Lavendermuse

Back again for a more in-depth look at The Thaumaturge, Fool’s Theory’s brand new supernatural detective RPG!

This review will not be spoiler free, but I want to preface this with: I still haven’t finished the entire game. I like to take my time to enjoy a game like this and 4 days isn’t nearly enough time to savour it. But I do think I’ve experienced enough of the game that I can give a verdict on it.

Well Written Story

The Thaumaturge puts you in the shoes of Wiktor Szulski, heir to a family history of thaumaturgy that grants him supernatural abilities. When his father dies unexpectedly, Wiktor reluctantly returns to his childhood home and begins to unravel the mystery of his sudden death. As you pursue the secrets of Warsaw in 1905, Wiktor tames salutors (demons), which grant him powers to use in combat and investigation. The majority of the gameplay is split between these two areas, with the third core area being traditional ‘choices matter’ gameplay of choosing options in conversation.

Each demon is attracted by a specific human ‘flaw’, like Wiktor’s flaw: pride. Tracking them down involves discovering the human with that flaw, and the game takes advantage of the opportunity to muse on the human psyche. With just two demons tamed I saw the rage and fear of the daughter of an abusive father, and the suicidal pain driving a reckless and violent man. The supernatural and the natural intertwine effortlessly in The Thaumaturge’s story, neither feeling unexplored or overvalued at the expense of the other.

Well Written World

This might be my favourite aspect of the game. It’s very difficult to build a world that feels so rich and real whilst dealing with such unreal happenings, but The Thaumaturge makes it look easy. And on top of that, there is great attention to detail in presenting the reality of historical Warsaw, as well as period accurate demonology. The research put into this game really shows. Even passing flavour text that doesn’t relate to Wiktor’s story alludes to social context, such as abortions by back alley doctors.

Speaking of the historical, once you’ve tamed a new salutor you don’t automatically get access to its powers. Instead you have to go to a man you befriend in the prologue: Ra Ra Rasputin himself, who’s having troubling visions of the turbulent 20th century to come.

Not only is Rasputin written to be as charmingly complex as you’d hope, but you feel the weight of history – of the struggles that await Warsaw and all of Eastern Europe in the next few decades – every time you interact with him. He’s one of my favourite elements of the game. It reminds me (sorry for the blasphemy) of interacting with Leonardo da Vinci in Assassin’s Creed 2 when I was a child, except with more depth.

Well Written Characters

A good place to demonstrate the skill behind the writing of The Thaumaturge would be its character writing. The game introduces details of who Wiktor is in a gradual, natural way as the story progresses. I played for over an hour before it became clear how much Wiktor hated his father, and it took more time still for me to discover some of the tragedies in his childhood that led to this. It slowly makes him, Warsaw, and all its inhabitants come alive, like real people you’re getting to know.

I’m eager to run into Wanda again – a woman who hides bullets in her stockings. I would do anything for Ligia – Wiktor’s twin sister who wears trousers, smokes, and has been left the family business in the will. Abaurycy – Wiktor’s childhood friend – ties Wiktor up, fights alongside him, eagerly joins a demon hunt, and writes poetry with his own blood. (And calls him handsome and fancy boy so much that, when Wiktor briefly suspected him of having a demon attached to him, I genuinely wondered if he had the same demon as me. The awesome gay one.)

The characters are all lively and charming. The writing is actually funny when it wants to be and serious when it needs to be. I truly can’t praise the writing of The Thaumaturge enough, it will suck you in and immerse you in a great story. The characters are a priority, and the plot comes from natural choices they make.

Simple But Engaging Gameplay

The gameplay of The Thaumaturge doesn’t need to be great – the experience is worth it for the story – but I really enjoyed both combat and investigating. Wiktor’s ‘detective’ work is relatively simple. You right click to use his thaumaturgy skills and he senses objects in the environment to interact with. You click on these objects and Wiktor discovers details about the people connected to them, eventually leading to a conclusion you can act on.

What stops this from getting repetitive or boring, is the writing. Every detail Wiktor discovers is written with appropriate tone for the person – and demon – it links to. This sets the atmosphere of each investigation. It makes the investigations feel fresh each time as the voice of the writing shifts. The focus of investigation is not so much the action of clicking on things, but the thoughts it gives you as you try to piece together the flawed human’s story.

Fun Combat

The turn-based combat is simplistic, and also more detailed than it first appears. Picking it up is practically effortless, and the learning curve is gentle enough that you can slowly improve at pace with the game’s difficulty. Being able to use the different salutor abilities is the most exciting part, and the animations for their attacks are cool. The demon designs are probably the best visuals of the whole game, so seeing them in action doesn’t get old. I’m not a huge fan of turn-based combat, but I’ve been getting along fine with it.

My one complaint is that sometimes, Wiktor’s attack will reduce the enemy’s focus to zero. At this point you ideally want the salutor to use one of the more powerful attacks that unlock when an enemy is in this state. Unfortunately, when you have to pick the salutor’s attack before Wiktor’s attack hits, the game can’t take into consideration that this powerful attack will be viable when the salutor’s turn comes. Thus, you get locked into using a weaker attack and wasting a turn.

Demons Don’t Have To Be Pretty (But They Are)

I know a lot of criticism about this game has been – and will continue to be – the visuals. There’s a lot of model clipping, some graphical glitches, and a lot of things just plain don’t look as good as we’ve come to expect from video games. This is nowhere near a big deal for me personally. I think the isometric view is beautiful and charming, and whilst characters can appear janky in the cutscenes, I still think they’re detailed enough that it looks fine. I also think the ability to customise Wiktor’s appearance somewhat is a huge feature for a game of this scope and size to have, and it deserves praise that it isn’t getting.

Honestly the detail and ‘realistic’ quality of graphics has never mattered to me. The only thing that DOES bother me is the rampant clipping. If you’re as invested in storytelling as I am, you’ll probably be satisifed with The Thaumaturge visually. It could be better, but you have to admire the confidence it takes to prioritise your budget and say “I don’t care if my models are jank. Read my story boy.”

If, however, visuals are a Big Deal to you, this will definitely make it harder for you to enjoy the game. I’d still recommend giving it a chance, but you might not want to prioritise it if you have a limited budget for games.

A Quick Note: Accessibility

I always like to note what accessibility options a game has. The Thaumaturge offers you increased text size for the automatically applied subtitles, and a color blind mode. It also allows you to use your own cursor instead of the game’s stylised one, and options to turn off nudity and blood. I really appreciate the automatic subtitles as someone with hearing difficulties. It’s nice to play a game where subtitles are the default and not hidden away under one of three menus. Also, if you struggle with joint pain like me, there are a variety of ways to control the game depending on which is most comfortable for you. Controller, mouse, or keyboard. All will do the job alone without you needing to use the other.

Recommended? Absolutely

The Thaumaturge is a game with a great story to tell, instantly charming characters, a detailed world, and a lot of research and love put into it. Your choices matter and push Wiktor and the story in unique directions. You get to explore 1905 Warsaw like a dollhouse.

There’s an almost bittersweet feel to the game. An awareness that all of this – this Warsaw in particular – is already gone, and we are seeing it just before a century of upheaval and war comes crashing down on it. Every character has secrets and unfulfilled dreams. Everyone is suffering in a uniquely human way, and struggling on in a city of wealth and poverty that reflects their diverse secrets and struggles back at them. Humanity threatens to boil over in The Thaumaturge. Wiktor has scarcely arrived in Warsaw before he finds himself kettled as the military clash with workers furious at the pompous arrival of Tsar Nicholas II, demonstrating his dominion over the city by appointing a much detested governor.

(Sidenote: Pentiment by Obsidian released a bibliography of their research materials while crafting the game. I would ADORE something like this for The Thaumaturge.)

I hope Fool’s Theory are proud of this game, because it’s exactly what we need more of right now. Unique, well-written, and fairly-priced. It knows what it will do well and it trusts the right audience will appreciate that. This is definitely going to be one of the games of the year for me. I sincerely recommend you check it out!