Disney Dreamlight Valley has become surprisingly popular since it entered into early access, and its use of many Animal Crossing: New Horizons features could be part of the reason for its success. Dreamlight Duties are essentially just like Nook Miles, regularly rewarding players for doing day-to-day tasks. The main draw of the game is very similar to Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ core gameplay loop, as it sees players bonding with their villagers and upgrading both their home and the valley as a whole. Given how well this works, taking more from the Nintendo title may not be a bad idea.
Even activities like fishing and digging are similar to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and though mining and cooking mechanics help give Disney Dreamlight Valley a bit of its own identity, those that loved the latest Animal Crossing game should have no issue getting accustomed to the Disney-focused title. However, with how polished and content-filled Animal Crossing: New Horizons is, it is not surprising that the Switch exclusive has a few more activities to enjoy. As Disney Dreamlight Valley moves through its early access period, adding some of those activities could be worthwhile.
Adding Tree Chopping To Disney Dreamlight Valley
Currently, players looking for wood in Disney Dreamlight Valley only have one way to get it: picking up sticks littered throughout the various regions. These sticks will drop fairly often from trees, with players then able to loot them off the ground. However, it would be great to see players having the opportunity to get more wood whenever they need it, using a new Royal Tool to chop down trees whenever they see fit.
Just like with Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ axe, players could chop trees in the different regions to get one of the three types of wood. Given how wood is needed for a large portion of Disney Dreamlight Valley’s crafting recipes, having easier access to it would be ideal. Currently, players need to wait on wood to pile up on the ground. Not only does this require patience, but it can be an eyesore for those looking to keep their valley tidy, as sticks will pile up even when players do not want them. If a tree chopping mechanic was added, gamers would not have to deal with wood accumulating on the floor, as they could instead collect it from trees when they actually want it.
Gameloft could flesh out a tree chopping mechanic in a few fun ways, with a woodsman companion role being a possibility. If players assign a character with this specialty, they could provide more wood when trees are chopped. Like in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, items could also be dropped on rare occasions when trees are chopped, allowing new mechanics like acorns to be added. Players could give acorns to squirrels to have them lead the way to a rare item, encouraging gamers to chop trees regularly even when they might not need wood.
Adding Something Like The Museum To Disney Dreamlight Valley
While a full-on museum like Animal Crossing: New Horizons is not viable due to the lack of bugs, art, and sea creatures, an aquarium could work. With 25 fish already in the game, players could display their aquatic creatures by giving them to a water-focused character like Ariel or Ursula. Ursula’s cave could be perfect for this purpose, as the area loses its use after a certain point in the main story. Perhaps critters like foxes and raccoons could get their own wing, leading to a small zoo for players to visit from time to time.
If a zoo was available to players, they could be a lot more motivated to collect every fish and befriend every critter they come across. Having a place to display all the companions a player has collected would be exciting, and an aquarium would give Gameloft a reason to keep adding new fish to collect. With villagers and the player only having a place to eat and a place to shop, adding one more community building for entertainment could make Dreamlight Valley feel a lot homier. With bonus rewards possible for those that finish an aquarium or zoo, such a feature could add a bit more depth to the game.
Disney Dreamlight Valley is available through early access on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.