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0 The Thaumaturge is a text heavy based isometric role-playing game developed by Fool’s Theory and published by 11 Bit Studios. You may have heard about Fool’s Theory from previous releases such as The Witcher Remake or being project support for games like Baldur’s Gate or Divinity Original Sin 2. The publishers 11 Bit Studios are best known for Frostpunk or Indika which all take a very unique approach to games in general.
In The Thaumaturge, we have a slightly familiar but refreshing take on RPG story telling. The game is set during year 1905 in Warsaw, Poland, which was, at the time, a part of Russian Empire. The Thaumaturge adds a drop of fantasy to the realistic set it creates. Thaumaturges can see memories left on things by other people, and influence people’s minds, but only to some degree, and only if they know which aspect to focus on. Here we take control of Wiktor, with a W not a V, (this is important), Wiktor is a detective of sorts that returns to a supernatural Warsaw to investigate the mysterious death of his father.
The Thaumaturge is now available on the PlayStation Store and Xbox Store.
I don’t need to be a Thaumaturge to know fruit soup doesn’t line the stomach!
Gameplay
Detective mode activate
The Thaumaturge consist of walking around Warsaw, spamming right-click, scanning for clues. Using your right click creates a brief red aura around Wiktor, which in turn reveal locations of points of interest. You can then go on to find these points and add to your collection of information. Find enough clues and the game automatically deducts the case for you. Which is fine if you don’t want to think about it too much and just want the juicy parts of the game handed to you. Not so fine if you want to do some of the detective work yourself. This is my main gripe with the game. I wish the developers made the clue side of things a little more elaborate.
Combat
The second part of The Thaumaturge consists of turn based combat. However not as basic as you’d think! Wiktor has several attacks, and can apply additional effects to enemies. You can modify those attacks before combat with effects to add even more afflictions to them. There are some debuffs, direct damage, damage over time and other things available. You can damage enemy’s Concentration which take additional points away from Health. These are more like the Parry gauge in Sekiro. For example a stance, depleting this makes the enemy skip one turn and opens them up to your most powerful attack.
Salutors
The main part of the game The Thaumaturge and Wiktor is the Salutors. These are entities calmed by Wiktor which aid him in combat. There are several to find and ‘collect’ during the spread of the game. Each Salutor will provide you with a ‘Flaw’ which can be used during dialogue options later on. They take up their own spot within the queue in fights, and they all have their own sets of attacks. Special care should be taken on how to use these Salutors during combat as they can mean the difference between defeat or victory.
Graphics
The Thaumaturge is simply gorgeous by double AA standards and may I even say AAA. The game depicts Warsaw in such a grand scale with so much detail within crowds and environments. Being Polish myself this really brought me home in the most hearty way. The isometric style really reminds me of games like Disco Elysium which is a perfect layout for a text based game like this with interactive elements and the detective side of things. The frames were nice and steady on the PS5. No doubt Unreal Engine has really helped bring out the graphics quality and the world creation.
The crowds and scenes that are created in this engine are phenomenal and even the loading screens have things happening in them rather than being static. It brings so much character to the game even if you’re waiting on a loading screen. I really do not want to spoil too much by discussing environments too quickly but some of these are very intriguing in a mystical way with the supernatural being involved.
Audio
I had opted into the Polish voice acting with English subtitles and I will say this is the perfect way to play, yes I am be biased but it’s true! I feel the English Dubbing just wasn’t doing the game justice especially in the setting it was trying to create. The mixture of Polish and Russian dialogue really brings you into the world and empowers the immersion aspect of The Thaumaturge.
The Polish voice acting hits in just the right way with the dry sense of humour delivering every single time. The first dialogue that stood out was the dry response from Wiktor after the train ticket man after he told him he looks rough. It really embodies the game’s sense of humour and stands out in terms of voice acting. This quality is kept at a high throughout the game and certainly does not disappoint.
Longevity
The main story is around 20-30 hours depending on how slow you take things and how much you explore and read in terms of the lore. I will absolutely be playing this to completion when I can and making my way through the game to get the platinum trophy. The game has so much to offer in terms of things to read and immerse yourself with. That’s the true wonder of text based games such as this!
Final Thoughts
The Thaumaturge has been on my radar for a while. With everything outlined above and much more that wasn’t spoken about due to story spoiler reasons, it definitely reached the high expectations I had. Dare I even say it surpassed them! Yes, the game has it’s flaws however they do not take away from the main experience. Which at it’s core, is absolutely amazing.
I will happily be awarding The Thaumaturge the Thumb Culture Platinum Award.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
If you enjoyed this review, why not check out my last one here!
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