Disney Speedstorm boasts an impressive roster of new and old Disney characters, but unlocking them can be slightly confusing for players unfamiliar with the system. So first, a bit of progress on the Starter Circuit should be made using Mickey Mouse to unlock every game mode. After that progress has been made, players can begin earning new characters.
Most characters need to be earned by getting shards from racing and then purchasing them with those shards or through microtransactions. Shards are earned by just playing the game, mainly through the single-player mode or excelling in online multiplayer. They can also be bought through Tokens, which can be purchased with real money later.
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Starting Out
The characters that players start with depend on which version of the game was purchased, with the higher tiers giving more characters for more money. The player will be prompted at the start of the game to choose an additional character among the list of Mowgli, Elizabeth Swann, Belle, Baloo, Shang, and Beast. These characters can all be unlocked later, regardless.
Every player will earn Mickey Mouse when starting, with the Standard Founder's Pack edition granting Donald Duck for free as well as the choice of one character. The Deluxe Founder's Pack gives all of this and Mulan off the bat, and the Ultimate Founder's Pack offers Hercules and Jack Sparrow as well. Free-to-play players down the line will only have Mickey Mouse.
Earning New Characters
While the Starter Circuit will have Disney Speedstorm players playing as characters, such as Mulan, for specific missions, the only way to unlock them permanently is by purchasing them with shards. The shards are occasionally given out as rewards for races, but they are far easier to acquire for players who buy the Golden Pass, essentially the Battle Pass from Fortnite.
Luckily for those with any Founder's Pack, a minimum of 2 Golden Pass credits will be given for free, meaning the Golden Pass can be acquired freely without spending any more money. In addition, as players with the Golden Pass progress through the game, they will earn shards for characters faster, namely ones from Monster's Inc. in the first Golden Pass.
The single-player mode Starter Circuit will occasionally give out some shards for characters, primarily ones already unlocked. Getting Universal Credits and the occasional character credit is the only natural way to unlock new characters through it and contribute some experience to the Golden Pass.
The Universal Box can be opened when Disney Speedstorm players acquire at least one credit for it, which can be obtained multiple times throughout the story mode. These credits are rare, but the Universal Box is a loot box containing every racer and crew member. This should be any player's first stop when they get one of these credits. The box can also be opened with 10,000 Season Coins, earned with the Gold Pass.
After that, the only way to obtain new characters is by paying for more credits when the in-game purchases are available or waiting for a new Golden Pass that focuses on the series the character is from. This means waiting until whenever the season pass that is currently around expired (which takes about a month and a half), then either spending a Golden Pass credit or buying the pass with real money.
Every character can be obtained through these methods, though going for anyone, in particular, will end up being a slow process due to the free-to-play nature of Disney Speedstorm. Founder's Pass buyers can enjoy 3–6 characters, but earning more than that will take a lot of time, effort, and occasionally some extra money to be thrown at the game.
Luckily for players only looking to play local, split-screen multiplayer with friends, every single racer will be unlocked exclusively for free in this mode. So Disney Speedstorm players can play as Belle, Mike Wazowski, Goofy, and Hercules with their friends, even if this mode won't contribute characters to every other mode.
Disney Speedstorm is out now in Early Access on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.
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