A life simulation with popular characters from Disney and Pixar and an extensive story campaign: The upcoming game Disney Dreamlight Valley wants to combine adventure with Lifesim.
Excuse me, I have to blink away my mist of tears before I write this article. My eyes are still a little moist because as luck would have it, I just finished a Toy Story marathon over the weekend and I’m still a little emotional. So when I heard about a new life simulation set in the Disney Pixar universe where I go on an epic quest with my favourite characters, I could hardly contain myself.
So I took a closer look at Disney Dreamlight Valley in a one-hour gameplay demo and can now tell you whether the life simulation belongs in the takeaway box of much-loved toys or the clean-out box.
What is Disney Dreamlight Valley about?
The game starts with an extensive character editor, where you can create your own Disney-style hero or heroine to your heart’s content. Then it’s off to Dreamlight Valley, which at first doesn’t exude any Disney magic at all. The landscape is covered with dark, prickly roots and green-poisonous clouds of smoke waft in the dark sky.
None of the characters familiar from Duckburg, Disney classics and Pixar films can quite tell us what has happened. For the world of Mickey, Buzz Lightyear, Elsa and Co. seems to be haunted by the so-called “oblivion” – an unknown curse that corrupts the landscape and the inhabitants of the valley. A nice idea in itself, but much more could have been done visually. The gloomy version of the valley simply looks as if someone had stuck a dark, semi-transparent colour layer on it and distributed a few root assets.
So your first task is to free the Valley from the root infestation via tireless keystrokes. Once this is done and your index finger has fallen asleep, a life simulation unfolds that has many similarities with Animal Crossing. You talk to the inhabitants every day, perform small tasks for them, fish, farm, purchase new furnishings and costumes and design the Disney town of your dreams by placing decorations inside and out and setting and remodelling houses. So far so good.
For whom is Disney Dreamlight Valley exciting?
Let’s get the Cheshire Cat out of the bag first: Disney Dreamlight Valley will be a Free2Play game. Yeah, that’s how I looked at it too. But it’s behaving a little differently than I expected. When I saw the energy bar in the gameplay demo that allows you to do a certain number of activities per day, I thought to myself “Ah yes, of course.” But by then the developers assured me that there will be no way to buy more energy with real money. Instead, you are supposed to fill up the bar normally by eating and sleeping – just like you know it from other life simulations like Stardew Valley.
Then the developers entered the boutique with new costumes and I was about to nod knowingly again, when they took the wind out of my sails once more. No, there will be no way to buy the costumes and furnishings from the shops with real money either. Okay, but then what do you buy with real money? Good question. Because I couldn’t spot any items in the demo that required any form of special payment.
So I assume there will be a separate in-game shop with special skins and possibly characters, or you can top up the classic in-game currency – but that’s just speculation at the moment.
Although it looks at first glance as if no annoying payment elements await you, at least mechanically, Disney Dreamlight Valley exudes a Free2Play atmosphere that cannot be overlooked.
What do we like so far? What don’t we like?
From the somewhat sterile look to the mobile-like menu to the coins that pop up when you destroy roots – a lot about Disney Dreamlight Valley screams Free2Play. Developers Gameloft’s portfolio so far has mostly been mobile games like Gangstar Vegas and Dragon Mania Legends, and although Disney Dreamlight Valley will be a PC and console game, you can tell it has those roots.
Admittedly, if you’re like me and have just come from the open world of Elden Ring, the jump to Disney Dreamlight Valley is a big one. But purely in terms of gameplay, the world seems very sterile. Villains like Scar from The Lion King live peacefully next to Elsa from The Ice Queen and although characters also interact with each other, it all seems very artificial and almost ghostly.
Just when I’m excited to meet my great hero Goofy, disillusionment follows as well. Because he doesn’t want to talk about anything but the fishing rod I’m supposed to bring him. Two metres away from his current position. On top of that, the dialogue was only set to music by sounds and individual phrases of the characters. Oh well.
When I think about Kingdom Hearts, I see so much wasted potential in showing Disney characters from new exciting angles and exploring how different universes interact with each other. The world design of Kingdom Hearts is also in a completely different league to the 0815 Valley with green fields and no less varied themed worlds from various films.
Admittedly, the costumes and design objects in particular were created with an incredible amount of love for detail and when I saw a tiny little Buzz Lightyear bouncing around in the front garden for the first time, my heart leapt too. It’s possible that the design aspect of Disney Dreamlight Valley motivates me and some of you enough to have fun with the life simulation. But even as a fan of Animal Crossing, which works with a very similar motivation, what I saw didn’t knock me off my chair after the first hour.
Why is that? Disney Dreamlight Valley doesn’t seem to have anything that really sets it apart from other life sims. It doesn’t have the wit and simulation depth of a The Sims, nor the complex characters and great stories of a Stardew Valley. At first glance it looks like little more than a pretty building kit with Disney skins.
But I hope that Disney Dreamlight Valley will change my mind in its Early Access in the summer of 2022 – because the premise sounds just too exciting to give up on it now. In 2023, the life simulation should then be released on PC and consoles and be free to play for all.
Editorial conclusion
Disney Dreamlight Valley has an appreciative audience in me. But it hasn’t really won even me over yet, because it simply lacks heart – the key ingredient that makes Disney what it is. Disney Dreamlight Valley has many nice beginnings, but I can only see all the things it could have become.
It’s quite possible that it will surprise me in Early Access after all with an elaborate story, well-written characters and fair Free2Play. But I wouldn’t bet my Mickey ears on it.
