Available on: PC, Mac, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Played on: PC
I’ve never been much of a horse person. Whether riding around as Link or in Red Dead Redemption, horses serve a useful function, and not much more. Leave it to Dreamlight Valley to make me care for my horses and level them up to take advantage of their enhanced abilities.
The Wishblossom Ranch expansion for Disney Dreamlight Valley adds an entirely new region with multiple biomes to the Disneyfied life sim, alongside new characters and quests. But make no mistake, it’s all about the excellent equines.
Read on for our review of Disney Dreamlight Valley: Wishblossom Ranch!
My Little Horsey
Almost as soon as I arrive in Wishblossom Ranch, I can create my own custom horse. The colors and patterns provide a decent variety, though barding and decorations are woefully basic until I find the green chests scattered around each biome.
Even at level 1 my new horse Companion provides an instant buff thanks to its stamina-free, endless galloping, which is even faster than gliding.
Horses can also leap over low barriers such as fences, bushes, and night thorns. And, in a smart nod to modern gaming conveniences, horses can be instantly summoned to my side at any time with the click of a button. I can even instantly swap the horse I’m currently riding for a different one.
Did I mention multiple horses? After meeting Snow White and building the stables, more stalls can be unlocked, each holding a different custom horse. Not to mention the three unlockable Disney horses that are critical for getting through Wishblossom Ranch’s main story: Maximus, Khan, and Pegasus.
Each horse levels up like a Villager or Companion, and like a Companion, their functionality expands as they level up. Upon reaching level 2, a horse can perform a tool skill, such as digging or mining, or remove night thorns by leaping, without ever dismounting.
Furthermore, if a horse is brushed, petted, and given all three of its favorite meals, they enter a super-glowing mode up to once per day, which lasts about 15 minutes. With this buff in place, the horse skills are even more powerful. Mining an entire rock node can be done in a single smash, and the horse digs nine squares at a time instead of one!
I wouldn’t mind if every horse had to pick a single skill and stick to it, like with Villagers (after all, we get a lot of horse options). Instead, every horse can eventually learn every skill once they’re leveled up enough, making our multiple horse options mostly aesthetic.
Thanks to their speed and skill-enhancements, horses are incredibly well-integrated into gameplay, and now I can’t imagine getting around my Valley without them. Their ability to gallop and leap over obstacles is super helpful, and their enhanced skills make gathering the new items in Wishblossom Ranch all the easier.
Alpine Adventure
Wishblossom Ranch adds three distinctly new biomes to Disney Dreamlight Valley. The Wishing Alps feature snowy mountains, and some great wintery building areas if you’ve run out of room in Frosted Heights. I appreciate the cozy entrance with the river and stables, and the convenient start-up town along Wishing Way.
After unlocking Snow White and befriending Maximus, we learn that Tinkerbell is keeping the Wishblossom Tree alive from a nasty corruption called the Decay. We need to collect Crystal Keys from each biome, and unlock each Disney horse, in order to fully cleanse the region.
Unlike the other Dreamlight Valley expansions, we’re not given a choice of which areas to unlock, and must follow a linear progression tied to our unique horse powers, beginning with Glamour Gulch.
In a surprise twist, the expansion villain isn’t the cause of all the problems, though Cruella is certainly a dramatic handful (Gameloft really loves writing melodramatic Disney villains, and I’m here for it). The area of Glamour Gulch cleverly utilizes her fashionista aesthetic, with deep burgundy colors, ribbon plants, and pincushion peaches.
Each biome also has several large decorative objects that require materials from that biome to complete. Once finished, the building or object can be moved or built anew. Glamour Gulch has some particularly awesome buildings, such as an impressive cast iron greenhouse.
The final area is Pixie Acres, inspired by two of the characters in the expansion, Tigger and Tinkerbell! Pixie Acres features giant flowers, buzzing bees, and honey waterfalls.
Because of its linear progression and repeated use of the Crystal Caves area, Wishblossom feels a bit shorter than the previous expansions — though I consider this a compliment! I remember having to grind significantly for the Mist and Magic to unlock each area of the other expansions. There’s very little grinding in Wishblossom Ranch, however. Each biomes is almost completely unlocked after acquiring and leveling up the next Disney horse (which is relatively easy).
The Rating
Disney Dreamlight Valley is rated E for Everyone by the ESRB. The non-violent life sim is suitable for all ages, though has very little voice acting and requires a lot of reading.
The Takeaway
While it may not include my favorite characters or biomes, Wishblossom Ranch’s awesome horses are well worth the investment alone. Horse customization and gameplay integration is absolutely perfect, making them by far the most useful new “tool” the expansions have offered. And while the story repeats the same beats from the base game, I really enjoyed the region’s general layout and horse-based progression, making it the easier and more enjoyable story to play through.
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