Disney Dreamlight Valley’s next update adds Encanto, Frozen’s Olaf

Disney Dreamlight Valley’s next free major update is scheduled for February, bringing two new beloved Disney characters to the game: Encanto’s Mirabel and Frozen’s Olaf. Developer Gameloft shared the game’s early 2023 roadmap on Wednesday, laying out the next few months.

Although the game was released almost seven months ago, it is still available in an early version. Gameloft stated that the game will be updated in future updates. Disney Dreamlight ValleyAccording to it, the number of active players continues to rise.

Image: Gameloft/Disney

Beyond Mirabel and Olaf in the February update — which also extends the main story and explores the Frosted Heights biome — Gameloft has a new realm from The Lion King It is scheduled for April. Simba will join Scar in Dreamlight Valley, bringing another massive mammal into play — though this one surely won’t be looking to eat Remy. Beyond April, there’s another update scheduled for early summer, but Gameloft said it isn’t ready to share details; all we know is that the main story will continue again, and players will finally learn who’s living in the game’s mysterious pumpkin.

“It’ll be a huge step forward with the main story, everything coming together as to what’s behind the Forgottening,” Disney Dreamlight ValleyPolygon was informed by Manea Castet, the lead producer.

Other locations in 2023 Disney Dreamlight ValleyThe expansion will include more characters, such as Belle!Not only will there be more characters (like Belle), but they also have new realms, clothing, decorations and even more. However, there are few details about what multiplayer will mean for the game. Gameloft’s Star Path will be maintained, which is a battle pass like program that rewards gamers for playing the game. These have been themed so far, and 2023’s are no different — the Star Paths in February and April will be themed around Disney’s 100th anniversary and the Disney theme parks, respectively.

February Update

The story is at the heart of Disney Dreamlight ValleyIt is unique content and can allow the developer to create its world. This freedom goes beyond any franchise. “We get to tell our own stories, where we get to show this metaphor of growing up and finding our inner child,” Castet said. “[The world itself] is the best way to do it, to tell our own stories.” He said that throughout the game’s Act 1, players will understand what’s happening in the valley.

Each character adds to the story, weaving their own twists. Castet stated that Olaf would be an integral part of the main tale. He said Olaf’s quests are some of the best they’ve designed yet. Castet didn’t go into detail on those quests, but stressed that Gameloft is looking to player feedback to fine tune its new storylines. Castet cited the following example. The Lion King’s Scar, which takes the player into a previously hidden area of the valley, the underground mine. “That’s the stuff we want to continue to be doing in the next update, exploring new areas of the valley and not just having the existing area as the playground.”

Mirabel, Encanto, is more of an “onboarding” character, he said. “You don’t have to play a lot of hours to meet Mirabel and have fun with her,” Castet said. “She’s going to bring her own version of Casita” to the game — “mini Casita,” as Castet called it.

February also brings the new Star Path celebrating Disney’s 100th anniversary — Castet said the assets are some of the “most beautiful” the team has made, following the artistic direction of the whole Disney 100 celebration. There’s also a new pet, new furniture, and new items that are directly related to the event.

April Update

April’s update is the one with Simba, joining The Lion King’s Scar. Scar entered the game without his own realm, so Simba’s The Lion King The first film in the series is realm. Castet stated that there are many references to the film, but that the realm would have its own story. There’s something different about the atmosphere these bigger animals give to Disney Dreamlight Valley; it was immediately felt with Scar, and Castet said it’s similar with Simba, too.

It’s also the update that adds the Disney theme parks Star Path — “We can already imagine how cool it can be to customize your valley so it can look a little like a park,” Castet said. You can’t fully change your valley into a Disney theme park, but you’ll be able to decorate it with things from the parks.

Up-to-date quality-of life updates

Disney Dreamlight Valley is an early access game — and a very polished one at that — but that doesn’t mean the game is without its problems. It had some major bugs when it launched, and it’s slowly improved since then; it’s in a much better state kicking off 2023.

Since launch, Gameloft has looked to the game’s players to prioritize content updates and feature fixes. “For each update, around 50% of the update is community-driven,” Castet said. “There are some big requests from the community that are highlighted, and that ups the priority for us.” The February update is a big example of this, Castet said: There are a ton of quality-of-life changes coming, like an improved storage system.

Anyone who’s played the game knows how badly the storage system needs to be improved. The storage system is clunky and you store your items in boxes in your home. Items don’t stack automatically, and you have to run from chest to chest to access what’s in each individual one. If you’re like me, you don’t know what’s in each chest, and finding what you need is a frustrating exercise. Not to mention the massive fleet of chests that line the perimeter of my house — they’re all the same!

Gameloft will be adding new types of chests to address the problem. Castet said Gameloft will also add a panel so you can see what’s in the chest before opening it, too. The second quality-of-life change Castet outlined is more customization in the valley, particularly with the exterior of players’ houses.

Disney Dreamlight ValleyYou can play for free in the early access program on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 (Windows PC), Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PlayStation 5.