The most surprising indie of the year is inspired by Zelda, Bloodborne, and features a little mouse as the protagonist

There are games that are easy to predict will do well. All the numbers are in their favor, the studio is well-liked, and they are talked about positively on social media. But sometimes that’s not enough. If its development has been bizarre, it has been very expensive, or the studio is in a precarious situation, it is perfectly possible that just being a success is not enough. It may need to break the scales to be considered a triumph. And it could very well be that one of the most anticipated indies of the year, Mina the Hollower, is in that situation. Some inspirations in the […]

There are games that it’s easy to predict will do well. All the numbers are in their favor, the studio is beloved, and they are talked about positively on social media. But sometimes that’s not enough. If its development has been bizarre, it has been very expensive, or the studio is in a precarious situation, it is perfectly possible that simply being a success is not enough. It may need to break the scales to be considered a triumph. And it could very well be that one of the most anticipated indies of the year, Mina the Hollower, is in that situation.

Some inspirations in the sleeve

Mina the Hollower surprises because it does not hide its inspirations. It doesn’t even try to. It is a game heavily inspired by The Legend of Zelda, but specifically by the 2D games of the franchise that came after A Link to the Past, the last game released for Super Nintendo. Embracing what Nintendo did in games like A Link to the Past, Oracle of Seasons, and Oracle of Ages, Mina the Hollower takes them as inspiration to create its own identity.

Because it is true that it draws a lot from them. It has an isometric perspective of 3/4, a pixel art aesthetic similar to that of a Super Nintendo, and a mix of combat, exploration, and puzzles, but it is not exactly like a Zelda. Not only because Mina is a little mouse with a clear purpose: to discover why the spark generators that power the Dark Island are failing. But also because it has another great inspiration: the games from From Software.

Where in Zelda we only have one sword, in Mina The Hollower we have a whole variety of weapons to choose from. Each of them encourages a different playstyle, which is enhanced by a secondary weapon, in the style of Castlevania, with limited uses. This promotes combat in a way much closer to a 2D Bloodborne than to any The Legend of Zelda.

This makes the game have a higher level of difficulty than we would expect in this type of games. Something unexpected from a game that, while set in a pseudo 18th century gothic environment, is inhabited by adorable anthropomorphic animals. But where there are also deadly traps, castles filled with monsters, and of course, poisonous swamps. Just in case the influence of From Software wasn’t clear.

A study that has given it all

Additionally, Mina has to achieve something even more important than discovering what is happening on Shadow Island. She has to sell well and quickly. Why? Because the fate of her studio depends on it. Yacht Club Games, the studio behind Mina The Hollower, has stated that they are on the brink of bankruptcy and, if the game is not an immediate success, they may have to close their doors.

Now, this doesn’t seem to be a problem. Yacht Club Games are the creators of Shovel Knight, a game released in 2014 that delighted fans of retro platformers in the style of the NES. With exquisite pixel art and a devilish difficulty, it has created an entire franchise around it adored by an enthusiastic audience. The reason? The quality of their games and the care dedicated to them, establishing Yacht Club Games as a hallmark of quality.

Moreover, this is reflected in the numbers. Mina the Hollower is currently the sixth most wished game on Steam. This means that, even in the most conservative forecasts, it should reach six figures in its first twenty-four hours without any issues. If marketing and enthusiasm are on point, it could reach seven. But that remains to be seen.

Will Mina the Hollower be the next big indie hit? Everything points to yes. It is a beautiful game that is causing a sensation on social media and comes from a studio known for delivering excellent results. Whether that will be enough remains to be seen, given its situation. But we won’t have to wait long: Mina the Hollower will be released for PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X|S on May 29. And barring a major catastrophe, we could very well be looking at one of the games of the year.

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IO Interactive has done the impossible with 007 First Light: to create a James Bond for millennials

James Bond is a mythical character. Ian Flemming’s creation has had a huge impact on popular culture, not without good reason. His elegance, sarcasm, and ability to adapt to the times is absolutely enviable. Also a little frightening. That doesn’t take away from the feeling that someday the times will leave him behind. It can’t be that he can always adapt, take on a new form for a new generation, and still remain appealing. But at IO Interactive they seem to believe the opposite and have wanted to prove it with their new game, 007: First Light. A James Bond […]

James Bond is a mythical character. Ian Flemming’s creation has had a huge impact on popular culture, and for good reason. His elegance, sarcasm, and ability to adapt to the times is absolutely enviable. Also a little frightening. That doesn’t take away from the feeling that someday the times will leave him behind. It can’t be that he can always adapt, take on a new form for a new generation, and still remain attractive. But at IO Interactive, they seem to believe the opposite and have wanted to prove it with their new game, 007: First Light.

A different James Bond

The biggest peculiarity of 007: First Light is that it presents us with a James Bond before he becomes 007. His first mission is not even as a spy. As a soldier in the British Army, he accidentally gets involved in a MI6 mission and decides to follow (and of course, disobey) orders when he finds himself in a situation that overwhelms both him and his future superiors. This will ultimately lead him on the journey that this game represents: his training, his first missions, and the discovery of a great conspiracy that will earn him the title, officially, of 00.

Because the charm of this game is that it is James Bond, but not exactly. The 00 program no longer exists and is being revived, James Bond is not yet the suave badass we know and everything has a more youthful and straightforward touch. A bit John Wick, a bit young adult, almost like a version of James Bond from the famous 90s series The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones.

Also, it is a game by IO Interactive, the people behind the excellent Hitman games. This translates to the fact that a good part of our missions will require us to know how to infiltrate, remain unnoticed, and gather information. However, since we are not a 00 agent, without a license to kill. This means that although it resembles Hitman in structure and form in its missions, the absence of assassinations gives it its own personality: it feels like a methodical spy job.

Because the most surprising thing is that it also has a more dynamic component. As if it were a Naughty Dogs game, like Uncharted or The Last of Us, sometimes things get out of hand and give us a license to kill. In those cases, shootouts, chases, and set pieces of things exploding and collapsing follow one after another, and the game is a pure spectacle of adrenaline. But especially regarding combat, IO Interactive’s work is nothing short of excellent. Their shootouts are exquisite, and their fistfights are fantastic, even able to give one or two lessons on the subject to Sony’s most beloved internal studio.

But he is still James Bond

That doesn’t mean it doesn’t still have everything we expect from a James Bond story. All the classic characters from his stories are present. M, Q, and Miss Moneypenny make their appearance, although they do so in a way that is different from what we are used to. They have a different and more contemporary role.

The entire Q team also appears, with whom we will have to work closely, because an important part of the game involves James Bond’s gadgets. Having to choose between two and three before each mission, what we can do will also depend on what we decide to equip ourselves with. A poison dart is not the same as a blinding laser that can also be used to break locks and chains, just as a pen that launches explosives is different. And in those decisions, not only the kind of James Bond we want to be is defined, but also how much of a James Bond this game is: it is impossible to progress without resorting to our gadgets.

In addition to our charm. Because he is still James Bond and part of what we can do is to come out on top by lending an ear to the people we meet. Although that will spend a series of action points that we will only recover by successfully taking actions, so it will only be a last resort for the trickiest situations.

But that is the charm of 007 First Light. It wants us to feel like James Bond. Also in wearing a Rolex, driving an Aston Martin, and getting out of a situation that isn’t going as we planned by pulling off a tremendous bluff, but it works. Because that is part of the character’s identity. Of what he is. And IO Interactive understands this and manages to implement it brilliantly with a few masterful strokes.

Just a contemporary James Bond

In the end, the charm of this James Bond is that he is not the James Bond of our parents and grandparents. He is a millennial James Bond, irreverent and completely contemporary. He still has the traits typical of the character, but he also has other different aspects: he has his own personality.

This helps that the story is set in the present. It focuses on the dangers of AI, the need for the human touch, and how people cannot be replaced by machines in truly important matters. That no machine can or should make decisions for a person. Because it makes it feel like it speaks to us and does so in elegant, simple, and interesting terms. As movies and books about James Bond used to do.

With a planned release on May 27 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, and a release in the third quarter of the year for Switch 2, 007 First Light is one of the most interesting releases of the year. A proposal that offers us a different, yet very current, James Bond that could captivate the audience in ways they do not expect. If they give it the chance.

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The former director of the new Assassin's Creed has an opinion about AI: it sucks

Clint Hocking is the director of Far Cry 2 and was the director of the upcoming Assassin’s Creed, Assassin’s Creed Hexe, until a few weeks ago. And now he is in the news because he made some statements about the use of AI in video game development. Specifically, how he believes that AI sucks when it comes to doing any kind of work, creative or not. AI is not very liked by Edge Magazine, which in this month’s issue has published a long report on the rise of AI in video game development. For this, it has included, among others, […]

Clint Hocking is the director of Far Cry 2 and was serving as the director of the upcoming Assassin’s Creed, Assassin’s Creed Hexe, until a few weeks ago. And now he is in the news because he made some statements about the use of AI in video game development. Specifically, how he believes that AI sucks when it comes to doing any kind of work, creative or not.

AI is not very popular

Edge Magazine, in this month’s issue, has published a lengthy report on the rise of AI in video game development. For this, it has included, among others, Hocking, who commented on his experience regarding this. “It was brutal. ChatGPT sucks. It doesn’t know how to program. Everything was broken,” the director stated about his experience using AI tools. He affirmed that “it was mostly me trying to debug code without knowing how to program code,” acknowledging that “in a way, I have learned to program despite ChatGPT.”

This seems to align with Ubisoft’s recent experience with AI. The company has been working on the possibility of introducing generative technologies into its process, but it seems that it hasn’t worked. People within the company have even claimed that they don’t use AI because “the results are crap,” suggesting that the idea at Ubisoft is that AI is far from delivering optimal results for making video games. If it ever becomes capable of doing so.

That doesn’t mean that all video game companies agree. Many other studios, like Larian, developers of the acclaimed Baldur’s Gate 3, are looking for ways to integrate it into their workflow. So it seems that we are going to encounter a lot of news of this kind in the future. Even if no one seems to find real useful applications for AI.

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The Talos Principle will end in its third installment because "many video games simply do not end"

Croteam has announced the third part of its popular franchise The Talos Principle. Scheduled for 2027, the Croatian studio has only confirmed two things about the game: that they will continue to explore the philosophical roots of the game and that it will be the definitive conclusion of the saga. Because they do not want to fall into the trap of keeping the saga alive forever. A game with a clear ending In the words of the game’s writer, Jonas Kyratzes, “this is the end. This is the last Talos Principle” although they do not rule out that “we might make some small spinoff someday or something along those lines, but the […]

A game with a clear ending

In the words of the game’s writer, Jonas Kyratzes, “this is the end. This is the last Talos Principle,” although they do not rule out that “we might make some small spinoff someday or something along those lines, but the story of Talos Principle ends with the third.” And the reason is that “many video games simply do not end, and then they have endless cliffhangers or whatever, and there is no satisfactory conclusion to the story,” something that Croteam wants to avoid at all costs.

On the other hand, the game director, Davor Hunski, believes they have a responsibility to the franchise. “We have Serious Sam, but Talos Principle is on another level of excitement, different reactions, and commitment from the people,” even stating that they believe they might have one of the best trilogies in video game history if they manage to maintain the quality level of the first two games.

The Talos Principle is a puzzle game franchise with a strong narrative focus about a society of robots with, apparently, human-like consciousness. With philosophical reflections, logical puzzles, and the exploration of what has happened to the seemingly destroyed human civilization that gave them life, the franchise has been praised over the years for its intelligence and depth. Therefore, if this third installment goes well, it would not be bold to agree with Kyratzes that this could be one of the great trilogies in the history of video games.

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The indie Sims sells 250,000 copies in its first eight hours

Paralives was one of the most anticipated games of the first half of 2026. This game promised to be an indie alternative to The Sims after the fiasco of inZOI, and it seems that people were waiting for something like this. Because if there is one thing that Paralives is, for now, it is a success. It has sold 250,000 copies in its first eight hours, figures typical of major industry launches. Paralives is a life simulation game in the style of The Sims developed by Alex Massé, an indie video game designer known for developing games like Tuber Simulator for PewDiePie. Its […]

Paralives is a life simulation game in the style of The Sims developed by Alex Massé, an indie game designer known for developing games like Tuber Simulator for PewDiePie. His intention with Paralives is to create an evolution of the concept of The Sims where the Parafolk, the name of the characters we create, can inhabit an open world where they can create a complete life. This includes building a house, having a job, and getting involved in the life of their neighborhood, as well as the numerous events that can happen.

Although it was announced for early access release on December 8, 2025, it was delayed until May 25, 2026, because the game still needed more development time. Now, after its release, it seems that it was a wise decision. Not only has it sold 250,000 copies in its first eight hours, but it also has 3,540 reviews on Steam, most of them Very Positive, and the few negative ones are all about small bugs or lack of content. Something to be expected in early access.

With two years ahead in early access, there is still quite a bit of time before we see the full version of Paralives. But it seems that the game is already managing to stand out among its peers. Now we just have to see if Massé and his team can maintain the public’s interest during this time.

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The creators of Dishonored were about to make Thief 4… and a Blade Runner game

Arkane Studios is one of the most unique video game studios. With absolute classics to their name, they are also a studio that has never managed to sell much of any of their games. Something understandable because they have never targeted a mainstream audience, preferring fans of what is now called immersive sims: games filled with systems where everything interacts with everything and the fun is discovering the way you want to solve each situation. And seeing how it gets resolved. Something that has given us gems like Dishonored. Two amazing licenses Raphael Colantonio and Harvey Smith are […]

Arkane Studios is one of the most unique studios in the video game industry. With absolute classics to their name, they are also a studio that has never managed to sell much of any of their games.

This is understandable because they have never targeted a mainstream audience, preferring fans of what is now called immersive sims: games filled with systems where everything interacts with everything and the fun is discovering how you want to solve each situation. And seeing how it unfolds. Something that has given us gems like Dishonored.

Two Amazing Licenses

Raphael Colantonio and Harvey Smith are playing Dishonored, a game they co-created, for the first time since its release. And by streaming it, they are dropping some fascinating nuggets of wisdom, but also things we didn’t know about the studio or the game’s development. For example, they were close to making Thief 4. And a Blade Runner game.

According to Colantonio, “before we made Dishonored, we were supposed to make either Thief or Blade Runner.” Adding that “we were in a delicate business situation and (Bethesda) came not only to save us but also to bring us, frankly, the IPs I would have loved to work with the most.” Something that Smith has defined as “if you go to two cats and say ‘we have a huge bag of catnip on this side. We have another bag of catnip here. Which one do you want? Do you want both? We were both excited.”

Unfortunately, neither of the two projects moved forward. Although not everything was bad. As Colantonio has said, “in the end they said, ‘oh, that’s fine; keep doing what you’re doing and, uh, call it Dishonored.” So while we didn’t get what could have been a very interesting sequel and a game from a franchise without major video games, we got an excellent original game. Something we can’t complain about.

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Epic Games showcases Unreal Engine 6 for the first time with the most unexpected game

Epic Games, the developers of Fortnite and the Unreal Engine graphics engine, have announced a new era for one of their most popular games: Rocket League. They did this during the Rocket League Championship Series 2026: Paris Major tournament, where they released a teaser about the future of the game, announcing the biggest change to it to date. A change of engine to Unreal Engine 6. Rocket League at the forefront of technology. This marks the first announcement of the existence of Unreal Engine 6. Although it is logical for Epic Games to announce that they are already working on […]

Rocket League at the forefront of technology

This marks the first announcement of the existence of Unreal Engine 6. Although it makes sense for Epic Games to announce that they are working on the engine given the timeline, since Unreal Engine 5 was unveiled in May 2020 and launched on April 5, 2022, for the current generation consoles, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, its adoption has been lower and much more questioned than the two previous versions of the engine. This raises the question of whether it is appropriate to make the leap to a new version, especially when Sony claims that PlayStation 6 is still in its development phase.

In any case, this could be good news for Rocket League fans. The game was released in 2015 and even today it still runs on the same graphics engine as at the time of its launch: Unreal Engine 3. But since Psyonix, the studio responsible for the game’s development, was acquired by Epic in 2019, they now have access to the latest versions of the engine before anyone else. Allowing them to be the benchmark for the capabilities of Unreal Engine 6.

Although we do not know specific details about Unreal Engine 6 or this new iteration of Rocket League, it is expected that they will be revealed in the near future. Until then, we can only speculate about what Epic Games might be doing to improve a engine that seemed to have already reached its peak with Unreal Engine 5. And both players and developers believe that it is far from being fully exploited.

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The critics are hating The Mandalorian and Grogu and that could mean the end of Star Wars

Disney has acknowledged that they are having trouble reaching the young audience. Star Wars appeals to the audience over 30 years old, but it seems that it no longer captures the attention of children as it used to. If we add to that the fact that the series are performing much worse than they expected, it seems they have a creative crisis on their hands. Especially considering that it has been seven years since we had a new Star Wars movie, leading to the thought that this very, very distant universe may be in crisis. Especially because The Mandalorian and Grogu have been openly despised by the […]

Disney has acknowledged that they are having trouble reaching the young audience. Star Wars appeals to the audience over 30 years old, but it seems that it no longer captures the attention of children as it used to. If we add to that the fact that the series are performing much worse than they expected, it seems they have a creative crisis on their hands. Especially considering that it has been seven years since we had a new Star Wars movie, leading one to think that this very, very distant universe may be in crisis. Especially because The Mandalorian and Grogu has been openly despised by critics.

A Movie with Little Sense

The Mandalorian is a series that, upon its release, was highly appreciated. Directed by Jon Favreau, it knew how to do everything a science fiction franchise needs today to be relevant. Having a charismatic character, an adorable pet that people want to cuddle, making an intelligent mix of genres, and having a hopeful tone more anchored in adventure than anything else. A winning formula that has systematically worked in recent years, as Project Hail Mary has demonstrated.

In fact, the first two seasons were a great success. Both critics and audiences greatly enjoyed the adventures of the Mandalorian and Grogu, affectionately dubbed Baby Yoda by the public. The problem is that in the third season, things started to go awry. The critics were less than enthusiastic about an erratic season that seemed unclear about where it wanted to go, and the audience responded in a similarly lukewarm manner: the numbers were not terrible, but they were not those of the first two seasons. And the public discourse was not as enthusiastic as in the first two seasons, beginning to show signs of fatigue.

The Mandalorian and Grogu is a conclusion for the series in the form of a movie. With everyone involved in it, it aims to be a big celebration for the fans. But the question is, are there still fans of The Mandalorian to justify it? And above all, does it make sense as a movie?

It seems that the answer, especially for the second part, is no. The critics have slammed the movie, accusing it of being like an extended episode, but worse produced, without really being satisfying in any possible sense. Except for the aspects where there have never been complaints. The Mandalorian is great, Grogu is adorable, and the music is excellent, but the CGI, the action, and the aesthetics do not seem like those of a movie, with a quality far below what one would expect from a high-budget film. Not to mention a production from Disney. Especially from a series that stood out precisely for the care of all these aspects.

A galaxy far, far away that does not excite

That criticism and the audience do not always go hand in hand is not something unknown. But with The Mandalorian and with Star Wars, in general, there tends to be some overlap. Something that is not good news for Disney, even with extremely pessimistic projections from experts.

According to analysts, the movie will make 80 million dollars in its first four days of screening. An excellent figure for any other movie, but disastrous for a Star Wars film: no movie in the franchise has ever made less than 100 million. Some of them have been considered failures because of this. Something that suggests that The Mandalorian and Grogu may be the beginning of something that was already being noticed in the series. People may not be as into Star Wars as they were ten years ago.

The numbers after its premiere, in any case, have been somewhat better than expected. With 12 million dollars on its first day, forecasts have now increased to 90 million. Does this mean that The Mandalorian and Grogu is on its way to being a surprise success? No. It means it could be a smaller failure than expected. But unless it ends up making much larger numbers, it seems that it will spawn a conversation that no one wants to have. That perhaps Disney is exhausting its franchises.

Perhaps the audience is no longer there. They are tired of Star Wars. It has been decades of the same franchise, of cultural supremacy, and not always quality that lives up to the myth. It is possible that it just needs a break or to find the right key. It is impossible to know. Perhaps, yes, Star Wars is exhausted and is no longer as interesting as before. But what seems evident is that The Mandalorian and Grogu are no longer as captivating as in their first two seasons. And Disney must start to consider what they are doing with Star Wars.

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Sony's new game is strange, creepy, and dodging literal bullet rains is incredibly fun

Sony has not been shining with its exclusive policy lately. Anyone who has a PlayStation 5 knows that well. However, that doesn’t stop them from occasionally releasing an interesting game here and there that catches attention. Especially when it comes to single-player games. And while it may not make as much noise or attract as much attention as Marvel’s Wolverine, Sony’s big title for the general public this year, we must highlight the company’s great title for this season: Saros. Pure Housemarque Saros is a game of […]

Sony is not shining with its exclusive policy lately. Anyone who has a PlayStation 5 knows this well. This does not prevent them from occasionally releasing an interesting game that catches attention. Especially when it comes to single-player games. And while it may not make as much noise or attract as much attention as Marvel’s Wolverine, this year’s game from Sony with more cachet for the general public deserves recognition: Saros.

Pure Housemarque

Saros is an action game from the Finnish studio Housemarque. Specializing in developing arcade-style video games, they were acquired by Sony in June 2021, becoming part of PlayStation Studios. Since then, they have leveraged their experience in creating games with a great kinetic feel and tremendous visual and sound spectacle in favor of something different. Action games with roguelike elements that, while you can see their arcade lineage, are closer to what a more general audience might be interested in.

Their first game under the Sony umbrella was Returnal. A third-person shooter with roguelike and bullet hell elements in which we played as an astronaut stranded in a lost world without knowing what had happened. With elements of psychological horror, intense difficulty, and excellent sound and mechanical design, it was praised by critics and a specific segment of the audience, but it was not a huge commercial success. Selling less than a million copies on PlayStation 5 before its arrival on PC in February 2023, its problem was that it was too difficult and unforgiving, with very long sessions, for the average player.

Saros is a spiritual successor that continues Returnal where it left off in many ways. Its setting is also space-themed, it has elements of psychological horror, it is a third-person action game with roguelike and bullet hell elements, but this time there are some changes. The game is designed to be more accessible.

A kinder version of the classic

To begin with, in Saros the runs are shorter. With each game lasting between 20 and 30 minutes, dying doesn’t feel as punishing. You live and die quickly, making it so that after each boss we return to our base to do something important: improve our character. This offers another advantage over Returnal. If we feel that we cannot progress, the game provides enough mechanics for us to gradually reduce the difficulty. Something that was not present in Returnal.

This may make veterans of Returnal feel that Saros is more of the same, but a bit toned down. Except for the inclusion of the shield. Now, in addition to bullet storms filling the screen, we have a shield that allows us to absorb them. But with the particularity that it has a limited use and we will have to absorb bullets to recharge energy and use a powerful secondary shot, forcing us to plan well when to dodge and absorb those shots.

Additionally, if it becomes too easy or too difficult for us, from a certain point in the game there are modifiers that allow us to adjust certain elements of the game. Something that will change the amount of resources and rewards we obtain in the process, but will also help us achieve an experience closer to what we want.

Returnal had the problem of being too niche a game to be a blockbuster, even lowering what they were already doing at Housemarque. Saros makes compromises while doing new things with its formula to reach a new audience. And although Sony may not have marketed it well, it is an accessible game for all kinds of players. Especially those who enjoy third-person shooters and action games. Because while Saros may seem intimidating, and Returnal certainly was, it is a very interesting game that you should give a chance.

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Yoshi arrives on Switch 2 to cap off an outstanding first half of the year for Nintendo

Nintendo is the great company most inclined to experiment with the limits of the medium. Trying things, experimenting, seeing what is possible to do within the video game without it ceasing to be one. Furthermore, in recent years they have decided to try to give a unique personality to each of their characters and franchises. Mario is for platforming, Zelda is for adventures, Donkey Kong is for action, and now Yoshi seems to be for exploration and experimentation. Or at least that is what its new and fascinating game suggests. A game that is a natural encyclopedia Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is the new […]

Nintendo is the great company most inclined to experiment with the limits of the medium. Trying things, experimenting, seeing what is possible to do within the video game without it ceasing to be one.

Furthermore, in recent years they have decided to try to give a unique personality to each of their characters and franchises. Mario is platforms, Zelda is adventures, Donkey Kong is action, and now Yoshi seems to be exploration and experimentation. Or at least that is what their new and fascinating game suggests.

A game that is a natural encyclopedia

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is the new game from Nintendo and offers us a truly unique experience: filling the pages of a book that has lost its memory, named Mr. E. But it is not just any book. It is a natural encyclopedia that contains a whole world inhabited by all kinds of adorable, terrible, and dangerous creatures that we must study and investigate to refill its pages. A feature increasingly.

How do you do that? Like any scientist would: by experimenting. Like Yoshi, being able to choose from eight of them —although the only thing that changes is their color—, we have to delve into each of the worlds and discover the different particularities of each of the little creatures we encounter. What happens if we eat them, if we stomp on them, if we throw them into the water or the mud, if we feed them apples or chilies, or if they interact with some of the other creatures.

The whole game is based on that basic principle. The empirical experience. We must ensure that we try to discover everything we can about each creature by exposing them to different situations and trying to find out how they behave and react to them. This will allow us to fill back the pages of Mr. E.

It seems childish, but it is not

This may make it seem like a children’s game or focused on a younger audience, but in reality, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a family game. Suitable for all audiences. Although children of a certain age will enjoy it, the game requires a methodical and constant approach that, while rewarding curiosity, remains purely scientific. It requires constant experimentation and trying to discover what is possible to do and what is not with each of the creatures given the elements of each of the scenarios. Or taking into account Yoshi’s own abilities.

Because this second aspect is also a key part of the matter. Although the base difficulty is practically nonexistent, as you can’t even die in most levels, there are intense spikes of difficulty in the game. If we try to achieve 100% on each page, the game will require us to platform and master the skills relatively intensely, as well as pay much more methodical attention to the environment. Additionally, after finishing the game, a whole series of activities will be unlocked that will challenge us in a way that the rest of the game did not.

This makes the game interesting and never feels easy or tedious. There is always something to do and always a challenge to overcome. Adding a constant layer of discovery and challenge.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is one of the great surprises of the year that, perhaps due to its childlike appearance and coming from Nintendo, will go unnoticed by many people. But it is a game as brilliant as it is adorable that will delight anyone looking for a game that goes beyond traditional video game design. If you ever dreamed of being like Darwin and cataloging creatures in a lost land based on their behavior and environment, this is your video game. Because there is no other like it.

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