Disney Dreamlight Valley’s roadmap reveals multiplayer is coming this year

A roadmap for what’s coming to Animal Crossing-alike Disney Dreamlight Valley has revealed the life sim will be going multiplayer this year. Along with the option to drag your mates into bothering popular Disney characters and creating a magical kingdom of your very own, Dreamlight Valley’s roadmap shows that Encanto’s Mirabel, Frozen’s Olaf, and Simba from animated classic The Lion King will be coming to the game in free updates over the next few months. The roadmap also promised more new characters, realms, and gubbins such as clothing and furniture to stuff your house full of.

There aren’t any more details yet about what multiplayer will mean for how life in Dreamlight Valley will work, but I’m hoping it doesn’t end up with my wife and kids running around whacking me in the head with a net and giggling like they do in Animal Crossing. February brings the game’s next update, which sees Encanto’s accordion-playing star Mirabel move into town. A not-so-cryptic reference to a “special snowman” hints heavily that Olaf from Frozen is coming, too.

April’s update will see an unidentified new realm open up, and the arrival of grown-up Simba. Each update includes a new Star Path, with February’s focusing on Disney’s 100th anniversary and April’s something to do with the company’s theme parks. Another update pencilled in for early summer seems to suggest that Cinderella might be involved in some story shenanigans, but the roadmap’s talk of “racing” means we might see someone such as Wreck-It Ralph’s Vanellope turn up. You can see the full roadmap here.

Although he felt there was a bit too much grind, Steve Hogarty reckoned the game wasn’t taking the Mickey in our Disney Dreamlight Valley early access review. “For Disney fans big and small, the ability to dive face-first into magical worlds that defined so many childhoods, to meet all the characters and wear all the outfits, amounts to nothing less than a transcendental experience,” he said. “Even a half-hearted Disney fan will get chills when the first rousing notes of ‘When You Wish Upon A Star’ fade in, right as you’re foraging for bits of old seaweed on the beach like a salty gremlin.”

Disney Dreamlight Valley is still in early access and costs £24/$30/€30 from Steam, the Epic Games Store, and the Microsoft Store. PC Game Pass subscribers can play it as part of their subscription.