrough, including character customization, quests, guilds, shrines, and more.
Copied to clipboard
Oblivion Remaster Surprise-Launches Today On Game Pass, Also Available On PS5
The long-rumored Elder Scrolls remaster was announced today, and it's out now.
Copied to clipboard
Andor Season 2 Review: A Thrilling Conclusion to the Greatest Star Wars Spin-Off
Diego Luna's rebel spy returns in this beautifully realized anti-fascist drama
Copied to clipboard
The Last Of Us Season 2's Shocking Death: Cast And Writers React To Big Reveal
Pedro Pascal says he is in "active denial" about the latest developments on HBO's The Last of Us.
Copied to clipboard
Star Wars: Zero Company Trailer Teases Stealthy Tactics In A Galaxy Far Far Away
The first look at Star Wars: Zero Company showed off a darker side of the Clone Wars.
Copied to clipboard
Fatal Fury: City Of The Wolves Review In Progress - A New Mark
A mechanically sound and fun fighting experience is slightly hampered by a lacking set of modes to use it in.
Copied to clipboard
Black Mirror's Jimmi Simpson Drew Inspiration From Elon Musk for his Latest Role
'Right now, the Tech-Billionaire-Out-of-Control is such a present issue'
Copied to clipboard
Sunderfolk Review - A Great Tabletop-Inspired Game With Friends
Sunderfolk isn't great if you play it on your own, but the experience with friends is fantastic and memorable.
Copied to clipboard
The Wheel of Time's Rand and Lanfear Have the Most Twisted Romance on TV
The unexpected relationship evokes Star Wars' Reylo, but in reverse
Copied to clipboard
Matlock's Boss on the 'Heartbreaking' Finale and What It Means for Season 2
She also reveals how the team decided who stole the Wellbrexa documents
Copied to clipboard
WrestleMania 41 Predictions For All Matches Using WWE 2K25
We predicted WWE WrestleMania 41 the best way we know how: by simulating the WrestleMania 41 match card inside WWE 2K25.
Copied to clipboard