There are so many settings that are overdone in video games. WWII, a future warzone, or a toon town where we’re all shooting each other. Sometimes it feels like there’s little room left for creative settings or worlds. With so many games out giving me more of what I already like, The Thaumaturge showed me a setting and cast of characters I didn’t know I’d love so much. With a unique setting and novel lore, The Thaumaturge hooked me like a ghost sword through the heart.
1905 Russian occupied Poland is not a time period I know hardly anything about, but The Thaumaturge made me obsessed with every second I spent walking around Warsaw investigating my father’s death. While my high school history class may have failed me, Polish developer Fool’s Theory does an excellent job of quickly bringing your character Wiktor Szulski up to speed and setting him loose in his old hometown.
Wiktor is a Thaumaturge, a cross between a medium and a Witcher, you have two primary superhuman abilities. Firstly, you can perceive and even converse with Salutors. These are demons who wreak havoc in communities of the living. While these beings cling to one person’s core flaw, they feed off of the dissent, violence, and general malevolence like a parasite does its host. While only Wiktor and other Thaumaturge’s can see these creatures, Wiktor is quickly developing the ability to subjugate these beings, especially in combat thanks to help from Rasputin. Yes, that Rasputin.
The second supernatural ability of Thaumaturges is gleaning people’s emotions, motivations, and essence of objects that they have interacted with. This detective ability will allow you to seem clairvoyant while navigating the delicate social and political house of cards you now find yourself in. Pairing this clairvoyance with your demon-Pokémon makes for deep and interesting combat.
The turn-based combat hinges on a timing meter at the top of the screen. Each attack has a time associated with it. More powerful attacks may take 3 units of time before landing while lighter attacks may be dealt out in 1 unit. Making strategic decisions based on your enemy’s weakness and your Salutors capabilities is satisfying and reminds me a bit of Bravely Default. With some forethought you can interrupt and dispatch each enemy. While most of your battles will begin to feel similar, there are Salutor/boss battles sprinkled within. Oftentimes, these will have an additional wrinkle you’ll need to work out, however, at the end of the battle, you’ll get a new beastie to command.
The visual presentation is excellent with interesting character models and locations that all feel unique. However, the voice acting is hit or miss. I honestly thought the character was American for the first half hour I was interacting with him until I realized he was supposed to be your childhood friend. While it’s distracting, I think it’s forgivable for a studio this size and presumably a more modest budget. If you can look past the stray line or goofy voice acting, the rest of the package makes up for it.
The music and menus are both outstanding. I’d recommend playing with the controller, as it felt a little less clunky. I did have a couple of crashes during longer play sessions, but the game has already received one hotfix and the team has promised more updates are coming soon. Honestly, it’s more stable than most AAA games coming out on PC these days.
I played the bulk of my time on my Steam Deck and found that it ran flawlessly for the most part. I did have one glitch where my language was set to Polish after an update. While I now know the Polish word for “language,” it’s been a great experience, and on a beefier desktop, the game runs and looks great.
The last element I’ll underline is how incredible the character art of the Salutors is. Your starting Salutor is a ghost skeleton with a saber who leans on a cane and has no legs. He was designed to represent pride and seeing him hover behind a character I was talking to added to the ghoulish nature of my gift as a Thaumaturge. I never stopped staring at each of them and they have nice flourishes when in combat. The great sneak creature would slither around my feet periodically reminding me that he’s poised to attack. It’s the standout element of the whole package.
This narrative RPG with a cocktail of influences like a Persona UI, with a Witcher-like protagonist, and Pokémon-like combat. The environmental text is superbly written and builds a world where you can forgive some clunky voice acting and a few crashes. I hope Fool’s Theory finds enough success on PC to bring it to other platforms. I loved my time with this game and want more people to play it. More than that, I was enamored with the world and wanted to walk around in it more. Looking in nickelodeons, getting a haircut, and street brawling with drunks, I loved The Thaumaturge and hope you’ll give it a shot. The game is available now on PC and retails for $34.99.
