If you’ve read some of what I’ve posted in the 20 years that I’ve been at Gamereactor, it won’t surprise you that I love Animal Crossing. So when I heard that Disney had its own competitor on the way, similar to Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley, the flag of interest went up immediately.
Before you can do anything in the game, you need to create the main character of your adventure. The tools allow for quite a bit of detail work and I soon had a character ready to throw myself into various Disney challenges. The main premise of Disney Dreamlight Valley is that it is a magical place suffering from something loosely called Oblivion, which has caused all of its inhabitants to forget everything, and that this world is just a tragic reminder of what what she was. This is where you come in, of course, and your task will be to remove the thorns of night that spread amnesia. In fact, it will be Merlin’s sword in the rock that will draw you into this world and its destiny at the beginning of the game.
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The story can be a little rough, and while it’s not the deepest or most complex game out there (in fact, it’s far from it), it would be nice if the instructions were explained better. At its core, Disney Dreamlight Valley is about taking care of Dreamlight Valley and specifically removing the thorns of night that are causing amnesia in the world. But mainly It’s about taking care of yourself and being nice to people..
If you’ve already played the aforementioned Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley, you’ll be familiar with many things like talking to people, caring for your plants, cleaning the house, fishing or destroying rocks. Although Disney chose to set the game in a world of Disney amnesia, it’s clear where they got their inspiration from. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have original ideas, quite the opposite.
Most notably, Disney includes Dreamlight Valley missions regularly. There aren’t usually very exciting things in Animal Crossing other than giving a villager back a lost book or giving someone a butterfly they’ve been looking for for a long time, but in Stardew Valley we slightly inspired the parts of the mine from the Zelda series, although these were not tied to specific missions. In this game, your residents often have quests for you, making it more interactive and challenging than the other two titles. They’re basically scavenger hunts, but their variety and presentation lead me to believe they offer something juicier.
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I have to say though that this is an early access/preview game and therefore not a finished game. However, in many ways there is Impression of being more of a beta with quite a lot of bugs at the moment. Rarely have I appreciated a generous autosave as much as with this game. Not only it crashes almost daily but also has other irritating elements like character bugs and the like. The latter rarely break the game and the former are just annoying thanks to good autosaves, but of course it’s still something to keep an eye on.
Otherwise, it’s a pleasure to wander around the world of Disney Dreamlight Valley and its smaller areas. They are so exquisitely designed that fans will recognize them instantly when visiting the worlds of Frozen or Moiana.
I especially love how the amazing Disney characters walk around and be themselves. At the beginning of the adventure you will meet Mickey Mouse and Goofy, among others, and you can freely interact with them. You are yourself, and Wall-E, for example (whom you also know from the first ones) will look for Eva and take his plant with him. All of the characters react to what you do (when you spend time with Moiana, you can hear her theme song, for example), engage in conversations with each other, and somehow naturally live in this world inhabited by characters I already know in advance as old acquaintances consider. . And the better friends you become with the Disney characters, the better items they will give you.
By removing thorns of the night and completing quests, you’ll gain access to more and more areas, giving you more opportunities to collect valuable materials, items, and other things that will serve as an incentive to keep playing. You’ll also get Dreamlight currency (similar to Nook Miles from Animal Crossing: New Horizons), which you can use to buy things you need to keep progressing. They also have a common currency to spend money on Uncle Scrooge’s shop where new items are added daily.
Disney Dreamlight Valley is a typical non-game title in many ways. You wander around doing monotonous things and are expected to come back frequently to do the same thing. This isn’t to be taken negatively, however, as the developers have managed to hit the nail on the head of what makes this type of video game so good. it is relaxing and enriching at the same time, and I don’t mind digging up items, photographing things, and placing furniture, although frankly, the game’s dynamic doesn’t offer much more. This title is also easier to play than Animal Crossing: New Horizons and the huge tutorial menu disappears completely, artificial limitations too and your tools don’t break.
Disney Dreamlight Valley will be free to play, but will be paid to play during Early Access. I think that’s why the energy meter is so generous. It’s there, but it doesn’t really serve a purpose and in case my character gets tired I can always rest or eat something to fix it. I guess it gets worse when the game launches and tries to get us to spend our real money on cash refills, and maybe that means Disney Dreamlight Valley will never be as fun as it is right now.
Be that as it may, there is something left behind in terms of content. Of course, more are being added all the time, but overall I’m very happy with what they’re offering me. It has that hook that makes it fun to do the same things over and over again, and it has so much Disney magic that it makes me smile like an idiot while playing it. Regardless of the fact that it crashes every once in a while, the autosave will keep me safe and a testament to how much fun I have had and will continue to have when this review is written and finished.
