Dreamlight Valley 2024: The Upside of Live-Service

I am not a fan of most live-service games. Outside of Honkai Star Rail and one or two others, the concept gets exhausting after a while. I only have so much time to play games, and I would rather immerse myself in games that have powerful or enjoyable storylines and complete gameplay loops. However, as we get into the 2^nd year of Disney Dreamlight Valley, I realize that there are certain ways to do live service correctly.

Disney Dreamlight Valley went into Early Access on September 6^th, 2022. It was one of the games that Lisa (our former Co-Owner and Managing Editor) and I really bonded over in the final year she was alive. We shared a love of Disney, and with a game that boasted an Animal Crossing-esque concept, we were sold. Now, two years later, I still enjoy Dreamlight Valley as much as I did in the beginning, but time has allowed the game to improve and flourish in multiple ways.

I should point out before we get too far ahead of ourselves that I took a break from Dreamlight Valley for about six months after Lisa passed away in October 2023. On one hand I found that I had outpaced the speed at which Gameloft was putting out content. On the other hand, I felt that I wasn’t quite ready to enjoy something she and I both loved so dearly on a regular basis. It was a reminder of her that in my grieving I wasn’t ready to face day after day. So, I took a break.

This break actually prompted me to write this article, because about a week ago (at the time of writing this on October 6^th, 2024) I decided to fire up Dreamlight Valley again. I hadn’t finished the “A Rift in Time” expansion content, and I had read that Tiana’s Restaurant had been added to the game. I discovered after loading the game that the content updates for the expansion had been finished only recently, but that free updates were still rolling out as well.

I had missed six months’ worth of Star Path rewards, but it also meant that there were a variety of characters I didn’t have unlocked yet for my village. It also meant that there were hours of story content I hadn’t seen. Immediately I was excited to play again, and I spent a whole Saturday just talking to villagers, cooking, farming, doing quests, and enjoying my time in Dreamlight Valley.

Now, I know you’re thinking, “But what about the microtransactions?” and, “What about the Star Path and in-game shop?” Well, despite my usual distaste for microtransactions and in-game shops, as well as “battle passes”, Gameloft has crafted a live-service game that doesn’t feel predatory to me. Or at least, not nearly as predatory as most live-service games. Let me explain by talking about a similar experience for a moment.

In June 2013, Gazillion Entertainment (now closed) created a game called Marvel Heroes, later known as Marvel Heroes Omega. It was essentially a Marvel-themed ARPG in the style of Diablo, where you played through an original story that brought together Marvel characters from across the Marvel Comics multiverse. You could unlock characters, costumes, and a variety of other things using a microtransaction currency, or farm for items in-game.

Gazillion Entertainment broke away from most live-service games by making everything in its store (including playable characters) available in-game at a lower drop rate. Then, they tied that to a stat that you could focus on if you wanted to farm for things. They also sold drop-rate boosts and upped drop rates during holidays. Ironically, it was Disney’s merger with Marvel that ended Gazillion Entertainment and led to the downfall of Marvel Heroes in 2017.

To connect this back to Dreamlight Valley, when I went back to the game and realized that I had missed out on six months’ worth of rewards, I was a little bummed. However, in poking around in the in-game shop, I noticed that Star Path rewards from previous Star Paths were being sold in the shop for currency. They’re still charging real-world money for them and, yes, you’ll pay more, but it takes some of the “FOMO” (fear of missing out) away.

It was the same take on content (to an extent) that Marvel Heroes had. You never miss out on story content because, other than expansion content, you don’t have to pay for it. Cosmetic content and furniture might go away, but it will come back around, so there is less pressure to purchase things until you are ready.

Dreamlight Valley also provides you with ways to make premium currency on your own, whether it is participating in Dreamsnaps challenges or finding blue chests. As a result of that, you don’t even really need to purchase the premium currency unless you want to, or just don’t want to wait to save up. This is where I find it less predatory and “scummy” than other live service games, because you don’t really have that pressure.

Surprisingly, Disney Dreamlight Valley is even better than it was six months ago. There are more ways to share clothing and furniture designs with Daisy Duck’s boutique, there are new characters to spend time with, and the story content keeps getting better. Additionally, Gameloft is taking a really clever approach and even pulling out characters from Disney’s early catalog such as Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

I think I understand now what most developers are dreaming about when they start the journey of making a live-service game. The men behind desks in accounting are dreaming of dollar signs, but the developers themselves, the people working on the games, are dreaming of a game that people can resonate with and enjoy for a long period of time. A game where people get excited when they come back after time away because new content is available.

Do I still have live-service fatigue? Absolutely. Do I look at live-service games differently after playing Dreamlight Valley and Honkai Star Rail? Yes. The bottom line is that if the developers don’t get greedy and offer ways for people to indulge without breaking their banks, it feels less exploitative. There are still problems, but I think Dreamlight Valley has its merits even over Honkai Star Rail, because Star Rail does the Gacha system.

Dreamlight Valley’s transparency and wealth of content make it a safer option overall. That doesn’t even consider the fact that even after two years (granted, I did take a break) it still feels enjoyable and relaxing to spend time with my friends in the Valley. Now if only Dreamlight Valley would take a page out of Halo Infinite’s book and let us go back and do old Star Paths, that’d be even better.