The Thaumaturge

Are CRPGs making a comeback? It's a question we probably wouldn't have been asking were it not for a certain fantasy game that released last August, but since then we've had a few more entries in this subgenre, the latest of which is Fool Theory's The Thaumaturge.

In The Thaumaturge, we play as Wiktor Szulski, who is unsurprisingly a Thaumaturge. What is a Thaumaturge, you ask? Probably the best way to describe them is part-Pokémon trainer, part-Witcher, part-Sherlock Holmes. They practice an ancient magical technique known as thaumaturgy, which allows them to see and tame otherworldly creatures known as Salutors, influence the minds of other people, and see other things that the human mind cannot, such as linking someone's anger to their coat.

The existence of thaumaturgy isn't the only difference between this world and our own. In the game's setting of 1905 Warsaw, we see a very different Polish capital. Split between differing factions, its citizens are oppressed, seeking their old freedoms and liberties. It's an interesting setup, especially for the 20th century history buffs out there who want to explore a different kind of Warsaw.

As Wiktor, the city first opens up to us as we look to track down the mystery of our father's demise. The Thaumaturge is largely split into two main elements when it comes to gameplay. Exploration gives you the top-down view you most likely associated with isometric RPGs, and combat switches to a third-person perspective, where you and your Salutors fight against a group of enemies, taking it in turns to play out your actions.

The Thaumaturge's combat is a real highlight of the game. The exploration is less so, but we'll deal with the positive first. In the turn-based combat, you get two actions; one for Wiktor, and one for the Salutor at your command. You can bring quite a number of Salutors with you at a time, and each of them have their own unique abilities. Bukavac, for example, is all about whittling away enemy health bars by dealing damage-over-time, before going in for the killing blow, while when you use Veles, you're really hoping for the RNG gods to be looking upon you kindly, as it has the chance to do more damage, interrupt enemy actions, and more, but those effects aren't guaranteed.

From the Salutors you pick to the passive abilities you equip attacks with, there's a lot of variety in combat, with plenty of different build options depending on how you want to play. The only drawback I could find in the combat system was that it feels quite useless to use slower actions. Yes, they might do more damage, but by the time you get around to striking with them, the quicker actions would have had similar if not better effects.

When outside of combat, the experience largely boils down to you mashing right click so that your thaumaturgy can guide you to your next objective. A line of red dust flows towards where you're meant to be for a given quest, and while you can spot stuff along the way in Warsaw, most of the things you'll discover are items to read. There is a lot of reading in The Thaumaturge, and that extends beyond the things you pick up in the open world. If you want to read every description, every conclusion Wiktor draws after finding pieces of evidence, you're going to be reading for hours. Whether you enjoy that or not is a personal thing, but it's quite rare to find an interactable on the map that isn't just something to read. That serves to make the world feel much less alive than a hustling, bustling city should do, and it often comes across that you're meant to just be booking it to your next objective rather than seeing what Warsaw has to offer.

The plot has its strengths and there's certainly some fun to be had with it, but largely it is hindered by character models that feel rather dated and voice acting that is less than stellar. Apart from Wiktor, Rasputin (yes, Rasputin), and a select few, most of the other characters - even with the graphics tuned all the way up - look pretty lacklustre. Most faces are reused apart from key figures and it becomes hard to really connect with the characters when their lips don't really match up with what they're saying. Outside of the characters, the game looks pretty decent, especially where the Salutors are concerned. I personally loved Lelek, with its equally creepy and cute bug eyes staring blankly at me. The visuals are not mind-blowing, but that's not really what you come to an isometric RPG for.

Largely, I had fun with The Thaumaturge. Some of that fun was intentional, as the combat remains one of the most engaging parts of it, but some of that fun was laughing when the dialogue didn't match up to subtitles, or the characters moved and spoke in goofy ways during cutscenes. It's certainly a ride I'll remember, even if overall the game doesn't really stand out in a lot of ways.

Another saving grace of The Thaumaturge is the fact that it's listed at £30 or €34.99 for the standard version, and for that price you do get quite a lot of content. A lot of it can feel repetitive, but almost every other scrap of paper on the ground can lead you somewhere new, if you're willing to keep exploring the largely lifeless streets of Warsaw. The Thaumaturge is stuffed with ideas that sound great on paper, but the end result may have bitten off more than it can chew, as a lot of its concepts feel undercooked without delivering on their grandiose aims.