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We're big proponents of AA gaming here at 2Game. Partially because we're extremely fond of the classic mid-aughts jankiness that's become engrained with this market niche, but also because these are the games that often toy around with ideas ignored by bigger AAA productions. Enter The Thaumaturge, an all-new narrative-heavy RPG set in early 1900s Poland, coming from the devs of the future remake of the first Witcher game. The Thaumaturge is also kinda-sorta a monster collection game, and a treatise on the downtrodden working class of historical import. A whole lotta things at once, this one. Does it pan out?
Indeed, The Thaumaturge is trying to do many different things all at once. A lesser developer would've flubbed it on all fronts, we think, but the developer Fool's Theory has got some remarkable ideas in its pocket. Over the next couple of sections, we'll discuss those and help you decide whether this game is the right choice for you, too.
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The Thaumaturge: A Potential Buyer's Guide
The Thaumaturge is not your standard role-playing game. Few things about it are standard, actually, and one wouldn't be too remiss to describe it as a hybrid between Disco Elysium and Pokemon, if you can believe that. We say Disco Elysium because The Thaumaturge, too, emphasizes the struggle of the working class and the dreary existence of the average person. We say Pokemon because The Thaumaturge, too, lets you capture monsters and use them to fight.
In this game, you step into the shoes of one Wiktor Szulski, the wealthy son of a famous thaumaturge - spellcaster - who is trying to find his place under the grey Warsaw sun. Szulski is, of course, a flawed persona with a load to bare, and it's his inherited thaumaturgic abilities that give him an edge in moment-to-moment dangers. In simplest terms possible, Szulski is a supernatural detective with a penchant for taming violent demons and spirits that might possess human beings. These creatures - Salutors - are the Pokemon element of the game, and they elevate it beyond any common RPG.
Those who are familiar with Slavic mythology will likely not be surprised by the fact that there are many parallels present here with Blacktail, though the similarities mostly rhyme with one another more so than anything else. It's great, though: the vibes are impeccable, and the atmosphere presented by The Thaumaturge is positively phenomenal.
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Non-Standard Through-and-Through
Gameplay-wise, The Thaumaturge is a real-time isometric role-playing game with a heavy dialogue slant. Its combat, though, is turn-based wherein Wiktor must rely on his fists and his Salutors to do the dirty work for him. The kicker is that each Salutor is attracted to a particular character flaw of a human being or, indeed, Wiktor himself. Players thus need to play into these flaws to fully command their Salutors, which is no mean feat.
Coincidentally, the game's combat is arguably its weakest feature. What you're getting here are those aforementioned vibes, a remarkable character-driven story, an exploration of a setting not commonly seen in games, and perfectly average turn-based Salutor womp-a-romp. It's fine, by all means, but fighting is not what you should be getting The Thaumaturge for at all. This game is, you see, perfectly content with not doing combat all that well in lieu of doing almost everything else incredibly well.
As PC Gamer's Maddi Chilton puts it, "The Thaumaturge evokes the feeling of returning to a place you've left long ago, and the moments of lightness—Wiktor's housekeeper making him his favorite hot chocolate, or a minor squabble with Ligia over the correct filling for the doughnuts you're bringing to her lecture—help balance out the creeping sense of dread that enveloped me as I explored a vibrant, beautiful city doing its best to survive under the imperial thumb."
Indeed, Thaumaturge is all about nostalgia, and it's truly remarkable how easily the game makes you feel for Wiktor, his situation, and Warsaw itself.
Clever in Many Ways
The Thaumaturge is, of course, not a huge, sprawling ARPG. Quite the opposite, we think: it's a deeply deliberate and focused experience that knows precisely what its goal is and how to achieve it. It tells a specific story, and though the downside of it is that you won't get to turn Wiktor into the super hero you know he could've been, had things gone differently, the upside is that you get an excellent narrative that changes in meaningful ways, depending on your choices.
"The themes and stories embedded in The Thaumaturge deal with the dark depths of humanity," explains Windows Central's Cole Martin. "Treatment and language surrounding disabled and homosexual characters, depictions of mental illness, and suicidal ideology are time-appropriate, even if they are harsh to witness. They're also still very important stories to tell, and when they're told in the way that Fool's Theory has in The Thaumaturge they can help shed light on the negative stigmas from the past that are still present even today."
In practice, The Thaumaturge has something to say, which isn't always the case with video games, and we can safely recommend it on that basis alone.
A Great Sign of Things to Come?
As we said at the start, The Thaumaturge was developed by the good people over at Fool's Theory, a Polish game development studio that's itching to do something truly big and meaningful. One could argue that The Thaumaturge is both of those things, but it's worth highlighting that there's plenty more coming from this studio in the future.
Fool's Theory is working on the upcoming remake of the first Witcher, you see, and the game is being produced in Unreal Engine 5 at this time. The general vibe and feel of The Thaumaturge tell us that Fool's Theory has incredible potential at hand, and its prior project, SEVEN, implies good combat isn't off the docket either. It's just that it wasn't the focus with Thaumaturge, and that's perfectly fine.
To summarize, then, we heartily recommend The Thaumaturge if you want something focused, meaningful, and unique in all the best ways. For RPG fans, this is not a game to miss out on.
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