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.
Yoshi's Crafted World is a title in the Yoshi franchise, the sixth main platform game starring Yoshi, and the follow-up to the Wii U title Yoshi's Woolly World, released for the Nintendo Switch on March 29, 2019. It was developed by Good-Feel, the developer behind Yoshi's Woolly World and its Nintendo 3DS port Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World. Feb 18, 2019 Nevertheless, Yoshi's Crafted World does look and, crucially, feel real, as if you're constructing a world of your own, and that's an impressive feat.
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.
Yoshi's Crafted World Let's Play Free
After completing the level forwards and backwards, you unlock a very basic challenge, find five cows in the level and hit them with eggs. Yoshis crafted world many fish in the sea squid. 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 Let's Play 2
Yoshi's Crafted World Soundtrack
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.
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