Ever since launching last year, Disney Lorcana has hit the ground running. Now, four chapters later, the game’s story is culminating in Ursula’s Return. Moreover, for the first time, Ravensburger has released a standalone offering called Illumineer’s Quest: Deep Trouble. While this game utilizes Lorcana cards and rules, rather than players battling each other, they’re teaming up to take on Ursula.
Please note: Ravensburger provided me with Deep Trouble and an Illumineer’s Trove for the purposes of review. The opinions are my own.
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Inside the Deep Trouble box, you’ll first find three decks of cards: two for players and one for Ursula. The two player decks include one that contains Amethyst/Steel and another of Ruby/Amber. These decks are comprised of cards featured across all four current chapters of Disney Lorcana. As for Ursuala’s deck, it is unique to her and features a different card back design. That’s because these cards can only be used in Deep Trouble and are not legal for regular gameplay. On that note, however, Illumineers are welcome to construct their own deck to take on Ursula if they don’t want to stick to the included ones.
Something that I think is important to note here is that, while Ravensburger has announced a Disney Lorcana TCG Gateway learn-to-play for beginners, this is not that game. Instead, while this is a standalone in that you are provided with enough cards and other accessories to compete, you will need to enter Deep Trouble with existing knowledge of the game (or cram before starting). In fact, reading the instruction for Deep Trouble will likely confuse those who haven’t already gone through the regular Lorcana rules.
To give the game a try, we packed up the contents and headed to a local brewery. There, my wife and I tried our hand at taking down the Sea Witch.
First, make no mistake — even on “easy,” defeating Ursula can still be a challenge. Granted, our inexperience with the game overall likely contributed to our troubles, but Ursula has some truly powerful card effects at her disposal that can quickly derail any momentum you’re building. Thus, on our first try, we conceded to her once it became clear that she would handily defeat us on her next turn.
Undeterred, we gave it another shot. This time around, we learned from some of our past mistakes and did far better… but still came up short. Finally, on our third play through, we were able to reach our Lore goal before Usula, leading to her defeat.
Once you triumph over Ursula, you’ll be able to open the special package that comes with the game. While I think it’s safe to tell you that this is a special card, I won’t spoil exactly what it is.
Bonus review: Ursula’s Return Illumineer’s Trove
Along with my copy of Deep Trouble, Ravensburger was nice enough to send along the latest Illumineer’s Trove. On the surface (no pun intended), this Urusla’s Return box may seem similar to the Into the Inklands one I reviewed a few months ago, as it includes damage-counter dice, a lore counter, and card dividers in addition to the 8 booster packs of cards. However, it turns out that there are a few differences to be found.
First, while I loved the pearlescent dice that came with the Into the Inklands box, the transparent set that swirls pinks, purples, teal blue/greens is equally as cool. Also notable is that, while the previous set featured card dividers to break down your collection by color, these help you to sort them by rarity. Meanwhile, the lore counter is functionally the same as the previous version, but does bear an Ursula’s Return design — as does the box itself.
Although these aren’t major changes, I continue to think that the Illumineer’s Trove is a great go-to for those looking to add cards from the latest chapter to their collection. Considering that the value of the booster packs alone nearly account for the $49.99, the additional goodies are icing on the cake.
Despite having cards from all four chapters of Disney Lorcana so far, admittedly, it’s not too often that I actually play the game. Because of this, Illumineer’s Quest: Deep Trouble provided a great excuse to jump back into the world of Lorcana and brush up on the rules. Moreover, I love the cooperative play aspect of this game. Perhaps that is my lack of competitiveness speaking, but I loved working toward a common goal rather than dueling with the other player.
What’s also great about Deep Trouble is that it can be customized by players. This not only includes the ability to adjust your deck but to also ramp up (or down) the difficult level if you’re a pro.
The only potential downside is the price. At a retail cost of $59.99, it’s not exactly an easy splurge. Of course, for that price, you do get two decks of cards (which would retail for $34 if they were priced as Starter Decks). There’s also Ursula’s deck, which does include some more great art, but can’t actually be used outside of the game. Plus, there’s the cool bonus card as well as the experience. Are those other elements worth the other $26? I’ll leave that up to you — but I suspect this will actually be better for more casual collectors like myself than hardcore players who might want to pour their Lorcana budget into boosters.
Judging by this game’s title, I suspect more Illumineer’s Quests in a similar vein are on the way. Personally, that’s a pretty exciting prospect to me as I do think this is my preferred way to play Lorcana overall.
Disney Lorcana: Deep Trouble is now available at game stores, mass retailers, and Disney Store. To find your nearest seller, check out Ravensburger’s store locator.