The Thaumaturge
The Thaumaturge is a character-driven RPG with a rich story, morally ambiguous choices, and turn-based combat. In a city on the brink of change, use your mystical powers to read emotions, uncover motives, and command folklore-inspired demons — while resisting the temptation of your own pride.
The Thaumaturge is a choices matter, rpg and turn-based combat game
developed by Fool's Theory
and published by 11 bit studios.
Released on March 04th 2024 is available only on Windows
in 7 languages: English, French, German, Spanish - Spain, Polish, Russian and Simplified Chinese.
It has received 3,243 reviews of which 2,722 were positive and 521 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.1 out of 10. 😎
The game is currently priced at 20.99€ on Steam and has a 40% discount.
The Steam community has classified The Thaumaturge into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
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Requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 10 (64-bit)
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 (6 core with 3,5 Ghz) or Intel i5-10400F (6 core with 2,9 Ghz)
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: Radeon RX580 (8GB) or Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti (4GB) or Intel Arc A750 8GB
- DirectX: Version 12
- Storage: 25 GB available space
- Additional Notes: SSD (Recommended), HDD (Supported). Framerate might drop in graphics-intensive scenes. Ultrawide screen supported.
Reviews
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
I recommend this game if you want a good narrative experience, and aren't super squeezed for time. If you are really busy and require something truly exceptional, I would take your picky demands elsewhere! WHAT IT'S LIKE PLAYING THIS GAME -(YOU CAN'T ROLEPLAY A CHUBBY TIEFLING PALADIN.) You play as WIKTOR SZULSKI, and only WIKTOR SZULSKI. Your WIKTOR SZULSKI might be different than my WIKTOR SZULSKI, but he is still WIKTOR SZULSKI. He is a quite-literally flawed aristocrat with a definite history. How you move forward with that history depends on the choices you make in the game. But you are very much inhabiting a specific role. -(It's in the ISOMETRIC STYLE.) But that is more of an aesthetic choice. The isometric style is more of a camera angle thing. There's no party to manage, or an inventory really, or even a shop. It's not that crunchy kind of game with lots of stats. You don't pick up metal boots that grant you .000003% more resistance to stuns. Your "inventory" is basically a really detailed journal where you store character biographies, quest goals, drawings, item descriptions, and blurbs from newspapers you can pick up and skim. -(It's WHACKIER than you probably think.) I don't know why, but I expected the game to be kind of grim and self-serious and sort of faux-philosophical and heavy with the Nietzsche quotes. And it's not like super cheery or anything--sad things happen; it takes place in 1905, which is 10 years before the apocalypse in European history. But there's kind of this zany undercurrent of humor throughout this whole thing. Nobody farts or anything. And nobody gets whacked in the nuts. But it's the sort of thing where you'll suddenly be in a fisticuffs with some big-nosed boozer, and you'll be all like, "Wait. Who the f#%$ is this guy????" -(YOU FOLLOW A RED TRAIL A LOT. You click on lots of items and read lots of short snippets.) There's a map and you travel around different sections of the city via old-timey horse and carriage. But you basically run around the streets of Warsaw in the isometric style and click on things to read. The things you click on can be hard to spot if you don't constantly use your Thaumaturge thumb-snap thing that makes sparkly red lights appear. -(THE COMBAT IS BIZARRE, IN GOOD AND BAD WAYS.) You'll be walking around and you'll see a posh lady sitting on a bench. You start talking to her, when out of no where, some Russian or Polish dwarf will intrude and start besmirching you. And suddenly you'll find yourself in a turn-based fistfight with like a triplet set of these Polish bums. One guy will smash you in the nose with his elbow and you'll lose like 11 health points. The next guy will shoot your guts out, but you'll only lose 2 health points from it. Unfortunately, the combat encounters can be pretty repetitive. There's a puzzle-like element to it where you have to plan ahead. But each encounter feels pretty much the same, except the major boss fights. But the major boss fights are not radically different from each other, and aren't that radically different from the usual encounters. Very pretty art with the boss battles, though. Once I adjusted the combat animations to "very fast," I enjoyed them and found them amusing. DID I EVER WANT TO QUIT THIS GAME? No. This game didn't have some long sewer level or underwater thing where I had to grit my teeth to just get through. WHY I THINK OTHERS MIGHT CLICK ON THE RED THUMB -They are very short on time and demand something absolutely exceptional. "Good" is not good enough for them. -They hate, hate, hate the combat and can't get past it. -It's a narrative adventure. It felt like I was reading a neat novella, and the world and gameplay brought it all more vividly to life. However, someone else might want to flip that balance between story and gameplay. They might be seeking great gameplay with a sprinkle of story to bring it more vividly to life. If you don't like the story, I don't think the gameplay is engrossing enough to keep you around. It's not one of those games where you can ignore the story just to mess around and engage with the mechanics. -If you play this on Steam Deck, the game might initially launch in Polish. You just gotta be patient and fiddle around in the settings until you find the language option for English or whatever. WHY I CLICKED ON THE BLUE THUMB -I didn't always understand what was going on. But I was intrigued by the story and legitimately wanted to see how it all played out at the end. -Great art all around. -I'm a goofy person, and I greatly appreciated the bizarre humor. -The setting is very unique and beautiful. I kind of felt like a time-traveling tourist. I don't think I've ever played a game in this setting before. As an American, it felt very foreign, and I loved that. -The quest for unlocking the sad mermaid Salutor lady was really awesome. The setting felt different than the other parts of Warsaw, and there was lots of rain and bizarre characters. It left a long impression. When I think back on this game, I'll definitely remember that whole section. -I loved the characters and felt like Wiktor Szulski was a real person. I purposely played this game as an arrogant jerk my first time around. And I'm bummed by the ending I got. I care enough about the characters to eventually do another more ideal run where I give everyone better endings. -I feel like I've gained something by having these characters and this world floating around in my imagination. It feels more like I've gained something neat, rather than that I've lost time.
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Ever since the success of Disco Elysium there has been a small resurgence in more story focused RPGs, the Thaumaturge is another game in that style. Set primarily in Warsaw during the late Congress Poland era, when the city was a part of an ailing Russian Empire, The Thaumaturge tells the story of Wiktor Szulski, a Polish expatriate gifted with extraordinary powers who returns to the city of his birth to settle family matters. As a fan of RPGs, good stories and history in general, this was a game I could not possibly resist playing. So I did play it and now, a few dozen hours later, it's time to write down a few thoughts. The game's setting is largely historical but there are twists. In the game's world demons, called Salutors, exist. Drawn to people's flaws and influencing their behaviour. Superstitions and legends are explained as often being the work of those Salutors. There is also people that can perceive and form bonds with them, called Thaumaturges, which gives them incredible powers of perception and awareness. The idea may not be too original, but it's clever enough and well-executed. The historical aspect is also quite intriguing. The setting is not one often explored, though with the recent rise of the Polish gaming industry, I do expect that to change. Either way, the setting is well presented and fairly rich. A lot of time can be spent enjoying the sights and taking in life in early 20th century Warsaw. The game is heavily story focused. Following the death of his influential father and while trying to reclaim his legacy and repair his relationship with his sister, the protagonist finds himself at the epicenter of a struggle for the future of Warsaw. All that in the shadow of the teetering Russian empire and the plots of its would-be saviour, the charismatic Grigori Rasputin. Yes, that Rasputin, whom somehow Wiktor befriends. This mix of historical events with fiction works well and keeps the tension high. The player has many choices to make and things can often take unexpected turns. Most of the principal characters are well developed and complex. The various factions are often given ambivalent and conflicting appraisals. Combat is the other main aspect of the game. It has a turn based battle system where actions are queued and happen one after the other. The player character can use his Salutors and their various abilities to gain an advantage in combat, summoning them to do his bidding. Combat is not particularly complex, but it does have a fair amount of variety. There are negative effects that can be applied, a focus system which allows for special powerful attacks when the enemy's focus gets broken and so on. I did like the combat, but not overly so. The various animations can get repetitive after a while and there really is a lot of fighting. Surprisingly, the options provided to avoid fighting via dialogue are often quite ineffective. Rather uncharacteristic for a story-focused RPG. Negatively so. Focusing a bit more on the negatives, the game does come with a number of issues. The quest trackers for example are not always particularly helpful, some questlines don't follow organically and parts can be missed. Sometimes you just have to guess where to go next, when the game doesn't really cultivate a guessing style of gameplay. The obtuse map system is also partly to blame for this. The repetitiveness of battles was mentioned earlier, but the same can be said for general exploration. The game expects you to right-click both for tracking and to uncover hidden elements using the protagonist's powers. After a while that does reach a few clicks too many. Finally, on the story-side some choices feel somewhat railroaded and, particularly on minor encounters, rather illusory. All in all, the Thaumaturge is a nice package alright. Flaws and all. The setting, story and characters deliver and despite some mostly minor issues the game stays entertaining throughout. It is quite obvious that whoever created this game cared a great deal for Warsaw and its history, though I rather doubt they were big fans of tsarist Russia. Whatever the case, I do recommend this game to all fans of story-driven RPGs, fans of history and anyone who has an interest in this not often explorer era.
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Not Exactly What I Expected, But Still A Enjoyable Experience. I was intrigued by this game when I played the demo during last year's Steam Next Fest. The dark fantasy settings and the subtle writing really caught my attention. The story and what's in store later down the line interest me greatly. I imagine the story being similar to that of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files but in Central Europe. Well, what I experience in the full game is not exactly what I anticipated it would be. The story centers more around human struggles and less supernatural stuff, and the gameplay also has some confusing designs. Yet, I still find the The Thaumaturge an interesting ride. Thing I Like About The Thaumaturge: Compliments →The story isn't what I expected, but it's still interesting to see how a thaumaturge manages his way into society. →I enjoy the writing of this game. → I love how the game recreates some of the well-known folklore creatures in its style, eerie but wonderful. →I actually learned a lot about Polish history. Things I Like And Dislike About The Thaumaturge: Combat and Builds Like → Builds : Even though you only have four abilities throughout the game, the options to buff those abilities are quite rich. From simple upgrades like more damage and additional debuff, to interesting ones like granting your salutor faster moves or breaking enemies down faster for finishers. It is important to customize each ability to fit the salutor of your playstyle. → Salutors : Probably the most interesting part of the combat. Salutors have their own abilities, though they are not upgradable. You can freely choose which one to use during battles. Each of them specializes in different aspects of combat: some are great debuffer/finisher, some focus on reducing Focus points, and some are hybrids. It is interesting to note that salutors synergize quite well with each other. With the right combination and your buffed abilities, it is not uncommon to instantly turn the tide in harder battles. Dislike → Confusing Design : What I don't like about combat is that you have to use your basic abilities first before you can use your upgraded ones. I genuinely don't know what the logic behind this design is. Not only does this design make the fights, even the easier ones, take longer than they should, but it also takes up space, which could potentially introduce new alternative abilities for true build variety. → Encounters : I am disappointed to see how little variety the enemy roster contains, and there are no thaumaturge or actual salutor fights either. Enemies only hit you, make you bleed with different knives, and shoot you. That's it. There is no debuffer, no buffer, and no other class. Traits could increase the difficulty of the fight, except we can easily break them with one move from the right salutor. Things I Dislike About The Thaumaturge: 1. The Whole "Detective" Thing The other part of the game is to run around the map, spamming your perception button, to see if any red particles concentrate on one spot. This is how you "detect" clues. Once Wiktor collects all the clues, he will automatically conclude the solutions or ideas himself. This design may appeal to those who just want to get through the story as fast as possible, but to me, it makes the whole situation less interactive on the player's part. There is no secret component on items for you to interact with and discover, and there is certainly no need for you to actually piece the clues together. 2. Other complaints → I wish the whole "feed your Flaw" system could have more impact than dialogue choices. Other than Wiktor's downfall, Upyr could also benefit from the evolving Flaw and become stronger in combat. The same deal goes with all the other salutors. 中文小簡評 →故事類型雖然跟我想的不一樣，但還是很有趣的黑暗奇幻風劇情遊戲。 →以為是跟超自然生物斡旋，原來是操弄人性啊。 →很喜歡這款遊戲描繪的傳說生物形象，詭譎中帶有一絲驚豔。 →學到滿多波蘭歷史。 →主角技能配置雖然只有四個，但有很多強化選項供選擇，搭配你的夥伴打出強力連擊。 →夥伴各有各的特色，戰鬥中能自由切換，不僅能配合主角技能，夥伴彼此間也能相輔相成。 →不懂為何一定要先用過基礎技能後才能用進階技能，不只延長戰鬥時間，技能也永遠只有那四個。 →敵人配置嚴重不足，攻擊方式少，敵人種類少，沒有跟其他奇幻士或異界種正面對決的場面。 →所謂的收集線索，就是地圖中狂按感知找紅點。線索找齊也不需要你解析，主角自動幫你總結。 →個人希望主角的高傲程度影響的不只局限於對話選項，相對應的夥伴也能因此獲得強化。
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Yes its janky, yes the animations look kinda scuffed, yes i fucking love it. the setting, the whole detective system, the flaws, it seems llike they had a crackhead idea and decided to actually do something with it and the result is Thaumathurge, a lovely, decently voice acted RPG. Its 30 bucks, if you have them spare, you will not waste them on this game
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Initial impressions are good. If you are a fan of Disco Elysium or Spiders games, this feels like a cross between the two. The graphics are solid, and the writing is EXCELLENT. Control support is well done, and besides the UI being slightly small, it plays great on a TV. The game splits its focus into two pieces; investigation and combat. While neither are particularly complex, they aren't too simple either. Investigation may feel thin at first, but the dialogue and writing are very enjoyable. Combat, too, is very fast to understand the mechanics but there is enough variation that unlocks as you play to maintain interest. (Obviously after my low play time I can't fully estimate the game length, but it seems perhaps the short side for the price.) If you like historical fantasy and RPGs, this is a great one for you.
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Last Updates
| Steam data | 13 December 2024 00:53 |
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| SteamSpy data | 23 December 2024 05:49 |
| Steam price | 23 December 2024 12:49 |
| Steam reviews | 23 December 2024 14:03 |
Online players
162
Developer
Fool's Theory
Publisher
11 bit studios
Release
04 Mar 2024
Platforms
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