For the second time in the game’s history, Disney’s popular trading card game (TCG), Disney Lorcana, has announced it will release a separate adventure for players to tackle within the story of Lorcana. Played as either a solo or cooperative game, players must battle the villain Jafar in the new Illumineer’s Quest: Palace Heist. This time around, the game will feature a reusable box to store the contents in, as well as a higher-quality playmat to keep everything organized and available to be replayed many times, and, of course, several unique cards can only be found within.
Disney Lorcana has recently announced several changes, including the decision to institute a set rotation policy for Core Constructed format tournaments, and adding new card rarities to the game starting in September. Alongside these announcements came the reveal of Disney Lorcana Illumineer’s Quest: Palace Heist, which will continue the story of Lorcana in an engaging adventure to stop Jafar from his evil machinations. Players must steal back the Hexwell Crown and return Archazia’s palace to its rightful owner before it’s too late, but this is much easier said than done with the traps and illusions under Jafar’s control.
When Disney Lorcana's Illumineer's Quest: Palace Heist Releases
Launching Alongside Lorcana: Reign Of Jafar
This new Illumineer’s Quest: Palace Heist is a continuation of the story presented in the TCG’s eighth set, Disney Lorcana: Reign of Jafar, and will therefore be released alongside that launch. Both will be available in local hobby stores beginning on May 30, 2025, and then in larger retail markets on June 6, 2025. Many local game stores have already begun to take pre-orders for the items, and several will have pre-release events.
Illumineer’s Quest: Palace Heist is the second Illumineer’s Quest game in Disney Lorcana, but is said to be a standalone game that does not require anyone to have played the first, Illumineer’s Quest: Deep Trouble, which featured Ursula as its main villain. Because it uses many of the same gameplay mechanics as Disney Lorcana, it would likely be helpful to already be familiar with the TCG, although this has not been confirmed in early announcements to be a requirement, and actually may prove to be a good entry point for new players.
What The Illumineer's Quest: Palace Heist Is, And How It Can Be Played
A New Cooperative Game With Everything Included
Though it shares most of its gameplay mechanics with Disney Lorcana‘s familiar TCG play, the Illumineer’s Quest: Palace Heist is an adventure game that can be played either solo or as a cooperative team experience. Playing solo may prove to be a challenge, even on the easier difficulty levels, but it is designed for anywhere from one to four players to work together. For this reason, using Illumineer’s Quest: Palace Heist as a way to introduce someone to Lorcana might work well due to the cooperative nature of it.
The game features four battleground cards to choose the level of difficulty that is right for the players and two preconstructed player decks that are designed specifically for this quest. If it is similar to the first Illumineer’s Quest, harder difficulties may allow players to use custom decks instead.
To simulate the danger and competition in the game, there is a 50-card Jafar scenario deck filled with underlings, items, and more to be thrown at the players to impede their progress in stealing back the Hexwell Crown. The official description of the game states that players will have to storm Jafar’s fortress, which is filled with traps, illusions, and even colossal statues that stalk their prey through the halls.
Palace Heist's Story Involves Stealing Back The Hexwell Crown From Jafar
Sneaking Into His Stronghold And Battling His Minions
Anyone who previously played the Illumineer’s Quest: Deep Trouble may recall that during that adventure Ursula had control of the Hexwell Crown and used it to take over Lorcana and turn glimmers into her manipulated minion servants. The Hexwell Crown may have been destroyed, but that fact did not deter Jafar from his plans. After Jafar got his hands on one half of the crown, he hypnotized the glimmer Basil, from The Great Mouse Detective, to track down the other half. Once Jafar had both pieces, he snuck into Archazia’s palace and reforged the Hexwell Crown to its former glory.
Now, with the added power of the crown, he has taken over Archazia’s island and turned it into his own desert landscape with a treacherous fortress, complete with Jafar’s intimidating throne room. If left unchecked, Jafar is likely to continue to spread his evil designs across all of Lorcana, as it is unlikely that he will be satisfied staying where he is at, and Archazia needs to have their island oasis returned.
Though this standalone Illumineer’s Quest will contain a significant portion of the story of what will hopefully be Jafar’s defeat, booster packs for Disney Lorcana: Reign of Jafar will each include a lore card that tells even more of the tale. Lorcana has often given out its story in bits and pieces through different methods across the game content and social media, and this seems to be continuing with the story of Jafar.
The Cards Revealed So Far And Box Design For Facing Off Against Jafar
Reusable Box Can Store The Game In Between Uses
Perhaps the biggest disappointment that many players were frustrated with in the first Illumineer’s Quest: Deep Trouble was the fact that, despite it being a replayable game, the box was not designed to be reused. This left most people at a loss about how to store and protect the cards and components of the game, especially as the playmat was an easily damaged folded page.
Thankfully, Ravensburger has learned from that experience and assures the community that Illumineer’s Quest: Palace Heist will have a more durable playmat and be stored in a box that is designed more like a board game box for easy storage. Each of the three decks will also have its own deck box to keep them contained and separate. If the Illumineer’s Quest series continues to release a new game on an annual basis, as it appears at this time, it would be much more convenient this way.
Unfortunately, many of the cards in the game remain a mystery at this time, although three of the cards from Jafar’s deck have been revealed. «Tiger Behemoth — Hulking Statue», «Disastrous Sandstorm», and «Genie — Towering Phantasm» each show that battling Jafar will not be an easy task for players. Hopefully the cards in the player decks will have equally strong abilities as players take on the role of Illumineer to steal the crown and save Lorcana in the continuing story of Disney Lorcana.
