Though originally planned for a December 5 release date, The Thaumaturge has now slipped into February, but it is already shaping up to be one of the year's early highlights. The Thaumaturge developer Fool's Theory is a veteran studio with plenty of experience working on other CRPGs, including assisting with the development of both Baldur's Gate 3 and the DLC expansions for Divinity: Original Sin 2. Alongside the work that Fool's Theory is doing on The Thaumaturge, the studio is also developing a remake of The Witcher with CD Projekt Red overseeing the project. It's safe to say that Fool's Theory has a strong understanding of what makes a compelling CRPG, and insight into The Thaumaturge's gameplay only strengthens that sentiment.
In a recent conversation with The Best War Games, Thaumaturge design director Karolina Kuzia-Rokosz explained what players can expect from the game's combat and narrative in great detail, including how the game utilizes the developer's ideas and lessons learned from time spent assisting others such as Larian Studios on their projects. One of the primary mechanics at play in The Thaumaturge is protagonist Wiktor's alignment with the game's Four Dimensions – Deed, Heart, Mind, and Word. Depending on how players lean into one Dimension over the other, Wiktor can manipulate certain people who harbor secrets aligned with the Dimensions and influence conversations, investigations, and combat.
How The Thaumaturge's Four Dimensions Impact Conversations and Combat
Since a Thaumaturge is simply someone who "works miracles" or, more practically, a magician, Fool's Theory needed a framework for Wiktor's powers. This is so he and the gameplay could be better understood in the context of The Thaumaturge's world. After settling on the idea of the Four Dimensions, the developer notes how Wiktor's ability to choose which of the dimensions (and their aligned Salutors he borrows power from) affects practically every aspect of gameplay.
So, the entire field of thaumaturgy is divided into these four, and each of them conceals information that aligns seamlessly with its name. If you uncover a secret belonging to the set of Mind, you can be sure you've found someone's secretive thoughts, memories, ideas. The same applies to others: everything associated with the Word was once said, screamed, or whispered over the object of your interest. Heart implies that you've discovered remnants of someone's emotions, desires, and love. And finally, when it comes to Deed, you've stumbled upon the remains of an action...Salutors are also divided into these four categories to make it easier for you to understand the character of their powers.
Depending on how players choose to align themselves with the Four Dimensions, players will have certain non-combat options blocked off to them. While Wiktor can use his manipulation powers to influence conversations and investigations outside of combat, not unlike many mechanics in the best CRPGs, choosing to lean more heavily into one dimension over another removes his ability to successfully manipulate some NPCs.
Leaning on dimension over the other three will determine whether it is possible or impossible to manipulate certain people. The power of manipulation is based on the strength of the given dimension and on possessing a specific Salutor, which also belongs to the same dimension.
In terms of how Wiktor's alignment with the Four Dimensions impacts the moment-to-moment gameplay of The Thaumaturge, the developers note that each corresponds to the protagonist's ability to "discover secrets hidden within objects, manipulate people," and more. Additionally, the game's Salutors (ethereal beings that grant Wiktor his powers and are aligned with each of the Four Dimensions) provide bonuses to growing and leveling up a particular dimension, creating the opportunity to impact whether players lean more heavily into the game's combat or its investigations and dialogue. Similar to other excellent CRPGs like Disco Elysium, The Thaumaturge aims to provide players with plenty of agency in how they build Wiktor and use him to interact with the game's world.
The Thaumaturge
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 76 /100 Critics Rec: 71%
- Released
- March 4, 2024
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood, Drug Reference, Language, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Fool's Theory
- Publisher(s)
- 11 Bit Studios
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
WHERE TO PLAY
The Thaumaturge is an isometric, story-rich RPG with a unique take on turn-based combat, character development features, and investigation mechanics, facing you with morally ambiguous choices – set in a world teeming with mysterious powers and strange ethereal beings called salutors.
The year is 1905. Warsaw lives under the yoke of imperial Russian tsardom. Its inhabitants constitute a diverse group of different ancestries, views, and beliefs with often conflicting interests: Russian soldiers, Jewish merchants, Polish townspeople, and more. Despite the circumstances, the city is a buzzing metropolis, where one can attend a breathtaking party with the high society, and later get robbed in one of the dark alleys of the Praga district. A city of great hopes and dreams on one hand and dark desires on the other.
A thaumaturge bears both a gift and a burden at the same time. This parallel holds true for Wiktor Szulski, the game’s titular protagonist, who is drawn back to the tumultuous streets of 20th-century Warsaw by family matters. The gift of thaumaturgy is intertwined with family legacy, passed down through one's ancestors. This mystical inheritance significantly shapes Wiktor’s life journey tied around a pursuit of unearthly entities and their hosts. As only a thaumaturge can tame these ethereal entities - known to a select few as salutors - utilizing their mystical abilities to discover secrets hidden within the human soul and speak to the Darkness, no one understands quite like Wiktor how everyone suffers their own demons.
