I enjoyed the first Disney Lorcana Illumineer’s Quest boxed game that came out with the Ursula’s Return set- I though it had a lot of potential as a solo or co-op format closer to a board game than a TCG. But I had a couple of issues with it, primarily being that it didn’t feel like it really explored its own possibilities, it wasn’t priced competitively versus other card-based board games, and the box was absolute trash. In fact, I have my set kind of shoved into an old Magic: The Gathering bundle box because there just isn’t anywhere to stick this kind of awkward product.
There’s a new Illumineer’s Quest out- a year after Deep Trouble- to correspond with the release of Reign of Jafar. Palace Heist finds the game’s main characters (?) Shogo, Clark, and Rondelay (is that right?) on a mission to infiltrate a fortress that the titular villain has posted up on Archaizia Island, where’s holding the Hexwell Crown in a bid to dominate Lorcana. In order to wrest the artifact from Jafar’s nefarious mitts and topple his seat of power, the Illumineers must work together to overcome not only Jafar’s henchmen but also illusionary heel-turn characters from Aladdin, a new location type called an Obstruction, and monstrous mecha-like Colossuses sort of like the Jafar Dreadnaught we’ve already seen.
Palace Heist is a self-contained(ish) boxed game for one to two players that comes with two preconstructed decks, an automated Jafar deck, assorted counters, and almost everything you need to play. You can add more players if they bring their own decks, but more on that down the line. Retail is $59.99, with maybe a couple of bucks’ discount if you look around. I bought ours at Target when I stopped by to buy dog bones and dishwasher tablets.
Gameplay is similar to other co-op card games out there, going back to fare like those old Legendary titles or more recent examples like Aeon’s End – Jafar is an automated opponent that plays cards to a row, where they activate on subsequent turns to challenge players’ exerted characters, force removals, and do other generally bad effects. His characters quest and gain Lore, and the goal is for all players to hit 20 Lore before Jafar reaches 40. The catch is, as the game goes on Jafar gets stronger. The number of cards he draws to play increases, and his inkwell kind of caps out 1/3rd of the way through the game such that he can play anything he draws with impunity. There are other wrinkles, such as the Hexwell Crown item which players can collectively exert characters and seize, and it gives the holder two Lore per turn. But they can’t take it if Jafar has it a Location, so they may have to take out an Ink Moat or other site to get to it.
It works quite well with minimum administration and thankfully very little of the triaging that these kinds of games often require. Jafar’s row builds us pressure and provides players with tough decisions not only regarding when to challenge his characters or quest for Lore, but also when to spend Ink on special Illumineer abilities that are unique to each of the game’s four difficulty levels. Generally speaking, I’ve found the game at the first two difficulty levels provides a decent challenge and leads to consistently close finishes. For seasoned players, I wouldn’t call it difficult but there is some luck given that Jafar’s plays are all randomized.
The decks included are serviceable for the first two levels, but at the higher difficulty I think you’d get better results with decks custom made to take on Jafar- the rulebook states as much. This is fine, I guess, but it also means that it’s not really a self-contained game and the advanced difficulties feel like a come-on to buy more cards. And frankly, Disney fans will likely want to because the characters represented here are really kind of un-compelling despite the really awesome Goofy and Pinocchio foils that are exclusive to this set. The Amethyst Sapphire deck is heavily Frozen-themed and leans on a lot of Anna/Elsa synergy and powerful Floodborn plays aided by some ramping. Amber Steel will be a delight for Bolt and Stitch fans, with a support and challenge focused build. Neither deck is what I would call competitive outside of this specific box, and there’s not much exciting if you already have a large Reign of Jafar collection.
It also feels like – once again- that Ravensburger has kind of missed the potential of this format to be something unique and even a draw for players who don’t want to have anything to do with the TCG gameplay. It kind of sucks that the only difference between the difficulty levels is some tweaks to accelerate Jafar or make things harder to remove, or reducing Illumineer advantages. This could have been a full-on dungeon crawl with four unique stages featuring different cards for each. It’s like when video game developers make difficulty levels harder by dumping more HP on all the enemies. This also impacts replay- after a couple of games it becomes very anticipatory- you know the whole Jafar deck, you know what to expect, and if you’ve built a good deck to tech it…you almost can’t lose. I do think that this is a better game than Deep Trouble – it feels more refined, balanced, and thoughtful – but I do wonder if there’s more than a handful of plays in the box. Not a good feeling to have with a $60 game.
Speaking of the box, it’s clear that some brilliant mind at Ravensburger realized “oh hey, we make board games” and decided to up the production quality. Palace Heist ships in a real board game quality box and inside is an actual factual mounted game board. It even comes with decent counters and deckboxes that might withstand a sneeze. It’s a big improvement overall, but deficiencies remain. I’m not quite sure what the logic is with not including a basic rulebook and not just the mini-booklet that explains how the Palace Heist format works. I also found that the little rulebook to be not exactly clear about some things, and it presumes knowledge of how to play the basic game. This is a miss because in order for this product to hit all the marks it must be accessible to someone who has never touched Disney Lorcana. Call me an old timer, but directing new players to a QR code or Web site is just bad form.
Overall, I’m very happy to see another Illumineer’s Quest and I’d really like to have one for every set moving forward. But I would also like Ravensburger to flesh out the concept even more and set it up as a viable format. It wouldn’t be too difficult to simply release Illumineer’s Quest as a system with a core set of cards like Marvel Heroes or Arkham Horror and expand it with small boxes that add Villains or larger boxes that bring in storylines and campaigns. But, we may have to wait until next Summer to see if they do anything else with this concept.
Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don’t forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.
