Is It Too Late To Start Playing Disney Dreamlight Valley? My Thoughts As A Complete Beginner

Disney Dreamlight Valley first launched in Early Access in 2022 as a free game, then became a paid game upon its official release in December 2023. I'd been considering trying the game, but I had missed the window of opportunity to try it out for free. I wasn't sure if I'd like it and the $40 USD price always stopped me from getting it just to try it. Since its release, Dreamlight Valley has had multiple expansions, updates, and events, and as of right now, there's a lot of content in the game.

There's so much content, in fact, that I'm completely and utterly overwhelmed by the thought of diving into it. Many fans have been playing from the beginning and experienced a lot of these events in real time as they happened. As someone who's never played Disney Dreamlight Valley and a generally lukewarm Disney fan, I wonder if I'm too late to the game.

Will I be too overwhelmed by all the content and things to do? What is playing Dreamlight Valley like today, two years after it originally debuted? The game went on sale this Black Friday, so I decided to take the plunge and try it as a complete beginner.

Easing Into Disney Dreamlight Valley Is Safe But Limiting

My First Impressions As A Beginner To Dreamlight Valley

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My first entry into Disney Dreamlight Valley was meant to be a gentle easing into the mechanics. The game slowly guides you through your first interactions without actually locking you into a tutorial. As I emerged out of the cutscenes, I was given a simple quest to complete and allowed out of my house with the aim of completing it.

Being me, as soon as I was allowed to leave, I immediately forgot what I was doing, started collecting flowers, tired myself out clearing thorns, and then chased down a squirrel to feed it raspberries. None of these, of course, were the task I was actually given to complete, but it felt good to be able to dive right in and start playing the game however I wanted to right off the bat. In my case, this meant getting lost while exploring and completing five different unrelated tasks before returning to the initial task at hand.

Related Disney Dreamlight Valley: How To Unlock Sally Sally has finally arrived in Disney Dreamlight Valley, but first, you'll need to help Jack and the other villagers with a little Spider web problem.

My eagerness to explore and nonexistent sense of direction proved to be my undoing as I found very quickly that I had no idea where my own house was. I was also tracking a task that didn't seem to be the one I was supposed to be doing and there was now a squirrel following me around the Valley. I tried pressing five different buttons and cycling between many tabs and tab subsections before finally figuring out how to track the quest I was actually supposed to be doing.

Overall, my initial steps into Dreamlight Valley were confusing but freeing. I found it incredibly easy to get sucked in and to wander around clearing thorns, since there's something therapeutic about the task. Soon, I became frustrated at how small my inventory was and how quickly my character got tired, at which point I realized that if I wanted to make any progress toward improving quality of life issues like that, I had to move on with my journey.

The Dreamlight Valley Realms Mechanic Keeps Things Simple

Getting Further In And Unlocking The Castle

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I pushed on and played for a few more hours, and at some point in my Dreamlight Valley playthrough, something clicked. It took a while, but I was beginning to learn the lay of the land and I only sometimes got lost on my way back home. I had found all the tools, stopped for a few group selfies with the gang, and decided it was time to enter the castle.

The Valley was very sparsely populated and I thought that once I went into the castle, I'd be fully thrown out of the "tutorial" and the rest of the characters would flow in. It turns out that the Valley is completely separate from the castle and its many "realms." As a result, the transition into the rest of the game didn't feel quite as overwhelming as I thought it would be.

Related Disney Dreamlight Valley Sew Delightful Release Date, New Character, Items, & Changes Disney Dreamlight Valley has one more free content update in 2024, the Sew Delightful update, and it’ll bring a fan-favorite character to the valley.

I chose Remi as my first Realm experience, and my reaction was mixed. On the one hand, I adored the charming character and enjoyed experimenting with different ingredients rather than just following a recipe. On the other hand, the Realm was so small and the tasks so repetitive that I found myself wanting to get it over with faster so I could get back to clearing thorns and decorating. I finished off the realm and wandered out, rat house in hand, back to the Valley.

I Can Understand Now Why People Get Sucked Into Disney Dreamlight Valley

Final Thoughts: Will I keep Playing DDV?

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Back in the Valley, this non-Disney fan was starting to come around to the characters, too. Dreamlight Valley has an undeniable charm. I like having the characters follow me around, especially Scrooge, who I swear rolled his eyes at my character as I failed for the third time to catch a fish in the pond (I was pressing the button too early).

I still wouldn't call myself a Disney fan and I definitely skipped more of the dialogue than I'd like to admit, but some of the character interactions are so cute that they grew on me. Goofy randomly shaking his fists at the night thorns or making a funny face at the camera when he thinks my character's not looking, for instance, is just so silly and endearing.

Related The Storybook Vale Is The Expansion Pass Disney Dreamlight Valley Needed The Storybook Vale has only had its first of two parts released, but it’s a significant addition to the game, bringing a lot of much-needed content.

Besides the characters, I'm also a fan of the many things to do. The many duties and quests to complete make me want to keep finishing tasks just for that dopamine rush of hitting "Complete" each time. ​​​​​​I still find myself getting lost in the tabs and collections but this, too, is starting to become more natural to me.

Disney Dreamlight Valley definitely surprised me with how endearing and addictive it is. My main concern before I began was that I would be overwhelmed with too much to do, but the way the game is structured is so clever, allowing Disney to keep adding new content as offshoot "realms" without overwhelming players in the main game. It's clear that players can work toward restoring their Valley at any rate that they want to, and I think that kind of structured freedom is a huge plus for the title.

I wouldn't call myself a DDV fan just yet, but I can safely say that I understand now how fans can get so sucked into the title.

I wouldn't call myself a DDV fan just yet, but I can safely say that I understand now how fans can get so sucked into the title. One thought I kept coming back to, though, is that the game feels like a single-player MMO. It's the kind of game I can picture myself spending hours playing with my friends but without others, it just feels a little lonely.

I would love to head out on adventures through beloved Disney franchises and characters along with a friend. But until then, I'll be here in my little Disney Dreamlight Valley shack, hanging out with Goofy and Scrooge and shaking my fists at my problems.