ThoughDisney Dreamlight Valleygives players the opportunity to befriend their favorite heroes from Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, the game also gives players the chance to redeem some of their favorite villains. While some players may choose not to redeem these villains,Disney Dreamlight Valley’s approach to reforming these iconic antagonists ultimately succeeds in ways that its source material does not.
Disney Dreamlight Valley’s roster of villains is lacking in comparison to its overload of protagonists and comedic sidekicks. While it’s understandable that villains are taking the back seat to heroes, there’s certainly space onDisney Dreamlight Valley’s character roster for a few more villains. Players can find six villains in the Valley, including Mother Gothel, Ursula, Scar, Gaston, Jafar, and Hades.Maleficent will joinDisney Dreamlight Valleyin the summer of 2025 thanks to the second chapter of the game’s Storybook Vale expansion pass.
Disney Keeps Trying to Redeem Villains in Film
The role andportrayal of villains in Pixarand Disney films have also changed since Walt Disney Animation Studios released its first feature in 1937. While the standard archetypes of wicked stepparents, heartless monarchs, and good old-fashioned baddies are still present in modern Disney films, villains have received more nuanced portrayals in recent years.
One of the most notable sympathetic villains isNamaari fromRaya and the Last Dragon. While the film primarily follows Raya and the magical dragon Sisu as they attempt to restore the world of Kumandra, Namaari is the perfect bridge between Raya and the divisive chiefs who don’t want to see the reunification of Kumandra. Namaari was raised her whole life to be distrustful, but eventually learns to trust Raya and they ultimately reunite Kumandra.
While this is the most blatant example of modern Disney making its villains more sympathetic, other attempts, like Professor Callaghan fromBig Hero 6, have fallen flat. Disney films in the studio’s Revival Era have also heavily relied on twist villains, likePrince Hans inFrozenor Bellwether inZootopia. The quick shift between good to evil can be seen as jarring to some viewers, ultimately making the twist villain trend less popular. This makes Namaari’s shift from evil to redeemed more satisfying, as she is given a full arc for this transformation.
With more time with its audience,Disney Dreamlight Valleyis able to givethe redemption treatment to villains that their original films were unable to provide. This makesDisney Dreamlight Valleyultimately more successful at redeeming villains, though there are some interesting details that help the game achieve this.
How Disney Dreamlight Valley Succeeds Where the Studio Fails
The most obvious aspects are time and player engagement. Players are able to decide how much effort they are willing to put into leveling up their friendship between villains. Since all characters inDisney Dreamlight Valleyhave ten levels of Friendship Rewards, players can easily gauge how much effort they are willing to put into specific characters.
Additionally, setting up this redemption as a friendship in itself makes the relationship between players and a villain much more personal. When viewing a film, audiences don’t have a direct relationship with the characters they are viewing on screen.Disney Dreamlight Valleyvillains like Hadesgive players the opportunity to “get to know” all their favorite Disney characters, making relationships seem more intimate and for villains to seem more three-dimensional.
While some players may not be so keenon redeemingDisney Dreamlight Valley’s villains, the Friendship Rewards available for these characters may change their minds. Friendship Rewards are a great way to earn new motifs, furniture, and clothing items without spending any Moonstones. Therefore, players might put labor into friendships with villains simply for the free goodies.
Disney Dreamlight Valleyproves that the only thing separating villains from redemption is time and attention. With another villain headed to the game this summer, hopefully, more villains will find redemption inDisney Dreamlight Valley.
Disney Dreamlight Valley
WHERE TO PLAY
Disney Dreamlight Valley is a hybrid between a life-sim and an adventure game rich with quests, exploration, and engaging activities featuring Disney and Pixar friends, both old and new.Once an idyllic land, Dreamlight Valley was a place where Disney and Pixar characters lived in harmony—until the Forgetting. Night Thorns grew across the land and severed the wonderful memories tied to this magical place. With nowhere else to go, the hopeless inhabitants of Dreamlight Valley retreated behind locked doors in the Dream Castle.Now it’s up to you to discover the stories of this world and bring the magic back to Dreamlight Valley.Free the Dream Castle from the insidious grip of the Forgetting, and unlock the unique Realms of well-loved Disney and Pixar characters, including great queens and kings such as Anna and Simba. Each Realm contains unique challenges with puzzles to solve in the quest to bring friendship back to the Valley.You’ll start your adventure in the Valley, but your journey will take you to infinity… and beyond! Explore what lurks in the Forest of Valor and brave the deepest caverns as you take on challenges from iconic Disney and Pixar heroes and villains. Who knows who—or what—you might discover.
