Warsaw Wizardry
HIGH Blast through the past
LOW Inconsistent voice quality
WTF …is that monster?
Role-playing games offer players the chance to explore fantastical worlds unlike our own, such as far-off planets in some distant future, or magical realms filled with wizards and dragons. The Thaumaturge does these one better and takes its basic foundation to an even more unusual place for many – Warsaw, 1905.
Although it may first appear to be, this isn’t quite the real world as magic abounds in the form of thaumaturgy – the reading of emotions and thoughts left behind on objects. Practitioners are able to manipulate others through this mastery while also bonding themselves to Salutors, sublimely-designed demons of folklore and mythology that are drawn to the flaws of individuals.
Players take on the role of Wiktor Szulski as he returns home after 15 years in exile. He’s a thaumaturge who was only recently able to gain control over his powers and his first familiar, a Slavic folklore creature named Upyr. Upon his return, he finds his father (also a thaumaturge) has died under mysterious circumstances and is then quickly drawn into a web of conflicts, both personal and political.
That political aspect is integral to the plot as Poland writhes under the boot of the Russian Empire. Revolutionary socialists, the Russian secret police, and real-world historical figures – including Rasputin as a central figure – all have their role to play.
But on a less grandiose level, questlines are typically centered on investigating instances of Salutors feeding on (and taking advantage of) the flaws of individuals. As Szulski, players use the power of thaumaturgy to read traces of thoughts and emotions on objects, figuring out the story of a salutor’s victim before a final confrontation and possible capture of the demon in question. How that plays out will depend on what information the player’s gathered and what they select for dialogue options – and choices actually do matter here.
The game isn’t just text and point-and-clicks, though. Presented in third-person format, The Thaumaturge has a unique turn-based combat system based on timeline “rounds” where certain moves take longer than others, and the player can try to delay or stop the enemy’s forthcoming attacks.
In battle, players can freely switch between the various demons they’ve collected, and certain enemies will have buffs that can only be curtailed by a specific Salutor. Szulski himself has a limited moveset that can be augmented between battles by selecting additional effects – things like 50% chance to slow an enemy’s attack or 60% to do double damage – that allows for a great deal of customization.
Will the player focus on dealing more damage? Or how about inflicting the “suffering” status effect that chips away damage every turn from an opponent? All while watching “focus” points, both Szulski’s and enemies’, which if depleted allows for the opposite party to use special high-damage attacks.
Obviously, it’s not all fighting though. Exploration around Warsaw is a key facet, as evidenced by the way experience for leveling up is gained both through combat and by simply interacting with any and every object. Neighborhoods are finely-detailed recreations of luxurious mansions or dirt-road poverty, brimming with NPCs going about daily life with differences depending on what time of day the player visits – there are more drunks perusing the gaslit streets at night, for example. Appropriately, there are dialogues to discover that have no narrative purpose other than immersion into this historical reality, and it all works in setting The Thaumaturge apart from others within the genre – while Szulski’s story and relationships are interesting enough, the real strength here is the setting.
The known future from actual history also hangs over events, some more explicitly than others. The First World War, Polish independence, and the Russian Revolution all factor in.
While The Thaumaturge offers up a fascinating experience, the experience overall is not without demons of its own.
While every dialogue is fully voiced in English, the quality varies. It’s not just that some lines are poorly voiced, but that delivery can sound tonally inconsistent – some characters come off like they belong in another game entirely. Coming from a Polish developer, though, it could be a very different experience if the player chooses its native Polish for the voice track and follows along with the subtitles.
Finding the right path to pursue a quest is often reliant on a magical guidemarker activated with a button. Following the trail can sometimes feel rote and dull, but there are seldom few alternatives. Yes, it makes sense because the player is following ‘magical intuition’ in the form of this marker, but that means there isn’t typically any in-game logic used to piece a sequence of events together — there’s nothing to do except follow the highlighted breadcrumbs to the next story beat.
Despite these pain points, I found myself very willing to dip back in. I completed the campaign in a first run that took around 17 hours, but got a rather bittersweet ending. The narrative has real tension between the player growing in power and making ‘good’ choices, meaning that certain decisions can come back to haunt the player. For instance, at one point I backed out of a bargain with a character to ensure Szulski picked up a certain salutor, meaning that this same character refused to help when I need them during the final act. I already have a slew of save points at various points, and I plan to check back in to see if I can muster a more positive conclusion.
In a medium full of spaceships and crumbling castles, The Thaumaturge is a singular sojourn to a time and place that many players will be unfamiliar with, presenting a dance through the sights and sounds of a turn-of-the-century Warsaw imbued with magic and terrifying creatures. Backed up by a solid combat system, compelling main narrative and diverging decision points, this supernatural adventure is one well worth taking.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Disclosures: This game is developed by Fool’s Theory and published by 11 bit studios. It is currently available on PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 18 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the main storyline was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.
Parents: At the time of review, this game had not yet been rated by the ESRB. However, the game depicts death, violence (supernatural and with weapons like knives and guns) and swearing. Nudity and blood can be turned off. Supernatural creatures found in the game may scare young gamers.
Colorblind Modes: There is a colorblind mode available.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles can be resized. There are no audio cues or effects necessary to play. The game is fully accessible.
Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers partially remappable controls. Keyboard controls can be customized but controller controls cannot be changed.
- Dragon Is Dead Review - June 23, 2025
- PREVIEW Shuffle Tactics - March 26, 2025
- Remnant II: The Dark Horizon Review - November 18, 2024