Summary
- The Thaumaturge expertly weaves history and horror, with Rasputin playing a major role in the protagonist's journey.
- Rasputin's cryptic vision of World War 1 connects the game's story to a pivotal moment in human history.
- Players have the power to influence the course of history by making morally ambiguous choices throughout the game.
One of the more impressive aspects of The Thaumaturge is the way that developer Fool's Theory deftly blends supernatural horror with history, blurring the lines between fact and fiction through a captivating mix of real-world people and places, folklore, and plausible events given the game's early 20th Century setting. Part of this compelling mix of influences is the inclusion of real-world historical figure Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, himself a major player in European history and a renowned mystic and esoteric personage of pre-World War 1 Europe. Rasputin's inclusion in The Thaumaturge goes well beyond mere cameo, though, as he's both one of the protagonist's main companions and an important player in the game's story.
While the information available on The Thaumaturge ahead of the game's release would reveal that Rasputin was an important figure in the game's story, the degree to which he partners with protagonist Wiktor Szulski comes as a bit of a surprise. Rasputin isn't just window dressing for the game's early-20th century setting and plot, instead acting as a major help to Wiktor and even moving the game's story along with a need to partner with Wiktor thanks to a cryptic vision he keeps witnessing. As it turns out, this vision is a foretelling of the events that led directly into World War 1, connecting The Thaumaturge's story to one of the most pivotal events in human history.
Rasputin's Cryptic Vision in The Thaumaturge Explained
The player will first encounter Rasputin as the mysterious healer that The Thaumaturge's protagonist, Wiktor, is seeking out to help restore his connection with his Salutor, Upyr. After successfully healing Wiktor, the two join forces to uncover the existence of a different Salutor plaguing a small village in the Georgian countryside. Following their success in identifying and then taming this Salutor, Rasputin then shares details regarding a disturbing vision that the mysterious monk keeps having, the details of which should sound familiar to anyone with some knowledge of world history.
Rasputin's vision is about the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, commonly accepted as the precipitating event of World War 1. The heir-apparent to the throne of one of Europe's great superpowers in the early 20th Century (the Austro-Hungarian empire), Franz Ferdinand's death at the hands of a Bosnian radical would be one of the primary catalysts for the ensuing arms race and nationalistic fervor giving way to one of the most significant events in human history: the first World War. To prevent this cataclysmic turn of events, Rasputin joins up with Wiktor and becomes a major player in The Thaumaturge's plot.
How Rasputin's Role Changes the Course of The Thaumaturge's Alternate History
The following contains spoilers for The Thaumaturge
Rasputin's joining Wiktor to return to Warsaw and uncover the mystery of his father's death (among other, more pertinent mysteries) runs concurrent to the so-called Mad Monk's inserting himself into the lives of the Russian royal family. With Poland being a part of the Russian Empire during the year in which the game takes place (1905) and Tsar Nikolai 2nd as the acting King of Poland, Wiktor's return to Warsaw sees him arrive at one of the more turbulent times in eastern European history and come face-to-face with the ruler. Eventually, the game even presents the player with the opportunity to rub elbows with the Tsar himself, prompting a critical choice in the endgame.
Throughout their journeys together in The Thaumaturge's main quest, Wiktor begins to learn various aspects about all the people he encounters and their various flaws and true intentions, Rasputin included. The protagonist's gifts as a Thaumaturge grant him the unique ability to read people and see past their manipulations, and the player has a choice to either allow Rasputin to continue manipulating the Russian royal family or expose his deceptions to the Tsar, resulting in Rasputin becoming one of the potential final bosses of the game after spending much of its runtime as an ally to Wiktor. In effect, Wiktor can change the course of history with his choices, perhaps leading to a future in which World War 1 never comes to pass.
The Thaumaturge
- Released
- March 4, 2024
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.
- Developer(s)
- Fool's Theory
- Publisher(s)
- 11 Bit Studios
- Platform(s)
- PC
