Disney Dreamlight Valley Has Changed a Lot Since Release (and Why You Should Try It)

It's been a minute since Disney Dreamlight Valley's release, and although I was pleased with the game ever since it launched, I'm not one to lie — in comparison, it was barren. At first, the game was fun and charming, but Gameloft has certainly faced a lot of criticism for various subjects, from the pricing of the game and the microtransactions to some of the missing quality-of-life features.

Since this would become an incredibly boring article if I list every single new feature or change, I've decided just to mention my favourites (or the ones I think are most impactful)! So, without further ado…

Decoration Has Improved!

Although decorating has always been one of Disney Dreamlight Valley's strong suits, especially with the massive catalogue of items, there were some features that could use more polish. As an example, many of the objects’ grids were too big to decorate with comfortably, and you could only rotate them in four directions.

Throughout the years, Gameloft has introduced many quality-of-life changes that have improved decorating. The ability to favourite items, one-click duplicating, furniture with interactions, and improvements to the object sizing and grids are just but a few of them. The most impactful addition — and one that I had very little hope of ever seeing due to possible development complications — was the ability to rotate things in eight directions.

Just that alone has really changed the way decoration feels, offering a much more in-depth customisation of each area. I was so excited when it was implemented that I rehauled the entirety of my Valley — even my Plaza, which had been stagnant because I loved the way it looked.

DreamSnaps — a Weekly Challenge with Premium Currency Rewards!

This one isn't as evidently positive as the doubling rotational directions, but I still think it’s more positive than negative. If you have no idea what a DreamSnap is, it's simple: every week, Gameloft sends out a challenge to the players to take a picture based on a prompt they offer. Sometimes the focus is the outfit, other times, it's the decoration.

Depending on your ranking each week, you'll receive Moonstones (the premium currency); just for submitting a picture at all, players already secured getting 300 as a reward. Otherwise, you can get anything from 600–4,000, unless you make the top three, in which case you'll receive up to 12,000.

While this has obviously created a somewhat hostile and competitive environment in some spaces and many opportunities to push relevant premium shop items, the pros outweigh the cons. Just by being consistent about logging in and submitting a picture, my mom and I have been able to accrue a substantial amount of Moonstones... and it's for playing and having fun!

Aside from making shopping through premium shop items every week more fun because I've got more currency to spend, it has also given me a fun challenge every week. Thanks to it, I can also look forward to bonding with my wife and my mom by sharing ideas and our snaps! I also found a very welcoming and fun community in the subreddit.

Before the DreamSnaps, a lot of items (both decoration and clothing) went unused because I tend to stick to what I like. Thanks to the different prompts each week, I’ve had to go out of my comfort zone and experiment with other styles, which has given me more incentive to use the items I’ve gathered. You’ll never see me complain about anything that adds more playtime (within reasonable bounds, of course: I don’t like grinding for the sake of it)!

Taking Pictures is Actually Fun Now!

I never used to use the camera in Disney Dreamlight Valley, and whatever use I did get from it dropped to below zero after I found Infinity Nikki's much more in-depth feature. I spent a lot of time getting the right angle and filters to get cool photos; when I stopped playing the latter (due to disappointing decisions from the developer), I really missed being able to play around with in-game photography.

Thankfully, the implementation of DreamSnaps has brought a lot of improvements to the previously nearly barren mechanic. Now, players can look forward to changing the angle, messing around with various settings and filters, and even choosing from different poses and tools… this will be even further improved with the upcoming The Winter Ball update (where Cinderella arrives), as players can choose the villagers they want, the pose, and even their position.

The images that can be taken now are downright stunning and can even look like it's an entirely different game. My wife and I have spent up to seven hours just hanging out and creating DreamSnaps together, attempting to get just the right one.

All these changes have also made it much easier to share the experience with other players, breeding subreddits dedicated to DreamSnaps, for example!

The World Feels Fuller and More Real

It's not enough to have a bunch of Disney-owned characters to make a game feel alive, and filling up the Valley with various player houses only helped visually — there was still something missing.

This has been fixed throughout the various updates, as Gameloft has added new buildings (such as Daisy's Boutique and Tiana's restaurant) as well as various stalls. Although these interactions with the Villagers are short-lived, they make the world feel more alive as I go about doing my round: I get fish from Moana, head over to Kristoff for materials, and maybe stop by and stock up on Gems from Aladdin.

This same liveliness has been breathed into pets, who used to just accompany the player around the Valley as if they were leashed by some magnetic force. Now, they can increase your inventory space and help out with various tasks, such as collecting stuff for you! My personal favourite is Max, who has the best ability (he digs and he also collects), and he's got charming animations that make him feel real, like growling at villains.

Various Expansions (or Just "DLC")

Speaking of villains... the story doesn't have to end at the base game anymore. With the latest expansion, Disney Dreamlight Valley: Wishblossom Ranch, Gameloft has officially launched three DLC. Each one offers new areas to decorate, new Villagers to meet, tons of new items (including recipes!), and quests.

I've played through every single one of them — I'm actually currently on the latest one — and I think they add a lot of value to the experience. While it seems the community can't seem to commonly agree on which one is the best, I think that's a sign that the team is willing to experiment.

Disney Dreamlight Valley: A Rift in Time was very different from the base game, swapping princess-y and fantastical zones for more adventurous ones, and a much more cinematic experience; it also brought a whole new tool with it that opened up the doors to many quality-of-life improvements. Disney Dreamlight Valley: The Storybook Vale added downright magical locations, got two of the most beloved villains to the Valley, and really put some oomph behind its storytelling. While Disney Dreamlight Valley: Wishblossom Ranch strays from the pattern of its predecessors, I don't think it was a necessarily bad expansion — it was different and put more focus on the new mounts and decoration, both of which I've enjoyed.

I appreciate that Gameloft is trying to bring a fresh new perspective with each one, and I'm okay with there being some middling or bad ones in the mix... so long as it's because innovation can sometimes be a hit-or-miss, not because of greed.

Free Updates & Monetisation

Thankfully, just because there are a lot of premium features (such as the above), it doesn't mean Gameloft has slowed down on free content. Whether it's new events, quality-of-life improvements, or just content for Scrooge's Shop, there's a constant trickle. Just this last Halloween, for example, we had several free themed items to get by completing quests and puzzles. We also get free characters who join the roster — such as Cinderella!

Something I appreciate greatly is the way Gameloft handles battle passes (which are called Star Paths in-game); truth be told, I feel like it doesn't get mentioned in a good light often enough. Each one is around for over a month, and it only costs 2,000 Moonstones to unlock! That's very generous because they can easily be earned by being consistent with DreamSnaps, getting the daily chests, and saving up… Heck, my wife, my mom, and I have all sometimes earned 4,000 consecutively! This is not counting the Moonstones you get back within the pass itself, which is a surprisingly hefty percentage of the 2,000 price tag.

The premium currency can also be used to purchase the Dream Bundles, which only cost 4,000. Although these aren't technically events per se, they do offer even more content: more decoration, clothing, and special quests for the character they're for. This can all be unlocked for free, again, in just one or two good weeks of DreamSnaps.

Quality-of-life Galore

While Disney Dreamlight Valley didn't start off perfect and still gets a lot of flak for the bugs and issues, it's got much better. As someone who has been a big fan of many live-service games, I'd happily argue that it's one of the best ones I've ever been part of when it comes to improvements.

Although sometimes the changes can trickle in on the slow side, the pace has picked up considerably. What used to be a substantial improvement arriving only every few months has turned into a complacent expectation for the next significant change. As someone who has been around since before the official launch, it is unfathomable how different the experience has become.

The quality-of-life improvements happen in bits all around: native super ultrawide support; pathing improvements (such as being able to change thousands of them in one click); accessibility options, like being able to hold down a button instead of mashing them; the ability to change the time of day… the list goes on. I'd just spend an absurd amount of time writing if I tried to mention them all, and that leads me to the conclusion of this article, which is…

Gameloft Has Been Listening (So Far), and That's Amazing

Despite their seemingly iffy reputation with previous games (something you couldn't avoid seeing in the comments and Steam reviews before!), Gameloft has been listening to the community. In a time full of predatory practices that are ruining games, such as gacha and AI, it's refreshing to see the effort placed in Disney Dreamlight Valley.

I am grateful that the game exists; I think it's a cosy nook of safety that many players need, and I hope we can continue to count on Gameloft to foster more positivity. So far, I've been impressed further with each year... so here's to many more!