'Disney Dreamlight Valley' Review
Image Source: Epic Games
Disney Dreamlight Valley is your perfect cozy game. It combines all the best elements of Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley all into one game with added Disney characters. It’s an adventure game with quests, exploration, and activities like farming and fishing, with familiar characters from your favorite Disney and Pixar movies. Only a select few characters are available currently in the game, more will be added later this year, and next year when the game goes free to play.
Gameplay
The gameplay is easy enough if you’ve played similar games to it. You have a wheel that enables you to switch your tools which consist of a shovel, fishing rod, pickaxe, and a camera. All of these tools help you in your journey to restore the valley. There are various activities to do around the valley, that can fetch you money, or are needed for various quests. Mining, fishing, gardening, foraging, and digging are all the tasks that are expected of you. These all require energy, however, which you have a certain amount of until you need to eat again. You can craft meals with the items you have harvested in your garden or from around the island. You can also craft items to make your island look the best it can be. Dreamlight is the magic that is used to open up new areas. This can be acquired by doing various tasks around the valley. Scrooge McDuck is the Tom Nook of Dreamlight Valley. Any type of upgrades or construction is done through Scrooge, for a fee of course.
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Merlin is patiently watching me trying to catch this fish.
Graphics
I’ve been playing on the Xbox Series X and have had no issues so far with graphics. The game is still in early access, so some may have issues, depending on what system you play on. For an early access game, the graphics have been great.
Story
Dreamlight Valley was an idyllic place. Disney and Pixar characters lived together in harmony, until a powerful curse, called The Forgetting came along. The curse brought night thorns, and memories were served of this wonderful place. With nowhere else to go, some residents stayed behind, while others retreated to their realms in the Dream Castle. When you arrive, you are stopped by the wizard, Merlin, and he asks you to help restore Dreamlight Valley to what it once was.
Pros And Cons
I love these types of “cozy” games, and this one is one of my favorites because of the added Disney characters. These characters can hang out with you, while you do the most mundane tasks around the valley, and get so excited about it. It’s nice to have a buddy while mining or fishing. The higher your friendship with them, the more quests you get as well. The best quests so far, have been the ones where you bring back the characters from the different realms. In Remy’s, you must help him cook fancy meals to serve in his restaurant. Moana you help her with her boat and even get to sail. You help WALL-E by planting some trees in the barren world. It’s wonderful, and eventually, they all move back to Dreamlight Valley. Sometimes the tasks that you are given for the quests can be daunting as it’s just constant mining, fishing, or foraging and waiting for things to respawn. This is especially hard if you need a lot of something, or you don’t have many areas open. There is also limited voice acting in the game, as it’s primarily just reading. For a Disney game, it would’ve been cool to have some actual voice acting in the game.
You can take pictures with your favorite Disney characters! Here is Kristoff and me.
Verdict
I have been addicted to this game since it came out. It’s available on Xbox Game Pass, and I even got the founders pack. The pack gave me a little pink chocolate alligator, who follows me around. It’s been fun playing a game like this, especially with the addition of Disney characters. Getting to become friends with Ursula is something you wouldn’t have wanted to do until this game, and even then, you may only do it to get her cool friendship items. It is one of my new favorite games, and I cannot wait to see the other content that will get added. The game will go free-to-play in 2023 but is available to purchase for early access now. If you need a new cozy game to play, then I highly recommend Disney Dreamlight Valley.
Rating: 9/10
Developer: GameLoft Players: 1 ; Released: September 6, 2022 ; ESRB: E for Everyone ; MSRP: $29.99
Review played on Xbox Series X
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