Disney Dreamlight Valley Critic Reviews

Disney Dreamlight Valley is brimming with Disney magic, but it's also a well-constructed game with plenty to keep you playing.

Whether you become a prominent paid player or a free-to-play one, Disney Dreamlight Valley’s base game already has so much to do that you could easily spend hundreds of hours in it, especially for fans of the Animal Crossing franchise and anything Disney and Pixar.

If the change had happened much sooner, with enough time to properly convert this game into the “premium” product that Gameloft intends for it to be now, I think there would have been a lot more changes. But, if you’re the kind of Disney fan who can look past a few oddities and inconveniences to see your favorite characters chatting it up in a cafe or hanging out with you while you tend your farm, it’s got enough magic to be worth it.

Steep costs and microtransactions taint an otherwise dreamy life sim.

In the end, Disney Dreamlight Valley still managed to captivate me thanks to its wonderful cast of characters and their magical worlds. The cozy life-sim concept allows you to gather, farm, and build at a leisurely pace. Unfortunately, I was also disappointed by the decision to have a real-time sync feature and an unclear progression path that’s compounded by repetitive tasks. The quests that you undertake aren't skill-based either--they're patience-based, so to speak, as any mistake made when unlocking biomes or spending materials can be downright exasperating. Two concepts clash here: the delightful and whimsical themes that spark the joy of your inner childhood, and the frustrations of time management as you experience the monotonous daily grind as an adult.

Even at this Early Access stage, Gameloft has created an awesome game here. There's enough content here already to give a good sense of what's to come, and a foundation to build something rather special.

Disney Dreamlight Valley is a life simulator with sandbox mechanics completely based on the Disney kingdoms.

If you like slow-paced, quiet experiences, you'll feel in here as in a theme park. Don't expect hi octane adventures, just the pleasure of discovering more and more.

Disney Dreamlight Valley has a hybrid concept that works well. Couple that with the wonderful world of Disney and you have two very good reasons to immerse yourself in it daily. But the Gameloft title is still under construction and that has something to spoil the experience (bugs, risky optimization, repetitiveness, etc.). The basics are good and promising, but Disney Dreamlight Valley still has work to do to hope to find a place alongside the greatest. On the other hand, it has the potential and its evolution is therefore to be followed.

Disney Dreamlight Valley is an amazing life simulation where iconic characters are all around you and you can almost touch them. Adding these instantly recognizable villagers to your kingdom and befriending them through quests is fun, even if a lot of it comes down to boring errands. Even with a bunch of issues and bugs and no final act in this Early Access state, the game is well worth your time. Just for the sake of being closer to this beautiful world.

For terrible husk-people with no love in their heart, it’s a little harder to be forgiving of Disney Dreamlight Valley in its current state. Glitches are to be expected in early access, but quest-ending bugs and repetitive grinding put this life simulator on unsteady footing out of the gate. You’d have hoped Disney has deep enough pockets to spring for more voice-acting and properly animated cutscenes too, and the extortionate price of some of Scrooge McDuck’s items should give parents an early sense of unease. The game will be free-to-play when it launches in 2023, and the game’s monetisation mechanics aren’t yet implemented.

Take a little Animal Crossing, add a pinch of Stardew Valley, mix it all up in a Disney cauldron, and you've got Disney Dreamlight Valley! If the formula gives the impression of having the air of a thoughtful marketing project, the game is actually surprisingly effective and endearing.

If you’re looking for a cozy game bursting at the seams with things to do that will have you whiling away the hours, Disney Dreamlight Valley is definitely worth it: it’s shaping up to be one of my favorite games of 2022, and it’s not even out of early access yet. The ability to live alongside some of Disney’s most memorable characters, raise their Friendship level and design the world that they inhabit is truly something that I never knew I needed until it arrived.