The Thaumaturge
OpenCritic Rating
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for The Thaumaturge
The Thaumaturge might be a bit light for RPG lovers, but it's a gorgeous, incisive look at a world long past.
Lurking behind a dated exterior is a limited but sophisticated RPG with a unique setting and some memorable new ideas.
The Thaumaturge is a slow, text heavy caper that is often curious and sometimes captivating, weaving revolutionary labor politics and mysticism together to create a unique and charming piece of historical science fiction.
A historical supernatural role-player whose portrayal of Warsaw under Russian rule is highly compelling but where the combat and simplistic detective elements fail to engage.
The Thaumaturge’s biggest problems are a result of trying to do so many different things at once. It’s a juggling act on the best of days, and if you’re a working-class person in 1900s Poland you aren’t having a bunch of great days. Not consistently, anyway. This is a deeply interesting game with a lot of cool imagery, historical storytelling hooks and complex systems that are a blast to engage with. There are a ton of swings, and not every one is a hit. Sometimes the voice acting is wacky, the protagonist feels underdeveloped, and combat can be annoying and burdensome. But I also accidentally stayed up way past my adult, parent bedtime on multiple nights playing it. I feel and probably look like Wiktor after catching a new Salutor, but it was worth it.
The Thaumaturge is an atmospheric adventure that oozes character and matches sleuthing and combat in an engaging, enjoyable way.
The Thaumaturge shows plenty of promise, but lets itself down somewhat by failing to play to its strengths. Warsaw and its history and culture is a joy to experience when the game properly engages with it, but an insistent focus on a comparatively dull main story ultimately detracts from this for a fun yet frustrating experience.
The Thaumaturge is a game made with a lot of love and hard work by Fool's Theory. That much is apparent within the first couple of hours and grows more obvious the longer a user plays. Its lack of a way to make searching for clues interesting may lead some players astray, but they will miss out on a demon-fueled magical adventure. It stumbles in other places, but it more than makes up for it with its monster designs and terrific storytelling. The Thaumaturge's mixture of 20th-century technology and magic should prove too fun to pass up, and players looking for a detective mystery with some intrigue and nightmares might have found something they can't find anywhere else.
