In Disney Dreamlight Valley, players can live alongside and befriend iconic Disney and Pixar characters, each of whom have unique benefits to leveling up their friendship. As of early September, when the game released in early access form, there are 17 characters to befriend. More are set to be gradually introduced as the game approaches its full launch, with characters from The Lion King and Toy Story coming out at some point during fall 2022. Of the currently-featured characters in Disney Dreamlight Valley, are the Pixar or Disney crew better? The answer could come from examining their distinct gameplay mechanics.

Gameloft announced the Stardew Valley-style life sim Disney Dreamlight Valley in April 2022, promising that the game would be free to play when it launched. Though no concrete release date has yet been provided, Xbox Game Pass players or those who purchased a Dreamlight Valley Founder's Park can already get into the game's early access version. Even in Disney Dreamlight Valley's current state, there are hundreds of recipes, clothing sets, and furniture pieces to collect, as well as a wide array of gameplay mechanics to explore. These include farming, cooking, mining, and fishing, among others.

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Characters in Dreamlight Valley can even assist players with their daily tasks around the village. For example, players who have figured out how to unlock Wall-E in Disney Dreamlight Valley will know that he enjoys gardening, and if assigned to the task, will give the player character extra crops each time they harvest them. Others can be assigned to fishing or mining, where they provide similar rewards. Certain villagers even provide other exclusive benefits. Kristoff will eventually open up a stall that sells refined and raw materials, and Goofy will purchase items from the player in exchange for in-game currency. This raises the question of whether Disney Dreamlight Valley's Pixar or Disney characters provide more benefits.

Dreamlight Valley's Pixar Characters Are Less Useful Than Disney's

Thus far, there are only two Pixar characters in Disney Dreamlight Valley: Wall-E and Remy. More are set to be added in the future, though, as a couple of Toy Story characters were confirmed for Disney Dreamlight Valley already. Wall-E, when fully leveled up, will open his own garden in the village. There, he will grow increasingly high-value crops as players upgrade it, providing a significant amount of income without the player character having to work for it. Remy meanwhile re-opens his restaurant, allowing Dreamlight Valley players to purchase ingredients like milk, cheese, and eggs. This opens up a significant amount of recipes to sell or gift to villagers. It also makes it easier to uncover all of the many recipes included in Disney Dreamlight Valley, as Remy can guide them through the process.

Other than Kristoff and Goofy's stalls, though, the Disney characters in Dreamlight Valley offer less useful structures to interact with. If players learn how to unlock Moana in Disney Dreamlight Valley, she'll open up a boat and provide rare fish every few hours. Otherwise, most of the benefits to befriending Disney characters come through tool upgrades. When players first start Disney Dreamlight Valley, the village and its surrounding areas will be full of obstacles and clutter that can't be destroyed. These range from ice spikes to giant mushrooms and tree stumps. Over time, and through completing the level 10 quest for each character, they can improve their tools to destroy these elements and gather resources from them.

For this reason, the Disney characters are more useful to befriend than the Pixar characters. Learning how to unlock Elsa in Disney Dreamlight Valley and being able to bypass ice spikes to access new areas is a huge benefit, with the long-term reward of being able to gather resources from an entirely new area. It also provides more space to decorate. The rewards from characters like Anna, Merlin, and Maui are much the same. If more Pixar characters are ever added to Disney Dreamlight Valley, perhaps they'll take the title of best group of villagers from the Disney characters. For the time being, though, it's far more beneficial to focus on the latter.