New Free-to-Play Steam Game is The Sims Pushing Disney Dreamlight Valley out of its Neighborhood

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2025 has been an uneven year for cozy games. Fans are eagerly awaiting updates to Stardew Valley (version 1.7) and Haunted Chocolatier, but release dates remain uncertain. While Hello Kitty: Island Adventure found success on Steam and PlayStation, Tamagotchi Plaza disappointed with its focus on mini-games, and Tales of the Shire didn’t quite deliver on its promise. Luckily, The Sims 4 and Disney Dreamlight Valley have kept things going with new content, though a new competitor, Heartopia, may be on the way.

Look, The Sims 4 updates can be a bit rough sometimes – new patches always seem to mess with my mods and introduce some bugs, but overall, the new content and improvements are a good thing. And Disney Dreamlight Valley players are still loving the Wishblossom Ranch DLC that dropped last November, especially with the addition of mounts! It’s awesome seeing these games get continued support. But if you’re getting tired of paying for tons of expansion packs, or just want something new that still feels familiar, you should definitely check out Heartopia on Steam – it’s free-to-play!

I’m really excited about Heartopia! It says ‘coming soon’ on the platform, and there’s no exact release date yet, but I saw it’s coming to Android and iOS on January 7th, so I’m hoping it’ll be available on the platform very soon after that!

Heartopia’s Features at a Glance

  • BUILD a dream house, with options ranging from cottages to mansions. Enjoy full control over foliage and every piece of the home.
  • CUSTOMIZE your character to your heart’s content, with full control over their appearance.
    • This includes over 1,000 daily outfits for players to acquire and equip.
  • EXPLORE a seamless fairy-tale town with no loading screens or boundaries.
  • INTERACT with other players and NPCs, with Heartopia able to be enjoyed solo or multiplayer.
  • ENTERTAIN yourself via a wide range of cozy game staples. Activities include:
    • Fishing
    • Cooking
    • Gardening
    • Bug-catching, as shown in an official screenshot
    • Bird-watching, which seems unique to Heartopia
  • SHARE building items and decorations with other players.

Heartopia is Perfect For Activity-Focused Dreamlight Valley Fans Who Want a Break

Disney Dreamlight Valley delivers on the fantasy of befriending beloved Disney characters, but its quests can quickly become overwhelming. Players often spend a lot of time searching for characters or completing repetitive tasks, which can lead to burnout. The game also requires managing stamina, leading many players to constantly cook and stockpile food. While fun, this can make the game feel exhausting. Heartopia aims to address these issues by offering a gameplay experience with no stamina limits or daily to-do lists.

XD, the developer of the upcoming game Heartopia, is making a daring choice by removing daily checklists of tasks. In games like Animal Crossing and Disney Dreamlight Valley, completing these daily activities—like earning Nook Miles or caring for animals—keeps players engaged. If Heartopia can make its gameplay satisfying and enjoyable without requiring these checklists, it could prevent players from feeling pressured to play every day and avoid the fear of missing out. The success of this approach hinges on how much content Heartopia offers; it needs to be deep and varied enough to stay interesting beyond the first few hours. However, many fans will appreciate the removal of a stamina system, which can often be frustrating.

Although there won’t be any mining in the current version of the game, it does feature cooking, fishing, and gardening – all popular elements of Disney Dreamlight Valley. If you replace mining with bird-watching, Heartopia looks set to offer a similar cozy experience. The characters may not be as famous or unique as those in Disney Dreamlight Valley, but interacting with them should be fun, and their adorable design will hopefully make them very appealing.

Heartopia’s Seamless World Could Be Its Secret Weapon

Image via XD

One of the biggest annoyances in Disney Dreamlight Valley is how much time you spend waiting for things to load when traveling between areas. Especially on older systems like the original Nintendo Switch, these loading screens can be really slow. The new game, Heartopia, promises to fix this by completely removing loading screens. However, whether this will be a significant improvement depends on the size of the game world – if the area around Heartopia Town is too small, seamless travel won’t be very noticeable. Still, the developers likely made the world large enough to include plenty of relaxing activities like bird-watching, giving cozy game fans a lot to explore.

I was checking out the Steam page for Heartopia, and there’s a quick teaser showing a character playing guitar. At first, I thought that meant there might be mini-games, like rhythm games or something. But then I noticed other characters just hanging out and chatting nearby, so now I think it’s probably just an animation – an emote the character can do, you know?

Heartopia Could Beat The Sims’ Project Rene to the Punch

Beyond its core farming elements, Heartopia shares a lot with The Sims. Building your house is far more detailed than in Disney Dreamlight Valley – you create it from the ground up instead of choosing from pre-built options. Interactions with characters aren’t tied to tasks, allowing the developers to focus on creating compelling personalities, similar to iconic characters like Bella Goth from The Sims. The game’s character design is also reminiscent of the MySims games, which could attract fans of that series. But the biggest draw for Sims players might be the multiplayer aspect – something the official Sims online game has struggled with.

The upcoming game Project Rene is dividing players. Its focus on fashion-based mini-games, mobile game-like interface, and art style haven’t been well-received, especially since fans have been hoping for a modern, multiplayer Sims experience. While leaks suggest Rene isn’t quite hitting the mark, Heartopia could be a strong alternative if it allows collaborative building. It took Animal Crossing: New Horizons years to add multiplayer decorating features, but Heartopia might offer something similar. Even if it doesn’t, the game could still be great, offering a single-player building experience like The Sims combined with the multiplayer aspects of Disney Dreamlight Valley. Best of all, this free game on Steam is definitely worth keeping an eye on.

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2025-12-24 22:35