The Thaumaturge

• DEVELOPER: Fool’s Theory
• PUBLISHER: 11 bit studios
• PLATFORMS: PC, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5
• GENRE: Story-driven RPG
• RELEASE DATE: March 4, 2024
• STARTING PRICE: 34,99€
• REVIEWED VERSION: PC

The Thaumaturge is a game that pleasantly surprised me at certain moments and disappointed me at others. At times it looked like a very solid title with a very interesting story and turn-based combat, and then everything collapses with repetitive gameplay, silly bugs and animations. A Thaumaturge is actually a person with powers who can control the emotions, flaws and virtues of people using a grimoire, and is assisted in this by powerful salutors. The story is further enriched by the context of 19th century Poland, especially Warsaw, with a special emphasis on Slavic mythology. In fact, the game faithfully portrays this time period and all of it includes fantastical elements that fit very well.

The story is excellent, but with its ups and downs

You take on the role of Wiktor Szulski, a Thaumaturge who is sick and searching for a cure. At one point he meets Grigori Rasputin, who is consistently depicted as a real historical figure and plays a key role as a supporting character. As a mystic and seer, Rasputin manages to heal our protagonist through meditation, after which they embark on a journey of redemption together. In the introductory part and during the three chapters, you will experience an intriguing story with many plots and key decisions. The storytelling in the game is superb even though it has its ups and downs, tying all the elements together in a great way and encouraging you to explore the world more deeply. It has downfalls in the sense that a particular context of the story can get too long or you simply get lost in the text.

You'll need a larger context: Wiktor returns to his hometown of Warsaw, where he attends the funeral of his father, with whom he didn't have the best relationship. At first glance, it looks like his father's death was an accident, but later you discover the real reason for his death. The main thread of the game is directed towards his father's black grimoire, supposedly an extremely powerful artifact around which the entire plot of the game will unfold. Another key figure is Wiktor's sister Ligia, who will significantly influence the development of the story at certain moments, so it is very important to have her on your side. Without further spoilers, the story is extremely complex and if you appreciate a well-told novel-like story, this game might just be for you.

The decisions you make during gameplay significantly affect the ending of the game and its further course. For example, if you choose to face the Russian/Polish soldiers in the initial stage of the game, helping the spy to avoid an unpleasant situation, you will not make it to your father's funeral, and you will end up in prison and a completely different story development occurs. On the other hand, if you choose to use magic to divert the charges to someone else, the spy will be grateful and her services will be useful later in the game. This is just one of many examples; you may need to save a boy's life, trick another Thaumaturge to get yourself a salutator, etc. So think very carefully before making any decisions.

A dose of humor, a dark atmosphere and fantastic elements fit perfectly into the game

In addition, the game is enriched with a touch of humor, the maid calls you "shitski" because of your surname "Szulski", expressing her displeasure every time you visit Rasputin. Our protagnost knows how to make jokes, especially before fights with various characters. It also provides a dose of nostalgia and detective elements, and faithfully evokes the life of the 19th century through various anecdotes and points of interest. A big role is also played by your flaw - pride, which you can nurture by choosing certain decisions, and will be crucial to you during gameplay, unlocking certain parts of the conversation. The flaw is marked with a red crown, so you can never ignore it. The only thing that would be desirable is that the game shows how full the flaw is and at what level it is, because sometimes you are not aware of its importance until you reach key decisions, when you can lose the ability to choose a certain decision due to lack of pride.

Much of the game is shrouded in a dark atmosphere, contributing to the serious tone. Detailed representations of cities, small elements and neighborhoods evoke the world you are in. Although it is all very well executed, the graphics and some technical aspects sometimes fail. Bugs appear, which is understandable due to the abundance of content, such as T-pose characters or strange camera movements. But perhaps the weakest part of the game is the animations. The graphics, don't get me wrong, are very good, but not the most finely optimized. The characters, on the other hand, often lack emotion, which is what you'd expect from a game of this type. The voice acting is very good, especially of the main character, although the Slavic accent is not too prevalent. The animations are often repetitive, whether you're watching the same punching or shooting, and the appearance of characters and other NPCs is also quite repetitive. Basically, you play from a bird's eye view, exploring the world or regions that, while not huge, are spacious enough to explore in 15-20 minutes.

Our protagonist Wiktor acts as a true detective at the same time, and one of the most fascinating aspects of the game is his perceptive skill as a Thaumaturge, which allows us to read the emotions of various objects and connect a series of events. I personally found it enjoyable reading those stories. The user interface also contributes to this, which is quite simple and enables easy navigation. We should also mention our salutators; each of them possess unique powers and attributes that affect combat and the ability to “read” emotions associated with items. Namely, Wiktor wanders the city in a state of empathy, noticing the floating emotions of children, lovers, wanderers and others in Warsaw. These clues are among the most interesting and emotionally engaging texts in the game. The story of Thaumaturg moves slowly, but with flashes of brilliance.

The combat is too repetitive, but it still has its specifics

The RPG in this game is in reality very simplified whose elements serve its story. Combat is interesting, but somewhat repetitive and requires no preparation of any kind, as there are no stats or gear or items relevant to it. You enter the fight fully healthy and heal when you finish. No shops, no currency, no healing items or anything like that. Advancement mostly occurs outside of combat through exploration, and is used to gain Thaumaturgy points to fill out the skill tree. But sometimes the fight itself seems pointless. You talk to two ladies who comment on your appearance, and at one point a character appears behind you, obviously jealous, and engages you in a fight. As an example, we can take the situation at the port where fishermen attack you because you do not have a fishing license and you are allegedly stealing their fish?

Combat in The Thaumaturge is turn-based, but set within some sort of timer. Some attacks are faster and do less damage, while others take more time but do more damage. Most fights against salutors bring additional challenges, where they can interfere with your moves. When captured, these demons add depth to various aspects of the game, opening up new dialogue options and providing new combat abilities. You choose between four different attacks, and each of them has three levels, that is, when you use it for the first time, the second level can bring about significantly different effects. Sometimes it will be better not to attack enemies because of possible counter attacks, so it is better to make them "suffer" every round.

Wiktor not only attacks, but can also select captured creatures to send into battle. These creatures can deal significant damage if used correctly, for example, some have attacks that can heal Wiktor or deal massive amounts of damage. In addition, they can inflict status effects, and the main thread is to weaken the focus of enemies so that they can inflict ultimate attacks on them and thus quickly change the course of the fight. However, the enemies also have their own attributes that must be disabled with the help of salutors, and each one has a job for something. Also, enemies can also apply status effects, for example, with knives or special skills.

Social manipulation, much more interesting than the fight itself, comes to the fore during various dialogues. When Wiktor bonds with a salutator, he also takes on its flaw, and then uses the demon to manipulate that flaw in other people. Sometimes this is shown through dialogue options, while in more important quests the salutors will physically appear at Wiktor's side. It can be seen that the Fool's Theory studio put a lot of love into this project.

Ending thoughts

Don't think this is just an ordinary game with the story focused on Wiktor. Politics, labor rights, mysticism with plenty of choices and dialogues whose consequences affect your morale also fit perfectly into the game and make this title very interesting. The game even portrays the Jewish community with dignity. However, this title won't be everyone's cup of tea. There is a lot of reading, you won't finish it that quickly and some elements are obviously weaker than others. Since some options in the dialogues are locked behind the necessary high scores of heart, mind, deed or word, as you can see in the image above, sometimes exploration can bring a feeling of reward or vice versa, that is, there is a gap between them, because until you unlock particular salutor, you will not be able to explore all decisions. The game sometimes forces you to explore the world in order to collect as many points as possible, but practically until the very end you will not know whether you will collect all the skills or not. Despite its flaws, The Thaumaturge is a very high-quality title and proof that games like this can be extremely accessible for all types of players.

Review copy provided by the publisher