I have placed signs advertising Scrooge McDuck’s shop all over Dreamlight Valley. I am wearing a shirt emblazoned with his face, pointing my Disney friends right over to his shop. I’ve paid for both Moana and Remy (from Ratatouille) to live here, renovated a restaurant and Goofy’s vegetable stall, and paid McDuck’s investment to open his shop — all while living in a shack with boarded-up windows and dust-covered furniture.
To put it simply, I am paying a lot of money to Disney Dreamlight Valley’s Scrooge McDuck. The guy’s bleeding me dry. And now he’s dangling a sick gaming PC with an LED keyboard and mouse over my head, and I can’t afford it. It’s rude. Sure, it’s no Animal Crossing: New Horizons gaming PC, but it’s what’s on offer, and I thought I could bring some joy into Disney Nicole’s life. I was wrong.
As Kotaku and others on social media pointed out last week, Scrooge McDuck is basically Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ Tom Nook — but much, much worse:
After spending 1,000 coins to renovate his shop, Scrooge McDuck tosses me 400 coins to spend in his store. How generous! Of course, it’s not enough to purchase my new PC, and his shop restocks before I can acquire enough money to buy it. Of course, I’ve never actually accumulated very much cash in Disney Dreamlight Valley because I’m always spending it on something else, like bringing new folks back into town. Thanks to Scrooge McDuck, my purse is always open.
Jokes aside, there is more to Dreamlight Valley than just Animal Crossing analogues. I’m still pretty early on in the game, but there’s a lot more story to uncover in the valley, which is a nice change of pace in the life- and farming-simulation genre. Still, the game is very similar to Animal Crossing — and I think that works to its benefit. As one of tens of millions of New Horizons players, it’s been easy to fall into a comfortable rhythm with Dreamlight Valley’s daily chores and activities.
Now, if only Dreamlight Valley allowed me to trade with other players so I could finally get my hands on that PC and make the gamer home of my dreams. For now, Scrooge has a monopoly. I’ll guess I’ll just start with a desk.