With its fourth anniversary coming up, Disney Dreamlight Valley is experimenting with a new DLC format with its first “Adventure Pack,” Honeyglow Woods, in an attempt to stave off the usual problems that blight its genre.
Over the years, Gameloft has introduced three new Expansions (A Rift in Time, The Storybook Vale, and last year’s Wishblossom Ranch), each with a larger new environment on a comparable scale to the main Valley and a smattering of new Disney villagers to interact with. These have been decently expensive add-ons, and whether or not they justify those prices depends on who you ask… and your attachment to the related characters.
Now, Honeyglow Woods has arrived, and brought with it a new type of expansion: the “Adventure Pack.” For about half the price, and containing half the bonus Moonstones, this new distribution model is much more focused on a single Disney entity, as opposed to, say, Wishblossom Ranch, which bafflingly grouped Snow White, Cruella de Vil, Tinker Bell, and Tigger in a horse-themed environment.
While Disney Dreamlight Valley made the best of that odd match-up, and fixed many of the problems that plagued the previous full expansions, I was intrigued to see what this tighter experience could offer instead.
“The titular Honeyglow Woods area is a little smaller than the full expansions’ areas, but I welcome its take on Disney Dreamlight Valley level design.”
That enthusiasm was tampered somewhat, however, by the subject of this Adventure Pack’s focus: Winnie the Pooh. No shade to the many people who love him and his buddies, of course. I just never really latched onto his cartoons or movies as a kid, and then Kingdom Hearts almost made me resent the property altogether. Oh, bother.
That being said, it was pretty abundantly clear that this was coming, judging by the massive Pooh-themed corner of Wishblossom Ranch and Tigger’s inclusion, so I was braced for it. And thankfully, much like other instances where I’ve had to interact with characters I have little interest in, Disney Dreamlight Valley continues to handle these iconic properties in an appealing way for players of all types.
Honeyglow Woods is accessed a little differently than either the full themed areas–instead of going to Merlin’s magical multiverse tramway like the expansions or through a door in the castle like the much smaller realms, you’re sent to this game’s version of Pooh’s cozy world by a portal. Bafflingly, at first you have to place this portal in the main Village, and cannot place it where it belongs: in Wishblossom Ranch’s literal Hundred-Acre Wood biome.
Once you’re there, the process should be familiar for long-time players: you meet Pooh, who has forgotten you, his old best friend, and embark on a series of quests that not only restore his memories, but restore the entire area and uncover the other villagers. This routine is getting kind of familiar by this point in Disney Dreamlight Valley‘s lifespan, admittedly, but it just works still. Everything’s tailored to the theme, which makes a world of difference.
The titular Honeyglow Woods area is a little smaller than the full expansions’ areas, but I welcome its take on Disney Dreamlight Valley level design. Its design is tighter overall while still packing four distinct mini-biomes, and there’s enough new items to build or farm. After the sprawling, tediously unlocked maps of A Rift in Time, I welcome this scale and focus.
Unlocking Pooh, Eeyore, and Piglet as companions, as well as a library of themed items, will be the big draw for Winnie the Pooh fans, but for the cozy game crowd, the addition of Beekeeping is the main crux of Honeyglow Woods. Early in the quest, players can restore a beehive and start collecting Golden Honey from it, so long as there are healthy, watered plants growing in its vicinity. This honey, in turn, is used in quests and both cooking and crafting recipes.
“As content goes, Honeyglow Woods certainly doesn’t fix any of Disney Dreamlight Valley‘s usual problems.”
Beekeeping seems like a perfect fit for a cozy game like Disney Dreamlight Valley, though I hoped for a little more from it. Honey production is the throttle on this Adventure Pack’s momentum; a hive can only produce honey so fast and hold so many units, and you’ll need a good amount to get through the earlier stages. Each biome has a hive, and more can eventually be made, with a limit of four hives per biome within Honeyglow Woods.
By the time you can mass-produce Golden Honey, though, its main use will already be fulfilled, and it’s just another ingredient in the expansion-specific recipes. Needing it for furniture is a touch obnoxious, for that matter; I was going to pave the streets in gold (golden honey) for Pooh, but the honey pathway and fence recipes require 1 honey for just 4 or 3 tiles, respectively.
While waiting for the hives to generate honey, you can wile the time away with the new Pooh Sticks minigame. This “challenges” players to see whose item can float down the river fastest. It’s on-brand, but it’s really not that interesting to engage in. Then again, maybe things in Pooh’s world don’t need to be about the hustle; they can just be about living a simpler life.
As content goes, Honeyglow Woods certainly doesn’t fix any of Disney Dreamlight Valley‘s usual problems: progress still hinges on some basic component farming, and there’s still some fetch-questing and rudimentary design things that slow things down too much. Those are standard hazards that come with the cozy genre.
But as a model for future content, I like the Adventure Pack format. Half the price for half the content, but the content is focused on one property? I’m here for it. It’s less taxing than the original expansions, yet also more useful and engaging than the Realms in the castle. I’d actually love to see Wreck-It-Ralph get this treatment when he’s allegedly added later this month — imagine a dedicated arcade area!
