Preview: Horses are coming to Disney Dreamlight Valley and I got an Exclusive First Look at them during Gamescom

Disney Dreamlight Valley is an adventure life-sim featuring lots of classic and modern Disney characters all the way from Mickey Mouse to Moana. The game was initially released in 2022 and is available on PC as well as all major consoles. I have not played the game myself, but as a cozy life sim it’s not far outside of my wheelhouse even before you add horses to the mix. Needless to say that when its publisher Gameloft reached out to me before gamescom with a request to show me something relevant to my interests at the event, I was stoked to take an exclusive look.

Today, Gameloft and Disney announced their third paid expansion for Dreamlight Valley: Wishblossom Ranch:

The reveal trailer invites players to Wishblossom Ranch, a new area in the game “where horses roam free”. The footage shows the player character conducting farm chores from horseback, feeding and brushing horses and of course, exploring on horseback. It also shows a handful of my usual pet peeves of wonky horse representation in games such as front-fracing “predator eyes” on the models, faultily bent forelegs when coming down from rearing, and a few instances of horses standing in their pastures and paddocks fully tacked up for some reason.

I did point out various of these issues during my preview session with the Gameloft team as well as recommending my various available resources and guides on the topic, but I’m not surprised that not much of it could be addressed in the short time between preview and reveal. I do note that we see one shot of horses in an open paddock with a hay rack and water trough, which is nice! During the hands-off gamescom demo, all I saw was horses standing tacked up in tiny stalls waiting to be selected (not much free-roaming there!), so I do hope that this paddock setup is indicative of some of my feedback on what horses need to be happy being taken into consideration! For anyone not already familiar with Dreamlight Valley, it’s worth mentioning that the placement of buildings and decorative elements is completely customizable for the player, so this may even be an aspect of design that the player ends up having control over.

I’d much rather see horses standing in a paddock than confined to tiny stalls, so let’s hope this shot in the trailer is representative of possible stabling options in the game.

The expansion will feature Maximus, the horse from Tangled, as a rideable unique mount, while other horses in the expansion are customizable in all sorts of creative ways, including zebra stripe markings and bright purple coats. Sadly though, Maximus – a fictional horse famously taking his mannerisms from a dog – also seems to have given Gameloft their inspiration for the look of all horse models in the game. The resulting stylization has front-facing eyes with tiny pupils, exaggerated brow ridges and thick upright necks. This does not tickle my “ooh a horse, I love horses” sense in the way that other stylization might - or should. I know I’m not exactly alone in that view, but I do wonder if other people in this community are more willing to forgive the design choices here and simply enjoy the addition of horses to an otherwise very well received town sim game.

I’m always here for a dramatic silver black horse, I just really wish their faces didn’t look so incredibly dorky.

I appreciate the fancy tack and the fact that players can feed their horses, but babes if your horse is that long in the toe it’s time to fire your farrier

Upon my question for whether the expansion may include other Disney horses with unique models and animations – I find Brave’s Angus an infinitely more appealing horse design, for example – the Gameloft team was vaguely affirmative, but not able to show or say anything concrete.

For any horse loving gamers already playing and enjoying Dreamlight Valley, I figure getting this expansion once it releases in November will be a no-brainer. Personally though, I can’t really say I’m hooked, mainly because the look of the horse models is so deeply unappealing to me, but also because from what I’ve seen and have been told, the caretaking and riding mechanics seem to be a little bit shallow.

What do my readers make of the reveal? Will you jump (back) into Dreamlight Valley for this expansion? Does the Disney stylization scratch your own itch for game horses or do you share my reservations? I am very curious to see what you all think!

Embed Block

Add an embed URL or code. Learn more