Every time I play a new video game, I try to capture the feeling I had when I played it when I was younger. That feeling when you’re staring at a screen and nothing else around you matters.
After years of trying to get that magic back, I finally found it when I picked it up Disney’s Dreamlight Valley (opens in a new tab).
Growing up, I was an only child who lived with a single parent who worked full time which made me feel very lonely. I often sought solace in the media surrounding me, and since it was the 1990s, that media had something to do with Disney. At that time, Disney was everywhere, from the cartoons I watched on Saturday mornings to the clothes I wore, the movies I watched at the theater, and the video games I played.
Packard Bell is calling
One of my earliest gaming memories is playing Capcom’s Aladdin for SNES (opens in a new tab). The movie the game is based on was the first movie I ever saw in the cinema. I was obsessed until the Genie backpack I proudly took to school every day.
This obsession led to the video game becoming my favorite at the time, as well as my main source of comfort. I spent hours throwing apples at enemies and swinging from platform to platform as Aladdin, listening to cute 16-bit versions of catchy musical numbers from the movie.
In the summer, while my school friends visited Mickey Mouse and friends in person at Disneyland, I spent my vacations visiting my favorite characters through the video games I played.
Every summer I stayed with my grandparents and focused on my grandfather’s Packard Bell computer, playing games like Disney’s Magical Artist (opens in a new tab) AND Disney’s Fairy Tale: 101 Dalmatians (opens in a new tab). Again, I could sit there for hours staring at the computer screen, finding solace in the characters I knew so well.
Disney and games are almost synonymous
Eventually, I lost the ability to fully immerse myself in video games. I still played them, but the older I got, the more responsibilities and realities of the world around me got in the way of how I experienced the media I once admired. I also started to notice that I was no longer the target demographic for a lot of Disney content.
Sometimes you just have to accept it Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey (opens in a new tab) the Nintendo Wii isn’t for you and that’s okay. There were games like Heart of the Kingdom (opens in a new tab)of whom I was and still am an adamant fan, but the feeling I had interacting with my favorite characters wasn’t the same now that the realities of being an adult began to emerge.
Then, many years later, Disney’s Dreamlight Valley happened.
“…yearning a break from life’s responsibilities, you end up in a familiar place, the opening narrator states when you start a new game. It’s almost as if the developers at Gameloft know exactly what gaming experience I’m looking for.
Disney’s Dreamlight Valley is a mix of a life simulator and a farm sim, think Animal Crossing but with a coat of Disney paint. When you start playing, you have your own little house that you can decorate with Disney-themed items, which allows me to create a space that’s not too different from my own bedroom when I was younger.
The main goal is to help the Disney characters regain their memories because they have been cursed. The more I helped the characters memorize, the more I remembered that wonderful feeling of playing Disney games on my grandfather’s computer. Although the computer I was using now was much more advanced, the feeling of looking at a monitor was too similar.
What sets Dreamlight Valley apart from the Disney games I played when I was younger is that I’m playing myself now. Instead of playing as my favorite Disney hero or villain, I spend time with them as myself. I can start conversations with Mickey Mouse, take Goofy fishing or just hang out with my favorite Scot, Scrooge McDuck.
Once I took control of the in-game version of myself, the feeling I was missing came back with every step into the valley. Dreamlight Valley also allowed me to embrace my childhood in other ways. Ever since I first played this game, I’ve started repurchasing many of the Disney toys I owned when I was younger. From the Snow White bath figure to the Pride Rock playsets to the exact Aladdin backpack I took to elementary school many years ago. There is now a shelf in my home office where all my Disney movie memorabilia sits.
Where I used to be afraid to still like the things I did when I was little, Dreamlight Valley has allowed me to embrace the things that make me happy. My relationship with the Disney media has definitely changed. Since becoming an adult, I’m more aware of their past, and since I like to consume media through the lens of criticism, I can’t consume their media with the ignorant bliss I had when I was younger.
However, playing Disney’s Dreamlight Valley brought back the feeling I was missing in my life. That feeling when nothing else matters but you and the game you’re playing. Whenever I visit the Valley, I am reminded of all the days I spent staring at my grandfather’s computer, and those hours make me feel like a kid again.