The Storybook Vale marks the second DLC expansion for ever-popular lifesim Disney Dreamlight Valley, following on from the sizable Eternity Isle campaign. This third chapter introduces even more fan-favourite characters, a vast new fairytale realm to explore, and a selection of neat mechanics.
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While perhaps not as meta-defining as Eternity Isle — which came with batch-cooking and a means of upcycling old crafting materials — Storybook Vale places its focus more on the fun factor. Its small crop of fresh features brings whimsical, puzzle-y spins on the traditional town-building gameplay; so here they all are, ranked.
There are a few minor spoilers for the base Dreamlight Valley story, Eternity Isle’s story, and Storybook Vale’s story in this article.
5
The Royal Net
Now Look At This Net, That You Just Found
Another Dreamlight Valley chapter, another Royal Tool for the belt. While Eternity Isle had the time-bending hourglass on offer, here a souped-up bug net is added to your arsenal. How very Animal Crossing.
You get given the Royal Net at the start of your adventure in the Vale, having been safely secured in a vault by your predecessor, Princess Aurora, after her rescue attempt went sour. Surprisingly, it’s got a range of practical uses – though it fundamentally can’t measure up to the coolness of warping time, nor the satisfying heft of the base repertoire of tools, like the Pickaxe or Shovel.
First and foremost, the Net can ensnare Snippets, the pieces of the Lorekeeper’s stories that have gone rogue and developed sentience. Swiping up and down and side to side, you’ll need to deduce how best to drive the little buggers into your clutches. You can also use the Net to activate distant switches in the trial portions of the world, and even grab some faraway items without needing to walk over there and pick them up. Top marks for convenience!
4
Snippet Catching
The Thrill Of The Chase
Central to the storyline of Storybook Vale are the Snippets. These diminutive, but oh-so marketable, paper beings were spawned when the Neverafter curse descended on the Vale. The curator of its tales, the Lorekeeper, was affected by the dark Ink magic, and her pages were torn out – gaining the ability to teleport, run around, and generally make nuisances of themselves.
It’s your job to round them up, again a la Animal Crossing’s insects; and it’s no easy task. Until you restore all the pages, an infinite number of Snippets to catch will spawn, and the creature type varies by biome. Frog Snippets hop all over the shop, making them tricky customers if your net’s aim is off. Bird Snippets, meanwhile, zoom through the skies.
Then there are the real devils (as their name might imply), the Demon Snippets. These wee menaces can warp from place to place at will, and with the rarer ones you’ll soon be locked in a transdimensional game of tag. Time and time again, your net swing will be just too slow to catch them before they poof across the map.
3
Storybook Puzzles
Professor Layton Would Be Proud
A cool wrinkle that Storybook Vale brings is its jigsaw puzzle mode. For you see, simply catching the Snippets isn’t enough – you’ve then got to reassemble the shredded sagas within the Lorekeeper’s pages. These take the form of basic ‘slot the correctly shaped piece into the correctly shaped hole’ deals, but they’re no less entertaining for the simplicity.
Some of the puzzles are required for story progression, and depict Aurora’s past exploits throughout the Vale (tying quite neatly into the various journal extracts of hers that you find dotted on the ground). Most, however, are optional and retell the narratives of famous Disney films.
Via original, hand-drawn art, you can recap Beauty and the Beast, Lilo and Stitch, Encanto, Toy Story, Moana, Frozen, Nightmare Before Christmas, Monsters Inc., The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Mulan… the list goes on and on. The Gameloft artists take clear cues from WDAS animators in their stylings, and once completed, the tales make for nice pictures to frame on your avatar’s house’s wall.
2
Enchanted Trials
Link Called, He Wants His Dungeons Back
In each area of the Vale, you’ll find an altar that connects to an underground labyrinth of puzzle dungeons known as Trials. You never know what you’re going to get with each one: will you be throwing a tea party, turning clock hands to the correct time, reigniting Olympic torches, or even mucking around with a slot machine?
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There’s a clear influence from Breath of the Wild‘s shrines in the bite-sized brainteasers, which is no bad thing. If you’re going to rip off, you might as well rip off from the best. Dreamlight Valley has flirted briefly with puzzles in the past, in the Atlantean cave on Dazzle Beach for instance, so it’s nice to see them fling themselves so heartily into the concept.
Occasionally, a character will even tag along with you for the Trial. Watching Flynn Rider pretend to be a wolf to try and get a door open is surreal, and it’s hysterical seeing the Lord of the Dead himself, Hades, struggling to keep pace with a runaway mine cart. You’d best pack your thinking cap!
1
New Characters And Locations
From Mount Olympus To Bubblegloop Swamp
As with the last expansion, though, the best additions are the new characters and locales. It was always going to be a tall order to match the main game’s emotional denouement of confronting your teenage angst incarnate, nor Eternity Isle’s big reveal of ‘the first spark of imagination’ being Walt’s OG creation, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. But Storybook Vale gives it a fair shake.
The first newbie you happen across is Merida, the fiery-haired lass from Brave, who enlists your help in liberating the Lorekeeper from some inky tendrils. Once befriended, her quests run the gamut of archery tournaments to a clan rivalry between her and Scrooge McDuck.
As well as Merida, there’s the aforementioned Hades, a highly-requested villain, whose sleazy car-salesman mannerisms and sardonic quips are as amusing as ever. Flynn ‘Eugene’ Rider, Rapunzel’s squeeze, brings up the rear with charismatic panache.
Aside from the new faces, Storybook Vale’s biomes are a lush wonder to poke around in. The Bind is a warm, autumnal burg that houses the Library of Lore, where dwell owls to feed and secret passageways tucked behind bookcases. Everafter is a purple marshland, with giant teapots pouring waterfalls down below; and finally, Mythopia is Grecian turf, populated by cantering baby Pegasuses and topped with Mount Olympus itself. Luckily, you don’t need to be a god to enter anymore.
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