I’m a hopeless romantic that loves a happily ever after, so Disney Dreamlight Valley has been a dream come true. These iconic royal couples get to live out their happy endings in a village of my own design, wasting away their days in impromptu arts and crafts classes held by various characters. Looking for life after love is quite uneventful in the Valley, making happily ever after feel more like a chore..
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It all felt like The Good Place’s later seasons, where losing your sense of self and getting bored in paradise became the norm. Who cared if Ariel and Eric fought for their love? Ariel can’t stop obsessing over stopping Ursula, and Eric plays that accursed flute every five seconds – not unlike the Donald Duck fiasco during early access. Beast is as mopey as ever and Belle flourishes on her own–but only really talks about books. The characters rarely evolved past a two-dimensional caricature despite the wonder and magic that initially brought the characters to life.
Gameloft fell into a cookie-cutter mold with adding new characters. A free update for everyone with a single character added on their own, then the next came with a Realm in the Dream Castle that was more expansive and detailed. The interim updates were set to fail when compared to the bigger additions–and likewise, the expectations for the next Realm continued to grow. I couldn’t help but worry that burnout was on the horizon.
Characters like Jack Skellington and Sally were free, but without a Realm to call home, it feels like a missed opportunity to create a seasonal holiday space.
New Updates Have More Than Just Characters
No matter what game developers do, fans will find a way to complain. You can’t make everyone happy, especially not with a game that features characters so dear to the audience. That is, until Jasmine and Aladdin appeared. The world of Agrabah is iconic with its Arabian vibes, sparkling dunes, and literal magic. A good update requires more than just a handful of quests and a couple cute references to the Disney film it’s based on, but what promised to be the largest addition to the Realms yet did not fail to deliver.
Jasmine and Aladdin’s update featured an expansion on their lore, showing how the pair work together after the events of their feature film to better their community and implement innovative ideas. Previous Realms, specifically the first three, offered a small snippet of the corresponding character’s world, but Agrabah is a breath of fresh, sandy air.
More than just Remy’s kitchen or WALL-E’s dirt pit, Agrabah has several quarters and alleyways that you must navigate to find everything you need. Parkouring across the rooftops with Aladdin fell flat and felt more like a grind to find materials, but having to negotiate with the monkey mafia and break into the city vault more than made up for it.
The addition of stealth mechanics was a welcome surprise, though Disney Dreamlight Valley still doesn’t measure up to the early Assassin’s Creed games.
Disney Dreamlight Valley’s future is bright if this trend continues. The higher floors within the Dream Castle offer more adventure within their respective Realms, and with Disney icons like Snow White, Cinderella, and Hercules not yet present, there’s hope for a much more expansive inclusion for these legends. While expectations will continue to rise with each update, the dev team at Gameloft proves they can handle it and even exceed those ambitious goals.
Balancing Players’ Wants With The Narrative’s Needs
The initial discussion of how Gameloft would handle the balance of free updates and DLC updates left many players concerned about quality, but that’s not the case. Obviously, the team’s priority is to create a seamless experience, and the best way to play Disney Dreamlight Valley is by experiencing all the DLC for a cohesive story, but there are already concessions made for those who prefer the free-to-play experience.
Quests that involve DLC characters often have a free-to-play counterpart to play the role instead.
While everything in Disney Dreamlight Valley goes together to create one big narrative, you won’t miss out on the magic if you stick to the Valley and avoid the additional regions, like Eternity Isle and Storybook Vale. There’s plenty to do, and the roadmap for the year includes more free updates–which will hopefully follow the trend of bigger and better.
Don’t get me wrong, smaller updates like events and holidays throughout the year are appreciated and needed to fill the gaps, but we all know that it’s the new content that brings players back to the game. I’ve been playing since Early Access, and the game has changed significantly while continuing to preserve that air of magic and childlike wonder without compromising on the quality of storytelling.
That’s not to say all storylines are the same, as there are some clear points where it feels like the writers weren’t sure what to do with characters like Mirabel.
Despite the infrequency and uncertain release dates, they never fail to improve upon the previous update and deliver a whole new world of experiences for the Valley. The devs’ commitment to a continuous and enjoyable experience for all players–especially those who are free-to-play–makes a longer wait worth it.
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