Early 20th century. Empires are coming apart at the seams, socialist beliefs are spreading everywhere, and all sorts of crooks and bandits are taking advantage of the growing chaos. Unrest in the revolutionary Russian Empire. Including in peaceful Warsaw, full of internal conflicts.
It is here that an extremely unusual man arrives in 1905. Thaumaturge Viktor Shulsky is the son of a recently deceased rich and influential man, a fellow thaumaturge. What does this word mean?? To put it simply, a “miracle worker”. But in the context of The Thaumaturge, a thaumaturge is a person who is able to cross the boundaries of our reality, influence people with the help of magic, find invisible connections, and also summon monsters. Creatures that serve him and brutally deal with his enemies.
We completed the RPG and share our impressions of The Thaumaturge. And let’s say it right away: the role-playing game, which has enough problems, really succeeded!
In the author’s humble opinion, The Thaumaturge contains everything that RPG fans need. The ability to choose during the passage and different endings (including minor ones), a lot of text (both important and created only for better immersion), main and side quests, as well as combat gameplay. Here it is, by the way, step by step. And sometimes he gives me a light. In battles on high difficulty you will have to think twice about how to deal with several dangerous enemies and a powerful monster behind them?
Some elements of the game are better implemented than others, while others could use some extra polish. In RPGs, where text is so important, there are a lot of localization errors. And the combat system, which is enjoyable throughout most of the game, is full of bugs in the end. And in general it doesn’t give the feeling of challenge that it had just recently.
By the way, allow me to introduce! Victor Shulsky, thaumaturge. Also a philanthropist/misanthrope, a friend of the police/crime and a mass murderer who could become a good person.
In The Thaumaturge we have to control a hero who can be a skilled detective and psychologist, and in a couple of minutes – fight with bandits or police. So players will experience an alternation of such “peaceful” and “combat” phases.
Players will spend quite a lot of time just running around the world. But it’s not boring at all! Because over time (days pass in the game, and the days themselves are divided into morning, afternoon, evening and night), the city constantly offers something new: unusual situations, finds, meetings, side quests..
A simply attentive person can notice something in the environment, but a thaumaturge, thanks to his perception, is able to detect something elusive. Objects that leave emotional marks. And associated with specific people.
Over time, the information found about people or events is organized. And the game automatically offers a conclusion – some kind of conclusion that moves the plot forward or allows you to discover new lines or actions.
If The Thaumaturge draws you in as much as it does me, you’ll experience local freedom of choice. Which, in the case of dialogues, does not boil down to options like “adequate response” and “sarcasm”. Even one playthrough of a role-playing game allows us to understand that our decisions really affect what happens. Both globally and in each specific situation.
Should we deceive a person or keep our word?? Save a juvenile delinquent or sacrifice him to serve your goals? Support the protesters or their employer? Get involved in an unnecessary fight or avoid bloodshed.
Moreover, in some cases you can easily https://katsuwincasino.co.uk/bonus/ miss favorable opportunities. The game only shows you the main goal, but that doesn’t mean you should go straight to it. And if you turn not to the left, where the developers indicate, but to the right? Should you be a hero and go towards danger (as the game says) or play it safe and talk to a not-so-important but useful person?? Maybe your life will depend on it… But the player will easily pass by this opportunity if he blindly follows the arrow drawn by the developers.
Polish developers from Foolʼs Theory really love Warsaw with all its light and dirt. So in The Thaumaturge, if you wish, you will find many sketches about what you can do in the capital of the Kingdom of Poland. Go to clubs, taste delicious street food, enjoy music..
…and also appreciate local attractions. Having received aesthetic pleasure and a little experience for further development of skills. But more on that later.
And let’s finish the story about the world of The Thaumaturge with an in-game map. The RPG has several locations, that is, areas of the city with their own style, residents, shops and features. You can move between them with the help of a coachman and thanks to the tram. At first, you get used to the local geography for some time, but towards the end of the game, each such area becomes very familiar and familiar.
Battles
Battles in The Thaumaturge are puzzles with multiple solutions. But as if encouraging you to leave the fight without any losses… or without allowing your opponents to strike a single blow! Typically, the player fights several enemies alone. But behind the hero’s back there are always salutors – monsters that will allow you to break the will of the enemy and inflict even more damage on him.
In battles, it is important to monitor two indicators: health and concentration. If you lose the first, you lose. And without the second, the hero and opponents become as vulnerable as possible, so sometimes it makes sense to aim specifically at concentration.
In addition, some hits from the hero and salutator can cause passive effects: for example, bleeding or loss of turn. Or give a bonus to defense, heal wounds, etc.
Enemies, in addition to health and concentration, also have power-ups. That is, traits that provide bonuses such as reducing damage by 80%, healing, or protecting against negative conditions. But such opponents may be left without bonuses if you set the right salutator on them. Having deprived your enemies of an advantage, destroying such scoundrels becomes easier than ever!
Speaking of fireworks. That is, monsters in the service of a thaumaturge. Initially, Victor can only summon the Ghoul – the product of his own flaw, pride. Which we can feed as the game progresses, which makes us feel a little better, but in the long run can lead to something not so good.
At the beginning of The Thaumaturge, only the Ghoul is available to Victor, but over time the player is free to expand his bestiary to eight salutors. Each of them has their own fast and slow attacks, as well as a unique finishing move (available when the enemy loses concentration). Some deal incredible amounts of damage, others heal, and others inflict negative group effects.
To get a new salutator, you first need to defeat him. And it’s very difficult to do this! You need to study the abilities of this creature, find your “scissors” on his “paper”, and deal with his minions as quickly as possible. It is the battles with fireworks that become the highlight of The Thaumaturge’s combat system. Because battles with ordinary enemies become boring and surprise you with bugs. Maybe over time the developers will correct the situation, but so far the final stages of the game in this regard do not seem to be the most fun.
Development
By exploring the world, completing tasks and winning battles, we gain experience, which is transformed into thaumaturgy points. They can be invested in one of four areas of hero development: “Heart”, “Mind”, “Deed” and “Word”. Each of them can provide new combat techniques and attacks, and also allow Victor to reveal increasingly complex secrets or influence skilled interlocutors in dialogues.
For example, without a sufficient level of "intelligence", you do not "consider" evidence, which will remain just useless garbage that does not convey any hidden meaning. Similarly, during dialogues, options that suggest a higher indicator of one or another characteristic will be closed.
But the advantage of The Thaumaturge is that when completing most of the tasks and searching for secrets, the player will receive so much experience that he can easily bring the level of all his characteristics to at least 5. And with such indicators you are not afraid of almost any tests.
A little about the plot
The story of The Thaumaturge is connected with a legacy that suddenly fell on Victor’s head. The main character was never particularly close to his father, and it was not a surprise to him that the deceased left almost all his property to his daughter Lygia. But the thaumaturge, who died under very strange circumstances, bequeathed something to his son… A thing that hides many secrets, and therefore has incredible value.
Of course, players will see historical figures, including Emperor Nicholas II and the disgraced Grigory Rasputin. A man who more than once comes to the hero’s aid and seems to know what troubles threaten this world… A charlatan or a prophet, but he clearly sees the horrors of the near future, from the beginning of the First World War to the sinking of the Titanic. And his goal is freedom and salvation of as many people as possible.
At least that’s what he tells you. Should we believe someone who gathers around him a flock of faithful, outstanding people?? This charismatic who uses everyone who is important to him. The game will repeatedly pose such questions to the player. And the answers to them will determine the ending of the story.
But The Thaumaturge also has plenty of other minor characters. Bright and surprising, but not revealing as in games with a much larger budget and scale.
Players will find secret societies, socialists and terrorists, feminists, brilliant police officers and dear relatives, old acquaintances from childhood and criminal gangs… One of which, by the way, is headed by our old friend, with whom we parted under not the most pleasant circumstances. This sharp-tongued romantic has many grievances left… And even more ambitions – to lead the crime of Warsaw.
Help him reveal the best that remains in his soul? Or, having seen his cruelty, stay as far away from him as possible.
Expecting The Thaumaturge and understanding the relative budget of the game, you are still surprised by the final result. No, this is not the best role-playing game and far from a masterpiece. But how nice it is to wander through the local streets, each time finding something new for yourself! It’s great to understand that everything is developing the way it is thanks to you – when you find paths along which the developers never thought to lead you… And, of course, it’s great to see little cute references to what you yourself love so much.
The new product could have arrived at release in much better condition. I hope that over time the authors will get rid of unpleasant bugs, improve localization and the game as a whole… But already now The Thaumaturge is really good. Also, having played it, I’m really looking forward to the sequel!
An atmospheric role-playing game that could have been noticeably better, but even now it’s a miracle how good it is!
- Gloomy atmosphere with Slavic flavor
- Choice matters
- Attention to detail
- A living and changing city
- Battles with fireworks
- Rasputin.
- Problems with text
- Bugs in the combat system
- Battles get boring towards the end
- Graphically, the game is far from perfect.
Key provided by publisher. The author spent about 16 hours in the game on PC.
The text in the game has been translated into Russian. Sometimes you can hear Russian speech. There are plenty of errors (especially in the second case).
