The Thaumaturge
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Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for The Thaumaturge
Lurking behind a dated exterior is a limited but sophisticated RPG with a unique setting and some memorable new ideas.
The Thaumaturge might be a bit light for RPG lovers, but it's a gorgeous, incisive look at a world long past.
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.
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.
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 a well-written narrative adventure with an excellent setting. Its mechanics, borrowed from RPGs, are not overly complex, but contribute to the quality of the experience.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Thaumaturge is an atmospheric adventure that oozes character and matches sleuthing and combat in an engaging, enjoyable way.
