sighs When this was first released into Early Access, I would've given this game a 5-star rating in the blink of an eye. But although we knew that this was eventually going Free-To-Play, I don't think I ever could've imagined the depths of their depravity when it came to the egregious monetization of the game. Nowadays, it's difficult to unlock anything new in terms of items typical to a Life Sim of this caliber. Furniture, clothing, buildings, skins for characters etc. There's a certain rotation of "things" for those playing F2P, but it's very limited. I think the pressure to spend money to unlock anything mildly interesting is predatory and immoral.
buggy as heck but lord am i a sucker for disney and animal crossing
also its made by gameloft so im fully expecting to return to this and find everything blocked by paywalls
months later edit : oh look, microtransactions galore
I'm still in love with this game though <3
also its made by gameloft so im fully expecting to return to this and find everything blocked by paywalls
months later edit : oh look, microtransactions galore
I'm still in love with this game though <3
This is one of those cozy games I dip in and out of.
ive been obsessed with this for too long
all the quests and things you can do make my brain go brr
all the quests and things you can do make my brain go brr
Silly little Disney survival game make brain go brrrr
You play as yourself (or anyone you want, really) as your enter a world darkened by night thorns and a mystery known as The Forgetting. Just a few Disney characters are there to greet you and fill you in on what's happened. Then it's up to you to bring everyone else back, restore their memories, and bring friendship back to the Valley.
This review only covers the base game and free updates, not the Rift in Time DLC.
Visuals
I loved the way Dreamlight Valley looks! Even when it's dark and gloomy, it's just bright and crisp and lovely. It's fully 3D with a free roaming camera, so you're able to look everywhere and take everything in. Yes, this means there are some crazy camera angles at times, but that just goes with the territory.
The character models looks great, really capturing each of the characters. Each biome has its own theme and unique look, and is fully customizable once you clear it of any debris. I especially loved seeing the sky change with the time of day, weather, or Valley events.
Sound Effects + Music
I love Disney music, so of course the background music here makes me super happy. It's mostly remixed familiar tunes with some new compositions mixed in.
The voice acting is also great. It's not full lines, just words and phrases, but everyone sounds how they're suppose to (unlike Belle in Disney Speedstorm!).
Gameplay + Controls
Disney Dreamlight Valley is a 3D life simulator with lots of mechanics and menus and buttons. But with nearly 100 hours in the game, everything is almost second nature to me.
The basis of the game is fetch quests and collecting resources. Thankfully, those are things I enjoy doing, so this is the perfect game for me. Every single character has multiple quest lines based on their friendship level with you. Some of them are required in order to progress the main story, but for the most part, you can do these at your own pace.
There are soooo many things to collect! You have resources that are needed to craft other items, lost memories, quest specific items, and more. You can fish, mine, forage, garden, and cook! You can talk to your neighbors and give them gifts and hang out with them! Hanging out was a little disappointing, because they just kind of follow you around and give you extra items based on whatever job you assign them. I wish there was a bit more to that.
You also have multiple currencies. The main one is Star Coins, which you get from selling items, finding chests, or digging up. You use these for making purchases at Scrooge's shop, Goofy's stall, and paying for Valley upgrades. The second currency is Dreamlight, which is earned by completing an endless supply of Dreamlight duties and achievements. Dreamlight is mainly used for unlocking new areas. Finally, there's Moonstones, the premium currency. You can earn some Moonstones, but for the most part, you'll be spending real money on them, if you so choose. They're spend on cosmetic items, and other optional content.
Replayability
While I love this game, Disney Dreamlight Valley is not really replayable for me. There's a pretty lengthy story, and the friendship quests also take quite a bit of time and grinding. I don't see a reason to start it over, but it definitely has daily play potential! There's so much to do to keep you engaged and coming back again and again.
Overall
If you love Disney and fetch quests as much as I do, you'll certainly enjoy your time with Disney Dreamlight Valley. I can't wait to see how this game grows over time!
This review only covers the base game and free updates, not the Rift in Time DLC.
Visuals
I loved the way Dreamlight Valley looks! Even when it's dark and gloomy, it's just bright and crisp and lovely. It's fully 3D with a free roaming camera, so you're able to look everywhere and take everything in. Yes, this means there are some crazy camera angles at times, but that just goes with the territory.
The character models looks great, really capturing each of the characters. Each biome has its own theme and unique look, and is fully customizable once you clear it of any debris. I especially loved seeing the sky change with the time of day, weather, or Valley events.
Sound Effects + Music
I love Disney music, so of course the background music here makes me super happy. It's mostly remixed familiar tunes with some new compositions mixed in.
The voice acting is also great. It's not full lines, just words and phrases, but everyone sounds how they're suppose to (unlike Belle in Disney Speedstorm!).
Gameplay + Controls
Disney Dreamlight Valley is a 3D life simulator with lots of mechanics and menus and buttons. But with nearly 100 hours in the game, everything is almost second nature to me.
The basis of the game is fetch quests and collecting resources. Thankfully, those are things I enjoy doing, so this is the perfect game for me. Every single character has multiple quest lines based on their friendship level with you. Some of them are required in order to progress the main story, but for the most part, you can do these at your own pace.
There are soooo many things to collect! You have resources that are needed to craft other items, lost memories, quest specific items, and more. You can fish, mine, forage, garden, and cook! You can talk to your neighbors and give them gifts and hang out with them! Hanging out was a little disappointing, because they just kind of follow you around and give you extra items based on whatever job you assign them. I wish there was a bit more to that.
You also have multiple currencies. The main one is Star Coins, which you get from selling items, finding chests, or digging up. You use these for making purchases at Scrooge's shop, Goofy's stall, and paying for Valley upgrades. The second currency is Dreamlight, which is earned by completing an endless supply of Dreamlight duties and achievements. Dreamlight is mainly used for unlocking new areas. Finally, there's Moonstones, the premium currency. You can earn some Moonstones, but for the most part, you'll be spending real money on them, if you so choose. They're spend on cosmetic items, and other optional content.
Replayability
While I love this game, Disney Dreamlight Valley is not really replayable for me. There's a pretty lengthy story, and the friendship quests also take quite a bit of time and grinding. I don't see a reason to start it over, but it definitely has daily play potential! There's so much to do to keep you engaged and coming back again and again.
Overall
If you love Disney and fetch quests as much as I do, you'll certainly enjoy your time with Disney Dreamlight Valley. I can't wait to see how this game grows over time!
Expected a comfy farming sim, got a story about about forgiving your past actions and coping with the loss of childhood innocence and wonder - AND a comfy farming sim
Other than how shops are handled and the need for some better indoor house furniture, Dreamlight does practically everything better than modern Animal Crossing and similar titles
It's only let down by the amount of frustrating bugs. Some of which haven't been fixed in 11+ months
Other than how shops are handled and the need for some better indoor house furniture, Dreamlight does practically everything better than modern Animal Crossing and similar titles
It's only let down by the amount of frustrating bugs. Some of which haven't been fixed in 11+ months
lo jugue por gamepass con gran hermano de fondo
Such a surprising game. Gameloft is the studio behind that crappy Disney Magic Kingdom mobile game, so I had some concerns going into a Gameloft produced Disney life-sim. But honestly, after 20+ hours on it I have been having so much fun and playing non-stop. It's just so addicting. It grabs you and you don't want to leave. As a massive Disney fan, a game like this is everything I could ask for. While buggy, glitchy, and sometimes unresponsive controls, Dreamlight Valley supplies endless fun. A great alternative to Animal Crossing for Disney fans!
Oop i guess that’s it for the main story! At least for now. Anyway when is belle getting added cowards
i mean im not a huge fan of live service games so i cant give it a higher raiting but Gameloft shocked me with this. The game is fine the quest are fun. Not much you can really complain about. Plus i love seeing all the characters they add
If this Game had existed in my childhood, I think I had played it way to much. Yes it is a little buggy sometimes and Yes it is full of fetch Quests. But Disney has its own kind of magic and You can feel a glimpse of it. After nearly 240 h I am tired of this game, but sure I will come back.
this game fucking sucks
This review contains spoilers
Oh, it's a metaphor for feeling isolated and fearing that no one understands you. They added personal grief and trauma to my wholesome Disney-branded Stardew Valley game.
Was trying to ride the stardew valley high and crashed and burned.
3h
3h
Farming games kind of stress me out. Don't know why. So this was never gonna be for me long term.
But I do think there's a malicious brilliance in how the game operates. Its not enough that you're building a town for Disney characters to live in or the fact that you get to talk and play with them. The shockingly strong writing for the Disney characters definitely helps, but that's not the brilliance.
The brilliance of the game is in its narrative of rebuilding your home with the Disney characters. With the cast suffering from slight memory issues, no one gets into any specifics. But it establishes that you, the player, had some kind of kinship with these characters. And that plot beat allows the game to eventually build to this line:
Ariel: "Oh, its you [player character]. You've grown so big!"
Its one line. They don't lean into it too hard. But that line captures the core experience of playing the game. Its laser-targeted as nostalgia in a specific way. That mental brainspace of being a child and thinking of Disney princesses as your friend. Its a brilliant, almost dangerously evil tactic. But I kind of respect it. It'd be easier to hate it and the whole Disney franchise model if the game wasn't charming. But unfortunately, its charming, so its easier to give a pass.
But I do think there's a malicious brilliance in how the game operates. Its not enough that you're building a town for Disney characters to live in or the fact that you get to talk and play with them. The shockingly strong writing for the Disney characters definitely helps, but that's not the brilliance.
The brilliance of the game is in its narrative of rebuilding your home with the Disney characters. With the cast suffering from slight memory issues, no one gets into any specifics. But it establishes that you, the player, had some kind of kinship with these characters. And that plot beat allows the game to eventually build to this line:
Ariel: "Oh, its you [player character]. You've grown so big!"
Its one line. They don't lean into it too hard. But that line captures the core experience of playing the game. Its laser-targeted as nostalgia in a specific way. That mental brainspace of being a child and thinking of Disney princesses as your friend. Its a brilliant, almost dangerously evil tactic. But I kind of respect it. It'd be easier to hate it and the whole Disney franchise model if the game wasn't charming. But unfortunately, its charming, so its easier to give a pass.
Where it Shines:
Inclusivity - 10/10
Playing Dressup - 10/10
Gameplay Loop - 8/10
The Good:
DDV was a game I did not expect to love as much as I have. Is it flawed? Yes, in so many ways. But whereas games like Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley just didn't click for me, DDV did. I think it's the heavy character customization aspect. I love playing dressup and buying outfits and interior decorating my home and all that other cool stuff. Sometimes that's all I do and I don't bother with the story at all.
But more than that, the game just feels wonderful to play. It's soothing, calming, relaxing, enjoyable, but in a way that stands apart from others in the genre.
The Bad:
It has the grubby little greedy hands of corporate bs all over it. A game that is purely cosmetic has no business having cosmetic MTX. There's also a lot of bugs and issues that seemingly never get addressed and it's becoming more and more apparent the game is going to move toward F2P at some point and be gacha hell.
Summary:
If you play this game now, while it's still good, it's an awesome experience. But I don't think it will always be that way and will one day be an unplayable pile of garbage. So I advise people to play it now if they're interested. Gamepass is probably the cheapest way to play it as I don't think it's really worth more than $10 in the state it's in.
****note on my ratings:
half ⭐: hot trash garbage
⭐: below average, needs work
⭐⭐: average
⭐⭐⭐: pretty good
⭐⭐⭐⭐: excellent
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: all time favourite
half star ratings between those mean it's slightly better or worse than stated in this list.
*
Inclusivity - 10/10
Playing Dressup - 10/10
Gameplay Loop - 8/10
The Good:
DDV was a game I did not expect to love as much as I have. Is it flawed? Yes, in so many ways. But whereas games like Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley just didn't click for me, DDV did. I think it's the heavy character customization aspect. I love playing dressup and buying outfits and interior decorating my home and all that other cool stuff. Sometimes that's all I do and I don't bother with the story at all.
But more than that, the game just feels wonderful to play. It's soothing, calming, relaxing, enjoyable, but in a way that stands apart from others in the genre.
The Bad:
It has the grubby little greedy hands of corporate bs all over it. A game that is purely cosmetic has no business having cosmetic MTX. There's also a lot of bugs and issues that seemingly never get addressed and it's becoming more and more apparent the game is going to move toward F2P at some point and be gacha hell.
Summary:
If you play this game now, while it's still good, it's an awesome experience. But I don't think it will always be that way and will one day be an unplayable pile of garbage. So I advise people to play it now if they're interested. Gamepass is probably the cheapest way to play it as I don't think it's really worth more than $10 in the state it's in.
****note on my ratings:
half ⭐: hot trash garbage
⭐: below average, needs work
⭐⭐: average
⭐⭐⭐: pretty good
⭐⭐⭐⭐: excellent
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: all time favourite
half star ratings between those mean it's slightly better or worse than stated in this list.
*
i don’t think i’ve ever closed out of this game on my own accord, that said, i will literally play it for hours on end until i’m forcibly ejected from the premise. disney will never release me from their chokehold
WALL-E is the cutest thing on the planet and I would die for him.
i'm not the biggest disney fan but i AM a big fan of social/life/farm sims, so obviously i'm easily addicted
i'm actually enjoying the main story quite a bit, and i like that the character quests interweave together so they feel like they exist in this space together. it's neat! the game is really cheesy at times and the way the pillars work is very "friendship is magic"-esque but i'm here for it. it's relaxing and makes me feel good to have every character be like "hey buddy you're doing great!" every time they see me, i just need that sometimes and it's nice
don't know how many characters they intend to add to the game but hoping for an emperor's new groove addition one day
i'm actually enjoying the main story quite a bit, and i like that the character quests interweave together so they feel like they exist in this space together. it's neat! the game is really cheesy at times and the way the pillars work is very "friendship is magic"-esque but i'm here for it. it's relaxing and makes me feel good to have every character be like "hey buddy you're doing great!" every time they see me, i just need that sometimes and it's nice
don't know how many characters they intend to add to the game but hoping for an emperor's new groove addition one day
It is a cool "farming" game with plenty of content until it isn't. Early Access is still up but the game is slowly introducing paywall's and in my opinion it is not worth it. Everything is kind of expensive and if you are not into decorations, as soon as you finish the main storyline the game is over.
its fun for sure, but defs should have been free. crashes way too much for a ps5 game as well :/
disney dreamlight valley just has too much going on. every time i try to get back into it, i'm immediately overwhelmed. at first i really liked that there was always something to do but now it's like, okay... why is there always so much to do?
When this first came out in Early Early Access I liked it but reached the end of the content quickly, and I'm not the kind of person to play this once every 3 months just because they added Woody from Toy Story. Also this seems like something I would really want to Platinum so I would much rather play on PS5. And there's sadly no cross save between Xbox/PS yet (articles actually seem kinda mixed on this fact so I'm unsure if that's still the case)
When this finally fully launches this year I'm excited to play it!
When this finally fully launches this year I'm excited to play it!
(Finished all the quests in patch 1.7 version of the game)
I can't bring myself to give a live-service game a 10/10 but it was truly a magical experience. It reminded me of just how much I loved Disney and Pixar as a child.
My favorite movie was Atlantis: The Lost Empire (sadly it’s not popular enough to be included in this game (at least as of now)).
Yeah the game is exploitative and buggy (fortunately nothing critical in my case, I only had to reload 20 or so times after getting stuck in textures, while other people have been losing their saves) but I don’t really mind because it’s cute, bittersweet, and fun.
Check out my girl
I can't bring myself to give a live-service game a 10/10 but it was truly a magical experience. It reminded me of just how much I loved Disney and Pixar as a child.
My favorite movie was Atlantis: The Lost Empire (sadly it’s not popular enough to be included in this game (at least as of now)).
Yeah the game is exploitative and buggy (fortunately nothing critical in my case, I only had to reload 20 or so times after getting stuck in textures, while other people have been losing their saves) but I don’t really mind because it’s cute, bittersweet, and fun.
Check out my girl
Cute and cozy Disney village game. For when I want to turn my brain off and drink some tea and light some candles.
It has some great moments, but the issues it has outweighs them.
There's been items in the game like the enchanting fountain that haven't been fixed since EA. Most players have had half empty Scrooge shops for over a year since they rarely add any clothing, and instead focus on putting clothing in the premium shop or Star Path. And even then, some of the clothes they put in the premium shop have clipping issues because they didn't bother to test them on their 12 body types or 3 camera poses.
Every update comes with new bugs, some game breaking. When they do have a game breaking bug, they only post it about it on social media, so unless you look it up or follow them you could easily break your game. Hot fixes are rare, so you may be waiting a couple months for their next update to progress a broken quest.
Edit: Since writing my review, they have done one hot fix and sent one in game notice (with premium currency compensation). If they do this consistently, I will edit my review. However, with the latest hot fix, the game now has a bug where items and even parts of the characters appear invisible.
If you have any interest in this game, wait for it to go on sale and know that Gameloft cuts a lot of corners and has some scummy practices.
There's been items in the game like the enchanting fountain that haven't been fixed since EA. Most players have had half empty Scrooge shops for over a year since they rarely add any clothing, and instead focus on putting clothing in the premium shop or Star Path. And even then, some of the clothes they put in the premium shop have clipping issues because they didn't bother to test them on their 12 body types or 3 camera poses.
Every update comes with new bugs, some game breaking. When they do have a game breaking bug, they only post it about it on social media, so unless you look it up or follow them you could easily break your game. Hot fixes are rare, so you may be waiting a couple months for their next update to progress a broken quest.
Edit: Since writing my review, they have done one hot fix and sent one in game notice (with premium currency compensation). If they do this consistently, I will edit my review. However, with the latest hot fix, the game now has a bug where items and even parts of the characters appear invisible.
If you have any interest in this game, wait for it to go on sale and know that Gameloft cuts a lot of corners and has some scummy practices.
j'ai vraiment passé un super bon moment sur le jeu, j'ai 55h actuellement, ça devient un peu répétitif au bout d'un moment mais les fan de disney foncez !! (seul bémol, c'est la boutique in game, forcément t'as envie de dépenser de l'argent en + (le jeu vaut déjà 30 EUROS) pour avoir des objets cosmétiques de fou)
game is cute and cozy but doesn't appeal to me, the grind feels a bit hefty, tho its the type of game i'd hop on after a work shift
Dreamlight is a genuinely decent cozy game; it's pretty, moreish, the plot isn't half bad, they've done a great job characterising, and its Star Path feature is actually really decent (giving you half your moonstones back if you complete it). The gameplay loop is good if you like collecting things, the quests feel neverending in a good way, and the decoration is Very engrossing.
But then there's the Microtransactions. I haven't seen a game this greedy in a while, obviously whalefishing more than caring for fair prices.
Half a star has been added because it's easy enough to get premium currency via the Dreamsnaps feature, but between the above and going back on its free-to-play promises and charging a ton for DLC, it won't go much higher.
But then there's the Microtransactions. I haven't seen a game this greedy in a while, obviously whalefishing more than caring for fair prices.
Half a star has been added because it's easy enough to get premium currency via the Dreamsnaps feature, but between the above and going back on its free-to-play promises and charging a ton for DLC, it won't go much higher.