More details are coming in for the Illumineer’s Quest with how gameplay works and a look at some of the cards included inside!
Polygon has shared this article earlier, with more details about how the game plays out!
In Illumineer’s Quest: Deep Trouble, Ursula is the Ruler of Lorcana, the final boss who is armed with an arsenal of glimmers that she has corrupted over the past sets, starting from The First Chapter, Rise of the Floodborn, Into the Inklands, and all the way to the current Ursula’s Return.
Players must join forces to raid Ursula, with two pre-constructed decks included inside the set featuring a variety of well known Disney characters!
The first deck features Yen Sid and Mickey Mouse, both armed with a bunch of brooms and prepped with a full range of arcane magic that they can use to fend off Ursula.
Meanwhile, the second deck features Piglet and Mulan, focus more on offense, with the aim of taking down multiple entangled glimmers while swarming the board to gain lore.
Players can use either deck to raid Ursula up to a maximum of four players, and they can use their own deck if they wish to.
The most unique aspect of gameplay? The players who are teaming up to go against Ursula get to take their turn all at the same time, playing their actions and abilities in any order they choose.
All abilities will also apply to all the players in the raid. For example, you can choose to use your Support ability on another player’s Mulan, giving her a massive buff in strength to take out multiple characters at 1 go. Cooperation is key here, if the players want any chance against Ursula.
In the meantime, Ursula has a unique deck filled with powerful cards of entangled glimmers, the corrupted glimmers of her army. These cards are powerful by the amount of damage they deal and lore they can gain.
Here are 3 cards that we currently know are inside her deck:
Tentacle Swipe
2 Cost | Action
Deal 1 damage to each opposing character. (…) this card into your inkwell facedown.
Ursula’s Contract
0 Cost | Item
SWEETEN THE DEAL: Opposing players can’t use battleground abilities.
MINOR STIPULATION: At the start of your turn, (exert?) this item to gain 3 lore.
Captain Hook – Devious Duelist
5 Cost | Character
Strength 7 | Willpower 4 | Lore 2
Entangled · Villain · Pirate · Captain
“An obvious choice, of course. So full of treachery and deceit. He reminds me of … me.”
– Ursula
Note: Cards from the Ursula scenario deck have a different card back and are not legal for tournament play.
As you would expect, Ursula’s deck is filled with abilities that apply to all players at the same time, either dealing damage to all opposing characters, or stopping the players cold from using battleground abilities, something you would expect out of the boss character she is.
A Dark Realm
Difficulty: Normal | Battleground
Player Abilities:
1 – Chosen character gets +2 strength this turn.
2 – Chosen character gains Resist +1 until the start of your next turn.
3 – Each player except Ursula draws a card.
And what are Battleground abilities? Illumineer’s Quest: Deep Trouble has four difficulty levels, each represented by these oversized Battleground cards.
Based on the card texts, Battleground abilities are abilities that players can use by paying lore to help them regain some ground in their raid.
Should the players successfully carry out a raid, they are rewarded with a victor pack which includes a secret victory card.
This card is described by Polygon as “a powerful card to be sure, but it has just as much narrative weight as it does mechanical punch.”
The Illumineer’s Quest: Deep Trouble is a product aimed at expanding the format by introducing single player and cooperative game modes. Through cooperative game play, new players can easily pick up core gameplay concepts since everyone is on the same team.
Ryan Miller, senior brand manager and co-designer of Lorcana told Polygon that “Since it’s cooperative, there’s a lot more permission […] to ask questions about card abilities and interactions without feeling like you’re giving away your strategy to an opponent.”
Even children who are too young to play can easily join in a game. Steve Warner, Game Design Manager and co-designer of Lorcana shares his “favorite part of the experience is when younger kids get to play as Ursula (You don’t need a player to play as her, but it’s fun! Even if you don’t make choices). They love watching as the older players panic because of some effect, or are dismayed at the new Entangled characters that came into play, wondering how they will deal with them. It’s so funny the glean in their young eyes or the evil grin they get when they read a card they know the other players will not want to see!”
Overall this looks like a great way for everyone to enjoy a different form of Lorcana. For players who enjoy single player mode, the Illumineer’s Quest allows them to play a game of Lorcana even on their own. However be warned that we expect that the raid of Ursula to be far more precarious without any other fellow Illumineers.
Meanwhile cooperative mode allows families and friends to try out a game of Lorcana in a different setting, where they do not have to face off against each other, but instead get to work towards the common goal of taking down Ursula.
The entire team has spent a lot of time and work to build on this entire co-op experience. If you are interested to find out more, Steve Warner has released a new developer dairy on the official Disney Lorcana Discord, sharing the whole process of how Illumineer’s Quest: Deep Trouble was developed.
Personally I am very very excited for the Illumineer’s Quest: Deep Trouble and I hope to get my whole family to join in on a game of Lorcana. Yes, even my 2 year old! And I hope that there will be many more of this series in the future.
Illumineer’s Quest: Deep Trouble will be released in hobby stores on May 17, 2024 alongside Ursula’s Return, and available at mass retail on May 31.
