PS5

Published on December 5th, 2024 | by Nay Clark

The Thaumaturge Review (PS5)

Welcome to a world where your every thought and blemish can be used against you. The Thaumaturge is an isometric role-playing game developed by Fool’s Theory, published by 11 Bit Studios, and released on March 4th of 2024 on Windows and December 4th of 2024 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. In it, we take on the role of an unruly and disturbed individual that can use a special power to track down people and use their own inner convictions to twist their concepts and beliefs to their liking. With great power comes great responsibility, and the toll of bearing this ability is perilous, but that won’t stop you from uncovering secrets and demanding justice how you see fit. Maestro your demonic poppets to pridefully eliminate your adversaries in a compelling tale that strings you along a politically dense landscape.

Wiktor Szulski is a thaumaturge, a person that can summon demon-like entities known as Saultors and use their supernatural heightened skills to sense the true feelings that others possess. This adroitness of being able to easily pry on the affairs of others circles back into Wiktor’s personal pride and inner demons. Constantly suffering from boundless turmoil entwined with his detective work, he comes back to Warsaw in 1905 to investigate the untimely, but most certainly worthy, death of his father. The more Wiktor scrutinizes the situation, the more layered and complicated it becomes. Now, with the help of his family, Wiktor must become more involved than he initially planned and snuff out any ill-willed propositions while unveiling multiple layers to a grander mystery.

The story in The Thaumaturge is immediately absorbing. This otherworldly mystical setting could’ve come off as a bit trite, but perfectly highlights diplomatic tensions and character dynamics through its narrative without feeling contrived. Progression through the story feels natural and instinctive and never feels bogged down even if you go off to complete sidequests. Fantastic performances by the voice actors are convincing in every situation and make the game feel like a crime thriller television drama. There is a lot of talking and reading, but with how refined and cultivated everything is here, it is a pleasure getting lost in this world and it feels rewarding figuring something out after untangling a web of conflicting altercations.

The Thaumaturge is separated in acts and within these acts you can freely run around the multiple districts of Warsaw. Besides combat and using your occult practices for figuring out how to get the upper hand on your oppressors, there is a lot you can do throughout the game. You can find viewpoints of buildings to admire, places to draw, come across fashion magazines to unlock new clothes, and get your haircut at the local barber among other activities. Practically everything you do gives you experience which in turn gives you Thaumaturge Points so it is important to pick up and do everything that you can as it will give you more opportunities that may be missable later on. You use your Thaumaturge Points to level up yourself, your Saultors, and they are also needed during your investigations. 

There is a nice freedom with the choices that you can make throughout the game. There are a plethora of dialogue options that you will be presented with and choosing certain ones may lead you down a different path than if you chose another one. Some options will be locked if one of your four core components, Word, Heart, Deed, or Mind, are not leveled up enough. Sometimes you have to get enough evidence to say one thing or you can use your Pride skill to bum rush through a conversation. Feeding your Pride Flaw that your main Saultor possesses, may also lock you out of more practical decision making so you have to be careful and pay attention to how you want to navigate conversations or you may end up engaging in a brawl.

Combat can feel a bit stiff at times, but it is fun because of all the strategies you can come up with to take down your foes. You battle in a turn based style with the order of operations showcased at the top of the screen. Each character in the fight has both a health and focus bar. Depleting the focus bar will cause that person to stagger allowing you to sneak in some powerful combos. You fight with your Saultors and while Wiktor has some pretty basic attacks like punching and shooting a weapon, your wicked fiends have more atrocious talents like sapping someone’s health to give to Wiktor or unleashing an attack that refills your focus bar. Upgrading with Thaumaturge Points will give you new abilities that you can attach to your skills. Wiktor has a slow attack that takes a bit to wind up, but there may be more use to it if you attach an ability that gives you a 50% chance of doing double the damage. 

There is a fine balance between attacking and focusing on focus. You’ll often get into battles with multiple enemies that have different Traits which basically act like buffs. If you are not careful walking this fine line of attacking and taking care of yourself, you will quickly meet your demise. Some opponents will have a Trait where you are always doing minimum damage, so to counteract this, you need to deplete their focus bar to stagger them, but you need to do this while holding off the other enemies. The way the game forces you to strategize with your abilities, skills, and Saultors is really creative and I never grew bored of the combat. I attached my abilities onto my skills in a way where when enemies attacked me, they were depleting my focus gauge instead of damaging my health, then I would commit to attacks that would refill my focus gauge which made me pretty much invulnerable in some situations. The combat is amusing for the most part, but it does become unvarying once you fully understand it, especially after unlocking more of the Saultors. While a lot of different styles of equipping things work wondrously, you will probably stick to a couple strategies that work for every fight. There’s hardly much incentive to engage with all the skills and ability sets since the only times you will truly be challenged will be during the boss fights.

Graphically, the game is very detailed and well polished. It has a unique style overall and I like the blend of realism with the dark thematic undertones. Besides being rich in lore, The Thaumaturge is rich in set dressing and often I would zoom in to look at the pretty environments. The rain in particular looks gorgeous as it comes down and drenches everything around you. I ran into an abundance of graphical glitches like oddly quick head movements, characters’ clothes moving wildly, awkwardly spawning in a different location before being brought back to the right place, and slowdown, but in the grand scheme of things it never caused any serious issues. The audio design is pretty superb and helps make landing your attacks feel satisfying. The ping and snap of activating your Perception ability coupled along with the vibration and trigger resistance of the DualSense controller feels amazing. The shallow violins and plucking of strings mixed with the long hum of an accordion in the soundtrack sets the hollow and mystifying mood adequately and envelops you into this era and setting beautifully.

Final Thoughts?

The Thaumaturge feels poetic. There is something about it that just feels confident and purposefully precise. It feels like there was a true passion and drive that is effortlessly showcased through the sophisticated story and gameplay elements. The concept of relying on others misfortunes, downfalls, misery, trauma, tragedies, and impurities to get what you want during this historical tension with Russian rule is captivating to say the least. The combat has a lot of neat ideas that prioritizes strategizing, but it feels like there are too many eggs in one basket and the many choices almost undermine the system to begin with, making fighting a bit humdrum. Some hiccups with the graphics don’t deter you away from great aspects of the game like the attractive environments, mesmerizing soundtrack, and gripping decision making. The Thaumaturge is an easy recommendation for anyone looking for an intriguing story with intricate and entertaining gameplay.

About the Author

Nay Clark Gaming holds a special place in my heart and I never stop talking about video games. I really love all types of games and have an interest in games that have complicated stories and lore because I enjoy untangling the mystery of it all. When I'm not gaming, I unsuccessfully try to control three amazing and incredibly bright kids.

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