Alert - Spoilers Ahead For Disney Dreamlight Valley’s A Rift In Time DLC.
The Cave of Wonders is a quintessential Disney location that the developers of Dreamlight Valley have recreated for their grand finale in the A Rift in Time DLC. Ever since its announcement, Jafar has been the mischievous face of the DLC that happily alerted fans that developers were going to have something curiously suspicious up their sleeves. After playing the entirety of the main story, it’s safe to say that Jafar and the Cave of Wonders get the royal treatment that makes for one of the most eye-catching and entertaining quests ofDisney Dreamlight Valleyyet.
Getting to the Cave of Wonders takes completing DLC storyline quests that require unlocking almost every other location in the DLC, helping out Rapunzel, Eve, and Gaston, and collecting a whole bunch of Mist, but working hard in the game only makes your ‘reward’ from Jafar all the more worthwhile. After all, if you’re going to be a diamond in the rough, you need to earn it.
Disney Dreamlight Valley’s New DLC Is Everything I Wanted
A DLC that doesn’t rift away from the base game
Follow Scarabs and Scale Stairs
Jafar is a founding member of the Disney villain collection, and the scene in which Aladdin first finds the Genie’s lamp in the Cave of Wonders has been magically ingrained in the minds of most Disney fans. When the Cave of Wonders was first mentioned in the DLC, I wasn’t sure how involved the interaction was going to be. But the second that you gather both halves of the Scarab after The Wild Tangle’s Swarm quest, the new quest of Diamond In The Rough begins in a great way. Just like in Aladdin, the Scarab will guide the way to the cave’s location, but in A Rift In Time, you actually get to follow and chase down the now working Scarab yourself. Knowing right from the start that you control your avatar to follow the Scarab was a great way for the developers to hype players up and reveal that this quest is going to be very hands-on for your avatar.
Sure enough, when the Cave of Wonders emerged from the sands of The Wastes, the most beautiful sight in that moment was the entrance portal begging players to come inside. When I watched the film Aladdin as a kid, I was immediately entranced by the yellow glow of the treasure in the Cave of Wonders, and just as quickly, felt my heart race when that warm glow turned into blue tones of suspense and forewarning when Aladdin reached the steps to the lamp’s resting place. The whole theme of Dreamlight Valley is for Disney fans to relive the excitement that seeing a Disney film for the first time brought, and for me, the second that I solved Jafar’s gate and stepped into the familiar blue floodlights in the final part of the Cave of Wonder, walking up the iconic steps to retrieve the Jewel of Time, it was as if I had unlocked a memory orb from my own childhood Old Ruler.
A Rift in Time DLC accomplished what the base game had set out to do since day one, have players live out their favorite Disney moments
In A Rift in Time, the Cave of Wonders is a pretty exact replication of its movie counterpart, something that Jafar proudly tells you when you enter. While getting to wander the cave and bask in the piles of gold and treasures makes for a great level in itself, the developers wanted to give an interactive element to this grand reveal just as they had with the Scarab. In the cave, this interactive feature was Jafar’s light beam gates. Trying to run all around the Cave of Wonders to move the mirrors and the light beams just right was not only an element to make Jafar’s Cave of Wonders unique to the world of Dreamlight Valley, but it could have also been the developers’ idea to make sure that players really took the time to roam every space of the cave.
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Character Comebacks and Cliffhangers
Even though you can’t touch all the treasures around you, which is probably for the best (because I am sure every single one of us, if given the option, would stuff our virtual pockets full like our monkey pal Abu), there are a few treasure chests that can be opened, but players have to level up their tools in order to reach them. While you and Gaston will be disappointed that you can’t take any treasure at first if your tools aren’t ready, it was actually a great design by the developers to give players an excuse to return to the cave when they have upgraded their tools for a replay feature.
Speaking of Gaston and Jafar, both of their Dreamlight Valley counterparts were hilarious and very charming company during this quest. Having my intelligence belittled by Jafar and receiving Gaston’s handmade LeFou coconut doll made checking in for dialogue interaction at the end of a quest objective very entertaining. Of course, this is just part one of three to this DLC, so we saw a cliffhanger coming our way, but even though we don’t know what Jafar is up to next, the final interaction we have with him is also surprisingly wholesome. As Jafar tries to take the Hourglass away from you, your new friends Gaston, Rapunzel, and Eve come to your rescue. It’s a charming moment that is even better when you take the time to complete a few of their quests beforehand to gain their friendship levels. I would suggest taking your time and not rushing through the main story quest, taking time to get to help and really know the new characters, so that final moment can have its full emotional impact.
A Rift in Time DLC accomplished what the base game had set out to do since day one: have players live out their favorite Disney moments. For fans of Aladdin or for players who want to be chaotic and tell Jafar that his cave décor was meh, Dreamlight Valley’s new DLC offers a whole new world of gameplay.
Disney Dreamlight Valley
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