✨ Disney Dreamlight Valley Season of Scares Patch Notes: Floating Islands, New Star Path & More!
The Season of Scares update is almost here, and earlier today, Gameloft released the full Patch Notes ahead of its arrival on September 23!
As usual, there's a lot packed into these notes, including new events, decorating features, Photo Mode updates, new crafting recipes and a long list of bug fixes. There are a few additions that immediately caught my attention, but one in particular has me very excited to get decorating.
Functional Buildings Are Coming to Floating Islands
This is probably the biggest highlight for me from the entire Patch Notes release. With the Season of Scares update, we'll finally be able to move select functional buildings and character stalls onto our Floating Islands. I'm really happy to see this one.
The following functional buildings and character stalls can be moved to any Floating Island:
Functional Buildings:
Tiana's Palace, The Boutique, Olaf's Grand Exhibition, Stables, and the Valley Visit Station — although the Valley Visit Station cannot be interacted with while placed on a Floating Island.
Character Stalls:
WALL•E's Garden, Moana's Boat, Beast's Greenhouse, Aladdin's Gem Stall, Kristoff's Stall, Mulan's Tea Stall, and Tiana's Meal Stall
Expansion versions of these buildings and stalls can also be moved onto the corresponding expansion's Floating Islands.
The size of some of these functional buildings has always made them something I need to design around when decorating my Valley. While that's not necessarily a bad thing, being able to move them away from the main Valley and build an entire themed area around them on a Floating Island opens up so many more possibilities.
Tiana's Palace is an obvious one for me. It's a fairly substantial building, and I can absolutely see myself giving it its own dedicated space rather than trying to work it into an existing area of the Valley. The Boutique, Olaf's Grand Exhibition and the Stables could also make some really interesting themed builds, while the character stalls open up even more possibilities for creating little market areas away from the main Valley.
There is one small limitation worth keeping in mind: the Valley Visit Station can be placed on a Floating Island, but it won't be interactive there. So while you can use it as part of your decoration, you'll need to move the station somewhere accessible in your main Valley if you want to actually use its functionality. I am perfectly okay with that.
The Astronomer's Journey Star Path & Event Board
Another interesting addition coming with Season of Scares is The Astronomer's Journey Star Path. Unlike the usual limited-time Star Paths, this one is a permanent introductory Star Path that becomes available after unlocking your first Realm and speaking with Merlin. It can be completed at your own pace by completing quests around the Valley and earning astronomy-themed rewards.
As you progress through this Star Path, you'll also be introduced to the new Event Board, which you'll be able to place in the Plaza. The board will let you keep track of up to three live events without needing to search through the in-game Menu.
I'm curious about this one.
I like the idea of having an actual physical board in the Valley that keeps track of what's happening, but I'm also wondering how useful it will feel in practice. The in-game Menu is already accessible with a button press, whereas the Event Board requires you to physically walk over to it and interact with it. That said, I think I'll have a much better idea of whether I like this feature once I've actually used it. It could be particularly nice for the more immersive side of the game, rather than being introduced purely as a functional shortcut.
A New Way to Emote Outside Photo Mode
Photo Mode is also getting some fun additions, including the new Emote Wheel. For the first time, we'll be able to "strike a pose" and use emotes outside of Photo Mode, with 11 free emotes available when the Season of Scares update arrives. These can also be used around other players in multiplayer, as well as around our Villagers to see their reactions.
I'm looking forward to this one mostly because it adds another little bit of personality to everyday gameplay. Photo Mode has obviously been the main place for posing and creating more expressive screenshots, so being able to do this while simply wandering around the Valley should make character interactions and multiplayer visits a little more fun.
Villager House Skins Are Here
Another new feature making its debut is Villager House Skins. The first one will be for Beast's Castle, allowing you to transform it into the new Snowy Beast's Castle. This will be available as a new Shop Bundle.
I'm really curious to see where Gameloft takes this feature. The idea of giving existing Villager houses completely different appearances opens up some interesting decorating possibilities, particularly if we eventually get multiple skins for the same house. Does this also mean Vanellope may get another skin? While her current home isn't all bad, that's one new house skin I'd definitely hope to see, just to give her home a little more flexibility to fit into the Valley.
I'm also wondering what else will be included alongside the Snowy Beast's Castle. Will the bundle simply be the house skin, or could we see additional decorating items included with it, such as a matching flooring or wallpaper option for our own houses? We'll have to wait and see.
A Few More Changes Worth Mentioning
There's plenty more tucked away in these Patch Notes, including several other decorating improvements.
Decoration Preset code sharing is arriving, allowing us to create and share our saved Presets with other players using a unique code. These codes will remain valid for 14 days, even if the original creator changes or removes their Preset.
The Mirage system is also being expanded, making it easier to continue decorating when you're missing items while using the Duplicate function in edit mode. The Mirage can act as a placeholder, so you don't have to stop your decorating session to go searching for the missing item. I really like this idea, as I tend to forget about replacing items that I'm running low on, only to realise I need to stock up when I'm decorating in the Valley. I think this new feature will save plenty of time.
We're also getting a new Clear Biome function, which will allow you to choose whether you want to remove Furniture, Landscaping, Fences and/or Paths from a decorated biome. This could be particularly useful when completely reworking an area of the Valley. And if you do decide you want to revert the changes, there's also an option to undo the clearing before saving.
And there are several other additions across Photo Mode, DreamSnaps and the Map, including more saved Photo Mode images, a DreamSnaps Archive, QR codes for saved photos, Super Votes and several improvements intended to make the Map less cluttered and easier to navigate.
Final Thoughts
There's a lot to look forward to in Season of Scares, and while the Halloween content will obviously be a huge part of the update, it's the decorating and quality-of-life changes that have caught my attention most from these Patch Notes.
Being able to move functional buildings and stalls onto Floating Islands is probably the change I'm most excited to get my hands on. I've already got a few ideas floating around for how I could use some of these larger buildings in dedicated themed areas.
The Astronomer's Journey Star Path, Event Board, Emote Wheel and Villager House Skins are also bringing some interesting new systems into the game, while the various decorating, Photo Mode, DreamSnaps and Map improvements should make some of our everyday Valley activities a little smoother.
And, as always, there's a long list of bug fixes included with the update as well, covering everything from quest progression to various feature fixes. There's plenty more included in the full Patch Notes, so be sure to have a read through the official Gameloft article if you'd like to see everything coming with the Season of Scares update.
Season of Scares arrives September 23, and I think my Floating Islands are about to get a lot more interesting 🎃