I don’t know about you (but I am feeling 22… okay sorry – I will keep that to myself), but I’ve been lost in Disney Dreamlight Valley since I first dived in. Having jumped in on Game Pass and then having the dreaded Xbox App glitch, I couldn’t stop thinking about my Dreamlight world and everything I still wanted to do.
Although I loved my old world, I couldn’t wait to jump back in and fully dedicate even more hours into a new world on the PlayStation. I was lucky enough to not have to wait long for a DLC to arrive but here it is, Disney Dreamlight Valley: A Rift In Time. Eternity Isle is here to stay! Some DLC’s have gotten a bit of a bad wrap for being too short, too small, disjointed from the main story, or a completely different game overall. This is where Eternity Isle shines, as it squashes everyone of those potential criticisms in my eyes here.
A Whole New World
Disney Dreamlight Valley: A Rift In Time offers hours of extra gameplay, and offers multiple locations in one map, and feels like a wonderful accompaniment to the original game, allowing them to merge in harmony. Plus, it even offers a new feature where you can send characters away to the isle or back to the valley (looking at you, Goofy).
With a new Isle comes a new tool. The hourglass utensil, which allows you to reveal treasure and find lost items that once have been buried within the rifts of time, becomes at your disposal. An extra three biomes have been added for you to explore, and these locations will make you want to explore every crevice with your new tool.
When on the Isle, Jafar greets you (greets may be a strong word) but your story is one similar to the main valley. Characters are stuck in time, and you need to use the hourglass to not only shift the rifts and get them back but to also use the hourglass to uncover and rejig the locations. If you play for long enough you can meet the likes of Eve from WALL-E, Rapunzel, Gaston and a few more!
A new type of ‘NightThorn’ covers the land, called Splinters of Fate. These look like small floating rocks which will litter the environment and offer some items when you hourglass them away. I truly believe that this DLC has really nailed down some hugely desired core components. Dreamlight sometimes offers small free DLC’s that will be free to play, opening new doors that offer new characters to come back to the Valley. However, adding this complete addition of another part of the world adds a new slice to the adventure.
Noooo One… GAMES like Gaston!
Another healthy addition with the DLC, introduces the turn based strategy mini game, Scramblecoin. If we think of Scramblecoin like a very different take on chess, reminiscent of Machine Strike from Horizon Forbidden West. Except instead of defeating foes, you are collecting coins. As a player you can choose up to 5 characters who can take a turn moving on the board. Each character will have its own way of where and how it can move on the board.
The goal of the game is to collect as many coins as you can before all your turns are up. By defeating fellow friends among the world, you will have access to more figurines that will all have different movesets and have access to more coins than perhaps your opponents will have. As you play, you can go up the ranks and test your skill with the big leagues.
I personally have not delved too much into Scramblecoin, I feel a bit exhausted with everyones different versions of a strong minigames that sits throughout their game, whether it be Gwent, Machine Strike or Queen’s Blood. I am not sure it was completely needed, but I can see how many others may find this an exciting addition, but unless it is linked to a quest, I just feel there are much more interesting things going on in Dreamlight Valley or Eternity Isle.
I actually have extremely very little to say in regards to negative comments to Dreamlight Valley. I have openly voiced it’s an easy 10 for me, given the nostalgia, breadth and depth of the world and the amount that can be done – and it is Disney… hello? However one teeny, weeny, bugbear of mine was that occasionally the quests would take many different Russian Doll like elements to 100% to complete. I actually really enjoy these kind of quests, but I would have personally massively valued having an opportunity to pass off some of the task results to those specific quest characters , i.e if they wanted 10 plants, 4 carrots and 3 gems, you could pass off 5 of the plants and all the gems.
There is not this feature however and I think all it takes sometimes, is saying, okay, we have some quests which are absolutely ginormous, we’ve made this humongous detailed world full of so many rich types of items, and things to combine lets allow you to palm off some of your 50% progressed tasks to some of the characters to make room – but alas it did not. Some quests will really play on this element that the whole task requires chipping away at which means you need more inventory, and you may have more than one quest on the go.
This is all grand, but with the added locations and biomes for me, if we are not going to have a more succinct way to complete long item heavy tasks, it would have been nice to see a different twist on the inventory or something like the above added. Some people have quests that span over both the original Isle and the DLC Isle, and it was already becoming tricky. Yes, you can make chests, but there’s only so many chests a girl can have before it looks CLUTTERED. I also noted that it feels a lot easier to get Dreamlight than it does Mist.
Disney Dreamlight Valley continues to impress, and it has done a fantastic job to continue to add and enhance an already fantastic game full of joy, art, and new friends. A Rift in Time is no exception and in no way disenhances and takes away from the joy of the main game as some DLC’s can do. The game has set up that there will hopefully potentially be many more like this in the future to expand on, and if A Rift in Time is anything to go on for it’s first DLC? It’s exciting to know how this may evolve in the future.
A Rift In Time allows players to expand their ever continued adventure within Dreamlight Valley. New characters, a new tool and new surroundings – say more? With lots to explore, discover and collect, you won’t be disappointed with what A Rift in Time has to offer.
Disney Dreamlight Valley : A Rift In Time is available now on PlayStation 5 (review platform), Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam.
Developer: Pieces Gameloft
Publisher: Gameloft
Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.
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