One of the best product released so far within Disney Lorcana’s product range was the Illumineer’s Quest, Deep Trouble that came out together with Ursula’s return set in 2024. If you remember, Deep Trouble was a very peculiar product as allowed up to four players to play Disney Lorcana cooperatively for the first time ever. Moreover, the Illumineer’s Quest was a story-driven event that put the players against the biggest villain of Lorcana, Ursula herself, to determine the fate of this enchanted realm. Together with being a great idea and an amazing product, the Illumineer’s Quest was a very unique product that offered a great cooperative experience to players that no other TCG has been able to offer so far.
One year after defeating Ursula, the world of Disney Lorcana is still in trouble as Jafar was able to steal the Hexwell crown from the Sea Witch and is now threatening the peace of the Realm. The Illumineers are therefore called again to take arms against this powerful villain and to face him together in a new Illumineer’s Quest: “Palace Heist”. However, Palace Heist is a incredibly good product even compared to Deep Trouble that was already pretty enjoyable. This is the result of the massive work that Ravensburger has put into improving the components and the gameplay of this new Illumineer’s Quest. Essentially, if you thought Deep Trouble was great, you will be blown away by how good is the new Illumineer’s Quest and I will be glad to explain you why.
One of the best product released so far within Disney Lorcana’s product range was the Illumineer’s Quest, Deep Trouble that came out together with Ursula’s return set in 2024. If you remember, Deep Trouble was a very peculiar product as allowed up to four players to play Disney Lorcana cooperatively for the first time ever. Moreover, the Illumineer’s Quest was a story-driven event that put the players against the biggest villain of Lorcana, Ursula herself, to determine the fate of this enchanted realm. Together with being a great idea and an amazing product, the Illumineer’s Quest was a very unique product that offered a great cooperative experience to players that no other TCG has been able to offer so far.
One year after defeating Ursula, the world of Disney Lorcana is still in trouble as Jafar was able to steal the Hexwell crown from the Sea Witch and is now threatening the peace of the Realm. The Illumineers are therefore called again to take arms against this powerful villain and to face him together in a new Illumineer’s Quest: “Palace Heist”. However, Palace Heist is a incredibly good product even compared to Deep Trouble that was already pretty enjoyable. This is the result of the massive work that Ravensburger has put into improving the components and the gameplay of this new Illumineer’s Quest. Essentially, if you thought Deep Trouble was great, you will be blown away by how good is the new Illumineer’s Quest and I will be glad to explain you why.
Components – What treasures are waiting in the box?
Ravensburger has definitely applied their tremendous experience in board game to make Illumineer’s Quest, Palace Heist, a much better product starting from wrapping it in a sturdy cardboard box. This is a major improvement with respect to last year Deep Trouble that was using the same light box designed for the Gift sets. With the new box, Palace Heist feels more like a normal boardgame that players can take from their shelves and play it whenever they want with minimum setup. The quality of the artwork is very impressive both outside and inside the box including a gorgeous full art Jafar you will see on the inside of the lid.
Together with a new box, Palace Heist also features multiple dividers to keep all the components separated. To help to keep everything tidy and ready to use, the box also comes with three cardboard Deck boxes to store the cards from the players and the Jafar Decks even once sleeved. Each of the three boxes showcases artwork to match the theme of the deck they hold and they perfectly fit within the dividers provided in the box.
Last but not least, the game comes with an actual board made from sturdy cardboard this time instead of the thin paper mat we had last year. We also have cardboard damage tokens and a large oversized one featuring the Reforged Hexwell crown. I know it may not seem too much, but it makes a lot of difference having an actual boardgame board with nice cardboard tokens to easily keep track of your turns.
Finally, Palace Heist includes two ready-made 60 cards decks for the players and one to be used by Jafar himself. This last deck, called “Scenario Deck”, includes only 50 cards and it is clearly identified by a red art on the back of the cards. This choice is linked to the fact that the cards from the Scenario Deck cannot be used into any standard Disney Lorcana deck and they can only be used to play the Illumineer Quest. The cards included in the players’ Deck, on the other hand, are allstandard cards that can be used in any official event and deck including the four of them that are featured here as foils with sandy features in the artwork.
Gameplay – How to steal an all-powerful Crown
The Illumineer’s Quests are designed to be cooperative games where up to four players take on a boss in a ultimate showdown. The game is supported by a narrative that unfolds progressively every time a new set release setting the scene for the Quest. Together with adding more depth to the game itself, the lore and the story behind the game helps in making the game and the scenarios presented in them more interesting. Palace Heist for example is not about challenging Jafar himself as we saw previously in Deep Trouble but it focuses on the need to steal the Reforged Hexwell Crown from him to take away its power. Moreover, we know that after stealing both halves of the Hexwell crown and reforging it, Jafar used its power to summon Illusion Glimmers and to transform Archazia’s Island into his own sandy citadel, and these two aspects play a big part in the setting and the cards featured in Palace Heist scenario Deck.
In fact, the Palace Heist’s unique twist is that the players do not need to overthrow Jafar but instead they need to keep him away from the crown in order to slow him down and win. Jafar owns the Crown at the beginning of the game obviously but the Illumineers can actually steal it by exerting a Character. To prevent this, Jafar can play a new type of location cards from his deck that have the keyword “obstacle” and prevent the Illumineers to get the the Crown if any of these locations are in play. Some of the Glimmers Jafar can play also have special abilities to take back the crown from the Illumineers. The key aspect of this mechanic is that whoever owns the crown at the start of their turn will gain two lore and you do not want Jafar to have this bonus….
At the start of the game, players will need to pick one of the four Battleground card representing a different level of difficulty (from Easy to Extreme). Just like in Deep Trouble, each Battleground has slightly different effects that impact the game and offers different abilities the Illumineers can use in order to win.
Once the setup completed, Jafar will take the first turn drawing a number of cards determined by theplayer count. Before playing any card, Jafar needs to resolve any effect of the cards already in play (if any) and he will quest with any Character that can do it. Once all cards activated, he will then proceed to check the drawn cards one at the time. Jafar can either play the card if there are enough cards in the Inkwell to match the card cost or he can Ink it to increase the size of his Inkwell. If the card is played, however, Jafar does not need to exert the corresponding amount of Ink as Player usually do. One of the best part of Palace Heist is that there players can either decide that one of them will take the role of Jafar or you can play by following the sequence of play without the need of any Player to impersonate him. I found having an actual player laughing maniacally every time Jafar steals the Crown back adds a lot of fun to the game but you can enjoy the game also without it….
Once Jafar turn is completed, Players can take their turn following standard Lorcana rules. Palace Heist includes two ready built decks. The first one is an Amber-Steel deck featuring the new “Goofy, Groundbreaking Chef” while the second one is an Amethyst-Sapphire deck featuring “Pinocchio, Strings Attached”. Both these Legendary cards come in a foil version with some additional details on the artwork to match Palace Heist setting. Both decks have very specific engines that can synergize in the game. Players are obviously encouraged to experiment and improve these deck by adding their own cards and even by swapping them completely for Constructed Decks they already like to play. In addition, the game is designed to be played by up to four players and each of them can bring their own deck.
During their turn, the Illumineers will need to follow the standard Lorcana rules although they can support each other and share some effect. They cannot, however, share the Inkwell or the Lore as each player will need to gain at least 20 Lore in order to clear the Battleground. If the players manage to beat Jafar, they can decide to open the small red booster pack with a prize card. Last year, the card was the Hexwell Crown itself thus everyone is wondering which card will be featured this year as prize for winning Palace Heist.
How good is Illumineer’s Quest – Palace Heist?
I admit that I enjoyed the first Illumineer’s Quest, Deep Trouble, a lot when it was published in 2024. Not only I played and re-played it many times with my Friends and fellow Lorcana Players but I also used it a few times to show the game to new players. The cooperative aspect of the Illumineer’s Quest is actually one of the main reason I love this product as it makes Lorcana feel approachable by any type of player. Playing the game together with other players or friends makes the experience much more enjoyable as you can support each other and cover for each other mistakes. In addition, you can play an Illumineer’s Quest disregarding your level of experience in Lorcana and have a chance to beat the Boss without the need of learning every card or Deck strategy.
Considering this aspect, I think Palace Heist is a very well designed product in particular due to its improved package. The new Illumineer’s Quest essentially looks like a Board game players can take off their shelves at any time to challenge themselves against Jafar. Deep Trouble was a great cooperative product too but it was pretty much impossible to store the components back in the original package making a bit more tricky to bring it around and to play it every now and then. I really hope Ravensburger will keep giving us a new Illumineer’s quest every year and they will definitely keep the same type of approach the used this year to the components. Perhaps next year they will give us a couple of spare Deck boxes to store up to four decks in the same box :).
Overall, I think Palace Heist is a must for every Disney Lorcana fan, in particular if they have any friends that like Lorcana cards and the lore but they do not really play the game. Most of the local groups should also likely have at least one Palace Heist at their locals to encourage newcomers and ease them into the game. I can also easily imagine tournaments and events to see which teams can beat Jafar faster at different levels of difficulty etc. The possibilities and the value of Palace Heist is really quite high in my opinion and the only thing I do not like is that we only get one Illumineer’s Quest a year. If you are curious to learn more about Palace Heist and about Disney Lorcana in general, make also sure to check the official website at http://www.disneylorcana.com/.
Zatu Review Summary
Zatu Score
99%
