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Gameloft unveiled Disney Dreamlight Valley, a new life simulation adventure game for the PC, Mac, and consoles.
The free-to-play title is a major collaboration between Disney and Gameloft, and it marks Gameloft’s entry into the PC and console space. It’s going to be a huge game with 40 to 60 hours of gameplay in the main story.
In the title, fans will be invited to create their personalized avatar and embark on an enchanting journey alongside some of Disney and Pixar’s most beloved characters. Players can be the first to experience Disney Dreamlight Valley this summer as part of early access with the purchase of a Founders Pack or by being an Xbox Game Pass member ahead of the game’s launch in 2023.
The game is set in the dream world of Dreamlight Valley, where players will embark on a quest to restore a once idyllic village now desolate and full of Night Thorns after a mysterious event called The Forgetting. I was very impressed with the look of the 3D graphics across various lands.
Players have to uncover the mysterious secrets that led them to this new world and explore diverse realms inspired by classic Disney and Pixar worlds, while helping the iconic inhabitants of the town recover their lost memories.
In this experience, players will encounter characters from Mickey & Friends to Disney’s The Lion King, The Little
Mermaid, and Moana to Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story and more. I got an extended preview of the game from Manea Castet, game manager, and Claire Llewellyn, senior product marketing manager.
“Disney Dreamlight Valley is a hybrid between a life simulation and an adventure game,” said Llewellyn, in an interview with GamesBeat. “The valley was where familiar friends from the most heroic to the most villainous lived together in harmony.”
She added, “We’re really excited to bring the final conclusion of this game to life with the community and alongside the community.”
The game will have a number of unique individualized story arcs and enjoy activities with some of the village’s most memorable characters, such as whipping up a delectable Disney-themed dishes alongside Remy from Disney and Pixar’s Ratatouille inside of a village restaurant, fishing at the fishing hole with Goofy, or growing vegetables from Wall-E’s garden patch.
Players will be able to design the Disney and Pixar villages of their dreams across multiple unique biomes, ranging
from the snowy mountains of the Frosted Heights to the Peaceful Meadow and beyond – with customization options for their avatars, homes, and villages. The game will feature an evolving list of Disney princess-inspired ballgowns, Mickey-adorned streetwear, Frozen-inspired antique kitchen designs, and more.
“Disney Dreamlight Valley will give our fans the opportunity to write their own story and build their ideal Disney
and Pixar life within a richly detailed world populated with characters from some of Disney’s most iconic stories,”
said Luigi Priore, vice president of Disney and Pixar Games, in a statement. “We are excited to hear feedback from our audience throughout the development of this title as we collaborate with the talented team at Gameloft to bring Disney Dreamlight Valley to life.”
Castet said the Gameloft team in Montreal that made the game are all huge fans of Disney characters.
“We were looking for a way to shine a new light on these characters and find a way to answer the question of like, what does it mean to live alongside” Disney characters in a live simulation game, he said.
“We wanted it to be something new, something that is a bit inspired by games like Monkey Island or Indiana Jones from the past — the puzzle and mystery games,” he said.
This summer, players can be the first to play in an Early Access available exclusively for players who purchase a Founder’s Pack or have an Xbox Game Pass membership. During the Early Access phase, players will be the first to explore Dreamlight Valley and receive exclusive rewards.
The early access version will be released across all supported platforms including PC, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Xbox One consoles. PC and Mac versions will be released on Steam, Epic Games Store, Microsoft Store, and the Mac App Store.
Castet said the Gameloft team has built many hours of gameplay into the title. It’s a fast-action 3D platformer where you can explore many different areas.
My demo started a little after the beginning area of the game in a limited space where you have to fully explore to unlock the larger areas of the valley. It was a once colorful and beautiful space that has been overtaken by the Night Thorns. You have to beat it all back. As you recover new places in the valley, you come across “memory shots,” which is a kind of souvenir from the past. You can dig using a pickaxe or use other tools. In the demo, I saw Scrooge McDuck do a mission and get through a challenge with an excavator stone. You can craft cooking material and get new characters, and it’s loaded with Easter Eggs.
“It’s going to take a lot of hours to unlock everything,” Llewellyn said.
The various lands are not inspired by Disney theme parks. But they are definitely inspired by Disney movies, with areas dedicated to Frozen, Atlantis, or the Lion King. You can unlock a variety of biomes.
It’s not all about missions. Goofy can of course engage in fun activities like fishing.
“As one of our first [PC and console games], this is a key change for Gameloft,” said Castet. “In the past made cross platform games on mobile and PC. But here we really want to start with PC and console. We really want to make sure we have a great experience on PC and console.”
The game has no ads and there is no way to speed up display ads, and there is no way to spend real money to speed up your gameplay. The monetization focuses on spending money on cosmetics and vanity items.
The game will have a lot of live services that carry on events and updates after the game launches.
There could be more than a 1,000 items that you could buy. The avatar has 17 different points of customization.
Players will get to express themselves as modern Disney fanatics.
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Author: Dean Takahashi
Source: Venturebeat
