The Thaumaturge is a story-driven RPG with morally ambiguous choices, taking place in the culturally diverse world of early 20th century Warsaw. In this world, Salutors exist: esoteric beings that only Thaumaturges can truly perceive and use for their needs.
Reviews View More
I was really excited for this game, but The Thaumaturge ended up not clicking for me. A big part of it was the gameplay, which I tried to push through to try and enjoy the incredibly interesting setting. A game set in early 20th-century Poland during the 1905 revolution is not something you come by everyday. The mythological-God collecting aspect really peaked my interest as a fan of SMT, too. I also like to read about East European history, so I got excited with this idea of the game being like this historically-accurate Polish SMT.
It did kinda live up to that. The "demons" that you gather help you fight, not unlike an SMT game. They're also super awesome looking. I took a lot of pics lol. Running around in this real setting was cool too, especially for someone who likes Eastern European/Polish history. A video game around that kinda mix was super exciting to me, I thought it would be a gimme. An instant 5/5.
There was a lot I was excited about, so I really tried to push through the parts I didn't like, which was almost entirely the gameplay. It got to the point that I was dreading turning the game back on and playing through, so I ended up dropping it. The fight sequences are awful, I don't know if I was doing it wrong, but they're painfully slow and very tedious. You never get a move that lets you attack everyone at once, instead forcing you to attack one-by-one. There's never an attack you can do that one shots people either. I dunno... I really started to dread getting into fights, a pretty key part of the whole game.
The other part of the gameplay I was fine with, but fine is as far as I would go. The other gameplay aspect is finding clues to continue your story. You simply right click to see what's around you to investigate, and then move to the next part in the map to continue doing the same until eventually you reach the group you need to fight. Just go from point A to point B to point C until you reach a boss fight. Rinse and repeat. The involvement of the Polish Revolution is super interesting, but another part that did bother me enough to put it in this review is when you go to do the "Urban Events", which are these very short side adventures where you experience exciting things happening in 1905 (Russian Partition) Poland. These were things like telescope viewing, cola tasting, even visiting a gentleman's club! They don't show you the area, they just draw you a picture of the event. Don't get me wrong, it's a small complaint, but it bothered me, I think because I was so excited about the general-life aspect of the game a lot and really wanted it to go into more depth. There are missions that do focus on these aspects in more depth (you even go to an actual brothel), but being in more depth = more fight sequences, and you know how I feel about those!! Nitpicking, but funny enough for me to point out; they also start adding in modern gaming references such as saying "I gotta catch them all!" into the dialogue - it was super awkward, I really didn't like it.
I would say you should check out this game if you're interested in the history, but I can imagine you might just get more from reading a history book at a certain point. The gameplay just hit all my pet-peeves and then some, even with these gorgeous demons by my side. I unfortunately couldn't bring myself to finish it because of that, but maybe you might enjoy it differently.
2/5
It did kinda live up to that. The "demons" that you gather help you fight, not unlike an SMT game. They're also super awesome looking. I took a lot of pics lol. Running around in this real setting was cool too, especially for someone who likes Eastern European/Polish history. A video game around that kinda mix was super exciting to me, I thought it would be a gimme. An instant 5/5.
There was a lot I was excited about, so I really tried to push through the parts I didn't like, which was almost entirely the gameplay. It got to the point that I was dreading turning the game back on and playing through, so I ended up dropping it. The fight sequences are awful, I don't know if I was doing it wrong, but they're painfully slow and very tedious. You never get a move that lets you attack everyone at once, instead forcing you to attack one-by-one. There's never an attack you can do that one shots people either. I dunno... I really started to dread getting into fights, a pretty key part of the whole game.
The other part of the gameplay I was fine with, but fine is as far as I would go. The other gameplay aspect is finding clues to continue your story. You simply right click to see what's around you to investigate, and then move to the next part in the map to continue doing the same until eventually you reach the group you need to fight. Just go from point A to point B to point C until you reach a boss fight. Rinse and repeat. The involvement of the Polish Revolution is super interesting, but another part that did bother me enough to put it in this review is when you go to do the "Urban Events", which are these very short side adventures where you experience exciting things happening in 1905 (Russian Partition) Poland. These were things like telescope viewing, cola tasting, even visiting a gentleman's club! They don't show you the area, they just draw you a picture of the event. Don't get me wrong, it's a small complaint, but it bothered me, I think because I was so excited about the general-life aspect of the game a lot and really wanted it to go into more depth. There are missions that do focus on these aspects in more depth (you even go to an actual brothel), but being in more depth = more fight sequences, and you know how I feel about those!! Nitpicking, but funny enough for me to point out; they also start adding in modern gaming references such as saying "I gotta catch them all!" into the dialogue - it was super awkward, I really didn't like it.
I would say you should check out this game if you're interested in the history, but I can imagine you might just get more from reading a history book at a certain point. The gameplay just hit all my pet-peeves and then some, even with these gorgeous demons by my side. I unfortunately couldn't bring myself to finish it because of that, but maybe you might enjoy it differently.
2/5
Oh man... I wanted to love this game. I still liked it, but I wanted to love it.
The concept and art are phenomenal. The setting is well researched. But the gameplay and dialogue are really subpar. The detective bits are incredibly handholdy, and the combat bits are too shallow to draw one in. the major story cutscenes are unforgivably stilted, and many lines of dialogue should have been read aloud before recording.
Overall, I enjoyed the game. I want to see what the devs can do next, so I'm happy I bought at full price. But still, I can only recommend it to CRPG fans who are REALLY interested in games set in well-researched historical settings.
The concept and art are phenomenal. The setting is well researched. But the gameplay and dialogue are really subpar. The detective bits are incredibly handholdy, and the combat bits are too shallow to draw one in. the major story cutscenes are unforgivably stilted, and many lines of dialogue should have been read aloud before recording.
Overall, I enjoyed the game. I want to see what the devs can do next, so I'm happy I bought at full price. But still, I can only recommend it to CRPG fans who are REALLY interested in games set in well-researched historical settings.
Honestly quite good, and had the potential to be great. Loved the story and the characters. Didn't love the forced combat scenarios and the voice acting for minor characters.
More than anything, I just need this game to really blow up so I have more people to talk about it with, because I am a bit obsessed at the moment.
More than anything, I just need this game to really blow up so I have more people to talk about it with, because I am a bit obsessed at the moment.
mais um jogo pra ser jogado deitado no sofá. mas não pq ele é relaxante, não... é pq ele é jogado praticamente sozinho.
não consigo dizer que um videogame tem um bom pacing, no sentido de avançar fluidamente, quando você não o "joga". a única liberdade que esse jogo te dá é ao entrar em combate ou escolher diálogos opcionais. de resto, tudo é resolvido no automático. aqui vc controla um cara que é um Taumaturgo (como se fosse um detetive) e precisa resolver mistérios. o jogo resolve os mistérios instantaneamente depois que você coleta evidências suficientes. evidências essas, que são absurdamente fáceis de serem encontradas nesse simulador de estalar dedos (R2), onde o estalo mostra não apenas onde vc deve ir pra main quest, como cria uma região ao redor do boneco que faz brilhar tudo que é relevante. admito que isso seria muito legal em um filme, em um gibi e tal... mas não em uma mídia onde existe a interação. deveriam criar um gênero pra isso na nossa comunidade.
anyways, vou dar shelved nisso aqui pq mesmo assim ainda quero pegar pra zerar pq se passa em um contexto histórico que me interesso muito. setembro de 1905, na Varsóvia, pra ser mais exato. pra quem não sabe, 1905 foi a primeira Revolução Russa e a segunda foi em 1917. a de 1905 não é muito falada pq foi uma revolução burguesa. o partido comunista russo juntamente de Lênin&camaradas concordaram com o que Marx dizia de que, em países subdesenvolvidos, é provável que primeiramente deve haver um desenvolvimento do capitalismo antes de haver sua superação. então, fizeram uma coalizão com a burguesia da época para usurparem o poder da aristocracia e instauraram uma República Democrática. em 1917, aí sim, houve a revolução comunista que é mais comentada e sabida.
confesso que a de 1917 é bem mais interessante pra mim e se esse jogo passasse nesse contexto, seria bem mais pica (SEQUÊNCIA???). já estudei como a burguesia ganha a luta de classes e domina o Estado o suficiente pra estar cansado desse tópico. mas esse jogo tem um trabalho histórico muito foda, principalmente em mostrar a sociedade russa daquela época. um must play pra qualquer um interessado no assunto ou apenas aos amantes de história.
> caso você seja um camarada, incentivo fortemente buscar entender os antecedentes da revolução e esse jogo é um bom pontapé inicial pra começar seus estudos (que, caso ainda não te centralizaram, é necessário e de suma importância para a nossa luta). venceremos!
não consigo dizer que um videogame tem um bom pacing, no sentido de avançar fluidamente, quando você não o "joga". a única liberdade que esse jogo te dá é ao entrar em combate ou escolher diálogos opcionais. de resto, tudo é resolvido no automático. aqui vc controla um cara que é um Taumaturgo (como se fosse um detetive) e precisa resolver mistérios. o jogo resolve os mistérios instantaneamente depois que você coleta evidências suficientes. evidências essas, que são absurdamente fáceis de serem encontradas nesse simulador de estalar dedos (R2), onde o estalo mostra não apenas onde vc deve ir pra main quest, como cria uma região ao redor do boneco que faz brilhar tudo que é relevante. admito que isso seria muito legal em um filme, em um gibi e tal... mas não em uma mídia onde existe a interação. deveriam criar um gênero pra isso na nossa comunidade.
anyways, vou dar shelved nisso aqui pq mesmo assim ainda quero pegar pra zerar pq se passa em um contexto histórico que me interesso muito. setembro de 1905, na Varsóvia, pra ser mais exato. pra quem não sabe, 1905 foi a primeira Revolução Russa e a segunda foi em 1917. a de 1905 não é muito falada pq foi uma revolução burguesa. o partido comunista russo juntamente de Lênin&camaradas concordaram com o que Marx dizia de que, em países subdesenvolvidos, é provável que primeiramente deve haver um desenvolvimento do capitalismo antes de haver sua superação. então, fizeram uma coalizão com a burguesia da época para usurparem o poder da aristocracia e instauraram uma República Democrática. em 1917, aí sim, houve a revolução comunista que é mais comentada e sabida.
confesso que a de 1917 é bem mais interessante pra mim e se esse jogo passasse nesse contexto, seria bem mais pica (SEQUÊNCIA???). já estudei como a burguesia ganha a luta de classes e domina o Estado o suficiente pra estar cansado desse tópico. mas esse jogo tem um trabalho histórico muito foda, principalmente em mostrar a sociedade russa daquela época. um must play pra qualquer um interessado no assunto ou apenas aos amantes de história.
> caso você seja um camarada, incentivo fortemente buscar entender os antecedentes da revolução e esse jogo é um bom pontapé inicial pra começar seus estudos (que, caso ainda não te centralizaram, é necessário e de suma importância para a nossa luta). venceremos!
TL;DR - The setting alone makes the game worth it, but there are a few areas where it underdelivers. Because of this I consider it to be a flawed gem.
The depiction of an early 20th century alternative Warsaw under Russian control caught my attention when I first heard about the game. Historical elements and fiction blended nicely, and I loved the whole idea of thaumaturges, flaws and salutors.
This was clearly the big selling point of The Thaumaturge and it showed. I hope more devs follow the tracks of Fool's Theory and bring us more original, personal even, takes on fantasy.
Gameplay mechanics (exploration with a bit of detective work + turn-based combat) were fun in principle, and I was engaged with the plot and characters. All the ingredients seemed to be there for a new RPG favourite after Disco Elysium and Baldur's Gate 3.
Unfortunately, as the game went on I found that it failed to dive deep into most of these areas. Investigation mechanics became repetitive and posed no real deduction work. Likewise, the combat system features some really interesting elements, but I didn't need to (or felt compelled to) explore its possibilities and I ended up resorting to the same strategy most of the time. In normal difficulty I didn't really feel a challenge that made me adapt except for a couple of fights.
The character cast was varied and interesting, matching the game world, but once again, their treatment ended up being a bit shallow sometimes.
Dialogue sequences at times gave me the impression they weren't following a consistent order. Not sure if this could be due to localization issues (I played in Spanish or English and noticed this in both cases), scripting issues or oversights that didn't get caught by QA. Spanish localization was better than I expected, but I still noticed some mistranslations between text and voiced dialogue.
As for technical stuff, I played about half of the game on a high tier gaming laptop and the other half on a Steam Deck. I experienced no issues in the laptop but the fans were working overtime.
On the Deck it played reasonably well but there were occasional glitches in animations and a fair amount of crashes moving between locations. The game works on that platform without a lot of tinkering beyond manually selecting a Proton version, BUT the graphical settings are unnecessarily locked by default. Because of this it is currently flagged as Unsupported. Still, the graphical options can be easily unlocked using command line options.
And well, in both devices characters' facial expressions and animations in cutscenes or battle scenes sometimes fell into uncanny valley.
This review may have come up a bit harsh. It could be my frustration speaking because The Thaumaturge came really close to become a personal favourite but ultimately fell short. Despite that, I had a great time playing and I certainly recommend it.
I won't be replaying the game soon because of three B's (BG3, Balatro, Backlog) but I'm still curious about how differently you can shape Wiktor and what the other endings are. And I would definitely play a sequel or spinoff with the same setting.
The depiction of an early 20th century alternative Warsaw under Russian control caught my attention when I first heard about the game. Historical elements and fiction blended nicely, and I loved the whole idea of thaumaturges, flaws and salutors.
This was clearly the big selling point of The Thaumaturge and it showed. I hope more devs follow the tracks of Fool's Theory and bring us more original, personal even, takes on fantasy.
Gameplay mechanics (exploration with a bit of detective work + turn-based combat) were fun in principle, and I was engaged with the plot and characters. All the ingredients seemed to be there for a new RPG favourite after Disco Elysium and Baldur's Gate 3.
Unfortunately, as the game went on I found that it failed to dive deep into most of these areas. Investigation mechanics became repetitive and posed no real deduction work. Likewise, the combat system features some really interesting elements, but I didn't need to (or felt compelled to) explore its possibilities and I ended up resorting to the same strategy most of the time. In normal difficulty I didn't really feel a challenge that made me adapt except for a couple of fights.
The character cast was varied and interesting, matching the game world, but once again, their treatment ended up being a bit shallow sometimes.
Dialogue sequences at times gave me the impression they weren't following a consistent order. Not sure if this could be due to localization issues (I played in Spanish or English and noticed this in both cases), scripting issues or oversights that didn't get caught by QA. Spanish localization was better than I expected, but I still noticed some mistranslations between text and voiced dialogue.
As for technical stuff, I played about half of the game on a high tier gaming laptop and the other half on a Steam Deck. I experienced no issues in the laptop but the fans were working overtime.
On the Deck it played reasonably well but there were occasional glitches in animations and a fair amount of crashes moving between locations. The game works on that platform without a lot of tinkering beyond manually selecting a Proton version, BUT the graphical settings are unnecessarily locked by default. Because of this it is currently flagged as Unsupported. Still, the graphical options can be easily unlocked using command line options.
And well, in both devices characters' facial expressions and animations in cutscenes or battle scenes sometimes fell into uncanny valley.
This review may have come up a bit harsh. It could be my frustration speaking because The Thaumaturge came really close to become a personal favourite but ultimately fell short. Despite that, I had a great time playing and I certainly recommend it.
I won't be replaying the game soon because of three B's (BG3, Balatro, Backlog) but I'm still curious about how differently you can shape Wiktor and what the other endings are. And I would definitely play a sequel or spinoff with the same setting.
The premise was fascinating, the world of Thaumaturgy was dark and intriguing and the idea of taming demons to help you fight sounded like fun. But sadly the story is a drag, the characters are stiff, and there was way too much walking back and forth. The combat seemed exciting at the start but quickly turned into a dull repetitive action. I really wanted to like this game, I can see a lot of people found enjoyment, sadly me and this game never clicked. I managed to finish the main story and I like the idea of giving you meaningful choices to make throughout the whole game, but it's far too slow/boring for me to see what different choices may bring.
You can see my whole review here: https://youtu.be/jFDaQmlQSXQ
You can see my whole review here: https://youtu.be/jFDaQmlQSXQ