Disney Dreamlight Valley
Disney Dreamlight Valley is an upcoming life simulation adventure game developed by Gameloft Montreal and published by Gameloft. The game has players tend to a magical valley populated by various Disney and Pixar characters who previously underwent a curse that caused them to lose their memories of their lives in the valley. The game was released in early access for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on September 6, 2022, while the macOS version released in early access on December 6, 2022, alongside the game's second content update. While payment for a "Founder's Pack" or an Xbox Game Pass subscription is needed to play the game in early access, it was planned to be a free-to-play game before the decision was reversed in October 2023. A full release is planned for December 5, 2023, which will also see the release of the game's first paid expansion, A Rift in Time. Gameplay
Disney Dreamlight Valley takes place in the titular "Dreamlight Valley", a magical valley with various biomes populated by Disney and Pixar characters. The game features nonlinear gameplay similar to Nintendo's Animal Crossing games where players take control of a customizable human player character living in the valley. The valley is synced to real time based on the time set on the player's console or computer. The player can explore the valley to gather resources and use their magic to clear away "Night Thorns", unwanted plants with dark magic that spawn throughout the valley. Foods can be cooked into various meals at a cooking station such as an oven or a campfire, while other resources can be crafted into materials or furniture at a crafting station. The player can eat food to replenish energy, which is required to use magic-imbued tools including a pickaxe, a shovel, a fishing rod, and a watering can; meals can replenish greater amounts of energy than foods grown, harvested, or purchased in the valley, and can make the player "well fed", which gives them a movement speed boost, increased luck at getting resource bonuses, and the ability to sprint across the valley faster by gliding on magic (albeit at an energy cost). Furniture and certain objects can be placed and rearranged in the valley or inside the player's house, and the player can also move and rotate buildings in the valley to their liking. The player can also change their outfit and appearance at any time, clothing can be customized further by the player with a clothes and furniture designer option called "Touch of Magic". Unlike in the Animal Crossing games, the player's tools, clothing, and furniture do not take up space in their inventory; tools are selected using an option wheel and never break from use, while the inventory screen contains separate "wardrobe" and "furniture" options for clothing and furniture respectively. The player can earn a currency called "Star Coins" during gameplay, usually by selling most items in their inventory to Goofy at various stalls run by him throughout the valley. Star Coins can be spent on crops and seeds sold by Goofy at his stalls, materials sold by Kristoff at his stall, certain foods that are only available at Remy's restaurant, or on clothes and furniture sold by Scrooge McDuck at his store. They can also be spent on new buildings or building upgrades (all handled in-universe by Scrooge's "McDuck Construction" company) that provide additional benefits, such as more items available at Goofy's stalls or more space in the player's house, or on wells strewn throughout the valley that allows the player to fast travel to different biomes. The player can interact with and befriend the villagers, including heroes and villains. The player can build up a "friendship level" with that villager by having a daily discussion with them, giving them gifts, completing quests they assign the player, and (except for characters who can only swim in the valley's waters) hanging out with them and doing activities, including gardening, mining, digging, harvesting, and fishing; doing specific activities with a land-based villager, depending on the role the player assigns the villager at friendship level two, will earn the player more resources related to that activity. Raising a friendship level (up to level ten) with a villager will give the player rewards including Star Coins, exclusive furniture and clothes, and exclusive motifs for "Touch of Magic", as well as increased resources from hanging out with them and new quests. Plot

Main story
The game follows the player as they decide to spend some time away from the hustle and bustle of the city and return to their old rural home, falling asleep in their old backyard play area and entering a dream world as their memories of childhood return. Upon appearing in the titular Dreamlight Valley, the player is met by Merlin, who explains that Dreamlight Valley used to be full of villagers living in harmony, but after the valley's ruler disappeared, Night Thorns began growing and causing the villagers to lose their memories in an event known as "The Forgetting". While many villagers fled to their home realms for protection, others stayed and became trapped as Dreamlight Valley was overrun by Night Thorns and fell into disrepair. The player decides to help restore Dreamlight Valley and get rid of the Night Thorns. With Merlin's help, the player is able to use their own magic, known as "Dreamlight", to clear away the Giant Night Thorns blocking access to the house resembling their own from back in reality. Recovering a memory hidden in the Night Thorns inside, the player and Merlin decide to investigate the Dream Castle, only to find the entrance blocked by giant Night Thorns. After meeting some of the villagers who stayed behind and recovering the Royal Tools, the eternal night spell over the valley is broken and the player clears away the giant Night Thorns, regaining access to the Dream Castle. Inside, they find doorways to various realms where the other villagers had fled when The Forgetting came, all sealed by Night Thorns. The player collects more Dreamlight and unlocks the doors, visiting the realms and helping the characters there with their problems, bringing them back to Dreamlight Valley to help restore it. Along the way, they help restore Dreamlight's local businesses and provide housing for the characters returning to Dreamlight Valley. The player also opens up other regions of the valley blocked by giant Night Thorns, restoring them by returning the magic Orbs that protect the valley to their respective Pillars. As they restore Dreamlight Valley and help more villagers, the player gradually learns that they were the former ruler of Dreamlight Valley, having left when they were younger and thus causing the Valley to fall into disrepair. The villagers also explain that the Forgetting and the appearance of the Night Thorns was caused by a dark being called the Forgotten. As the player is about to restore the final Pillar, the Forgotten appears and steals the Orb, revealing themselves to be the player character's inner child, who was corrupted by negative emotions and fell into a deep depression. The Forgotten intends to use the Orb in a spell to create a rift that could destroy the valley. The player follows the Forgotten to their dark castle and talks to them, reminding them of their past memories and helping them accept themselves. The Forgotten shows remorse and works with the player to close the rift, and they are forgiven by the villagers and reintegrate into Dreamlight Valley with the player's help. Characters
Disney Dreamlight Valley features several Disney and Pixar characters who reside in the valley as "villagers". Several other characters have been announced to be added in later updates:

Additionally, Pua from Moana appears as an unlockable companion (pet) for the player. Development and release
Disney Dreamlight Valley was developed by Gameloft Montreal as a life simulation adventure game. Manea Castet, Game Manager of Disney Dreamlight Valley at Gameloft Montreal explained, "Our development team is a big family of Disney and Pixar fans and have poured all of our passion into the development of Disney Dreamlight Valley, especially in the way we depict characters and their story arcs," and continued, "We can't wait for fans to join the Early Access this summer and help us bring this new ever-evolving Disney and Pixar-inspired world to our excited community." Announced in June 2022, the game was released in early access for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on September 6, 2022, while the macOS version released in early access on December 6, 2022, alongside the game's second content update. A physical release for the console versions featuring exclusive content and physical extras, titled the Cozy Edition, was released for Nintendo Switch in North America on October 27, 2023, and will be globally released for Switch, PlayStation platforms, and Xbox platforms on November 10, 2023. The PlayStation and Xbox Cozy Edition releases contain a disc, while the Switch's Cozy Edition is a code-in-a-box release (containing a printed code instead of a Switch Game Card in the box) due to platform limitations. The game was initially planned to be a free-to-play game after leaving early access. However, in a blog post published in October 2023, Gameloft announced that they've decided to reverse their free-to-play plans, leaving the game as a pay-for title upon full release on December 5, 2023. In the same post, Gameloft also announced that a new expansion titled A Rift in Time will be added on the same day as the full release, which will be included with a new Gold Edition digital release and will be a separate purchase for all other players. Audio
The game features the voice acting of Ashley Adler, Tony Anselmo, Tim Allen, Jeff Bennett, Jodi Benson, Danielle Bisutti, Abby Trott, Ben Burtt, Cam Clarke, Chris Sanders, Pat Carroll, Kaitlyn Robrock, Auli'i Cravalho, Enn Reitel, Barbara Dirickson, Patton Oswalt, Bill Farmer, Donna Murphy, Jake Green, Matt Lowe, Jim Hanks, Moira Kelly, Jess Harnell, Bret Iwan, James Horan, Christopher Daniel Barnes and Stephanie Beatriz reprising their roles from various Disney films and television series. Dreamlight Valley marks the final appearance of Pat Carroll as Ursula, following her death in 2022. Downloadable content and expansions
On September 6, 2022, Gameloft released a trailer announcing three "Founder's Packs", which are available during the game's early access period. The Founder's Packs, which are required for early access, include Moonstones (the game's premium currency; 8,000 Moonstones for Standard, 14,500 Moonstones for Deluxe, and 20,000 Moonstones for Ultimate), two wearable items and nine decoration items for Standard, all containing three design motifs, cosmetics items (all Standard Edition cosmetic items for Deluxe and Ultimate and Deluxe Edition cosmetic items for Ultimate), animal companions and wearable items (a "celestial" sea turtle animal companion and seven wearable items for Deluxe and Ultimate and a "regal" fox animal companion and another four wearable items for Ultimate), decoration items (ten decoration items for Deluxe and fifteen decoration items for Ultimate), a jersey, and a Mickey Mouse headband (Deluxe and Ultimate). Additionally, upon full release, Founder's Pack players will receive the Gold Editions exclusive cosmetic items (consisting of a "flowery" capybara companion, a "summer flowery cottage" house style, and wearable artist's overalls for the player) and an additional 2,500 Moonstones. Dreamlight Valleys first paid expansion, A Rift in Time, is set to be released on December 5, 2023, alongside the full release of the game. It will add a new area called "Eternity Isle" featuring new biomes and new villagers. Reception

Early access

Disney Dreamlight Valley received a positive reception from critics upon its early access release in September 2022. Sam Loveridge of GamesRadar+ appreciated the quality-to-life improvements to the game's tools in contrast to Animal Crossing and liked the presence of the Disney characters that lived in the titular Dreamlight Valley, which she said had "some truly brilliant dialogue and narrative flourishes," while saying that certain resources were too scarce. Josh Broadwell of Nintendo Life wrote that he found the game to have "strong worldbuilding", finding its plot to be "an unexpected and even poignant bit of commentary about growing up in general", but believed that the game's Switch optimization was subpar with significant menu lag and game crashes. Claire Crossman of Common Sense Media praised the game's depiction of positive messages and role models, saying the game promotes the importance of helping others and encourages creative expression, applauding the diverse representations across the customization of the player character, and appreciating the interactions between the player character and their environment. Travis Northrup of IGN called it an "awesome life simulator that flexes its iconic characters to riveting, satisfying effect," asserted the story manages to be clever and creative, appreciated the relationships players can forge with the villagers across their different quests, and complimented the customization of the player character and their environment, stating, "Disney Dreamlight Valley feels impressively like a finished product for an early access game." Player count
On September 15, 2022, the official Disney Dreamlight Valley Twitter account tweeted that over one million players have played the game ten days after its release. Accolades

Notes

References

Primary sources

External links
 
 

Upcoming video games scheduled for 2023
Crossover video games
Disney video games
Early access video games
Gameloft games
Life simulation games
MacOS games
Nintendo Switch games
PlayStation 4 games
PlayStation 5 games
Xbox One games
Xbox Series X and Series S games
Windows games
Video games with gender-selectable protagonists