Disney Dreamlight Valley review
What is it? A casual life sim full of Disney charm.
Release date December 5, 2023
Expect to pay $40/£33.50
Developer Gameloft
Publisher Gameloft
Reviewed on 1.80 GHz,Intel® HD Graphics 620, Intel® Core(TM) i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz, 8GB RAM
Steam Deck Verified
Link Official site
During the pandemic everyone seemed to find comfort in the gentle virtual maintenance of their Animal Crossing Islands. Pootling about, talking to villagers, and designing things just so. Nothing else has come close to replicating that weird state of zen that comes with pulling weeds and paying debts. Until now.
Disney Dreamlight Valley is very much like Animal Crossing in that you start on a barebones Island, hunt down some tools, help out a money-hungry animal (this time it's Scrooge McDuck rather than Tom Nook) and gradually shape things to your liking.The valley starts off in a right old state, having been overcome by ‘The Forgetting’, a curse leading to boarded up buildings and an infestation of giant thorns. Slowly, you start to clean up, and things go from derelict chic to homely hamlet. As you invite more villagers to join you and unlock more options to beautify your town, you also help lift the malaise.
The whole place looks quite rigid at first, with a shop, restaurant and your house in set places, but the customisation tools are way more impactful than they first appear. You can pick up and move any building, as well as delete paths and move trees to shape the valley as you see fit, all from your inventory menu. However, you have to do a lot of crafting to get things looking properly pristine.
Dreamlight uses a simple gathering and crafting system for the vast majority of its gameplay. You mine rocks with your pickaxe to get stone,
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