The Thaumaturge is a detective-style adventure game set in Warsaw during the early 1900s. Players will primarily have to uncover clues and talk to NPCs in order to unravel an increasingly intricate and well-written story. As a thaumaturge, Wiktor possesses supernatural abilities and is able to utilize demonic spirits in order to possess the psyches of those around him.
The Thaumaturge: Best Skills to Learn First
Choosing Skills in The Thaumaturge is crucial to developing both in combat and investigations, allowing players to access new tricks and information.
The game opens with Wiktor traveling through the forest and exchanging letters with his sister, Ligia before he finally arrives at a train station and asks the Postmaster to send a telegram on his behalf. Players can choose certain contents of the telegram they wish to send, though it won't make a great deal of difference to the outcome of the story. Following a conversation with the Postmaster, Wiktor is told to meet the local Coachman, who can take him to a nearby village and heal his evidently sub-par condition.
Find The Miracle Worker In The Village
Following on from the opening cutscene, players will notice several interactive items around the station, such as a note and a letter. While these can help provide some context and world-building, they are not essential items to read. Upon exiting the station door, players will be given the Perception tutorial, which provides them with a way of using Witkor's powers to utilize a waypoint and guide him towards his active objective. In this case, using the ability will reveal that Wiktor must go to the Coachman.
Interacting with the Coachman will start a conversation in which Wiktor can inquire more about the Healer, but ultimately, the conversation is resolved the same way, with the Coachman taking Wiktor into the village in a separate area of the game world.
This is how Wiktor is able to travel between different areas of the game, which will happen often throughout the game's large map. Having arrived in the village, the Coachman tells Wiktor that the Healer can be found in the Tavern just across the main square.
Outside the Tavern, Wiktor is confronted by some Russian soldiers who are occupying the area, and they will challenge him to a fight. This can serve as the game's opening combat tutorial and should be a relatively straightforward encounter. Once these thugs have been dealt with, Wiktor can proceed into the Tavern where Rasputin can be found in the far corner performing healing work.
Search The Tavern And Find Rasputin's Items
Upon speaking with Rasputin, he will ask for a demonstration of Wiktor's Thaumatergic abilities. Since Thaumaturges are able to deduce emotional states associated with objects, this involves discovering and retrieving certain items from around the tavern. In order to gain a Trace, which is how items are discovered, Rasputin provides Wiktor with some prayer beads, revealing his zealous and socially active energy.
Now that this item has been acquired, Wiktor can use his Perception ability to detect new Traces inside the Tavern. The ability will reveal three objects around the room.
- First, a dirty bowl, though this will require a Word skill of 1 in order to retrieve it.
- The second object is a haircloth and can be found by the fireplace, though this will require a Mind skill of at least 1 to unlock.
- The final object is the Prayer Book by the window, and it is this item that will advance the quest forward. Once all three items have been interacted with, players can return to Rasputin to present him with the Prayer Book.
Find The Way
Upon returning to Rasputin, he will commence the healing work required to fully restore Wiktor's bond with his Salutor, Upyr. During the healing process, Wiktor enters a trance-like vision and is transported to a parallel reality.
The Thaumaturge: How to Break Focus (& Exploit Breakdown)
The Thaumaturge's combat rewards players for breaking an enemy's focus and then exploiting the breakdown status, so here's how it works.
Here, players must navigate through an altered environment, following the path to the left as it leads Wiktor to the large puddle of mud. Here, Wiktor is faced with a hallucination of his father, who berates him before the vision concludes.
Find The Person With The Flaw That The Wild Salutor Is Seeking
From this point onward, the game opens up a lot more, and players can pursue multiple objectives at once. In order to find out who is carrying the Flaw within the village, players will be required to complete multiple objectives in order to uncover further information.
Find Rasputin At The Cemetery
The first objective players will be given is to find Rasputin once again. Given that he has gone to the local cemetery, players will need to talk to the Coachman once again in order to be given transport to another separate area. However, the Coachman will be reluctant to make the journey and must be Manipulated using Wiktor's powers.
This can be done by once again using Perception to sense any nearby items. In this case, players should look for a Shovel, a Rag, and the Protective Charm hanging at the village entrance. With these items discovered, Wiktor can draw a Conclusion and talk to the Coachman again with new dialogue options available to them. Here, it will be possible to Manipulate the Coachman into taking Wiktor to the cemetery through the use of highlighted dialogue choices.
Search Vasili's Burned Homestead
Talking to Rasputin reveals that a man in the village, Vasili, was recently killed in a fire, but many of the villagers suspect that he was murdered rather and that it was more than a mere accident. Sensing that the murder may be connected with the Flaw attracting a Salutor to the village, Wiktor insists that they go to the site in order to search for some clues. This will require players to speak to the Coachman once again and take a ride to the Burned Homestead.
The Thaumaturge: 7 Tips For Combat
New players to The Thaumaturge can save themselves some heartache in the early going by keeping the following combat tips in mind.
At the homestead, players can examine the Door Frame and the Place of Death in the center of the house. The final Trace needed to form a conclusion is located near a well to the rear of the house. Here, Wiktor will find a Rag Doll and be able to form his conclusion that Vasili was indeed murdered. Upyr appears outside the front of the homestead, and this triggers a vision of the burning house and the Bukavac inside it.
Next, the soldiers return to confront Wiktor, and another battle must be fought - only this time, players will be able to use the abilities of their Salutor, too. While the battle is more challenging than the first, it should be quite easy when making use of Upyr's abilities. Once they have been defeated, players can return to the Village in order to find more clues.
Talk To Vesna
Upon arriving in the village again, players will notice a girl picking up apples she has dropped in the town square. Interacting with her will reveal that she is full of paranoia and aggression. However, she will storm off back to her house and Wiktor will have to track her down in order to question her further. Along the way, players may find some villagers quarreling over a dead goose. Talking with these villagers will lead to a meeting with the Wise Woman, who is able to provide further information about the murder, though it is not essential for completing the main quest.
Vesna's house is located south of the Wise Woman's abode, though knocking on the door initially will not yield any positive results. There are several clues surrounding the homestead for players to examine, which will lead to further dialogue options with Vesna that can bring her outside. These are:
- A Wooden Box located on a bench at the front.
- Dish Shards located in the yard by the fence.
- A Damaged Axe Shaft found near the firewood, which is also in the yard to the side of the house.
The Thaumaturge: How to Change The Time of Day
Changing the Time of Day can be useful in The Thaumaturge, especially since certain quests can only progress at the right time of day.
With these clues gathered, Upyr will appear at the front door of the house, allowing Witkor to proceed with more dialogue options when confronting Vesna again. Knocking on the door a second time, it will be possible to convince her to come outside, at which point she reveals that her husband Luka, a prime suspect in the murder investigation, has gone out to a clearing in the forest to chop wood. She can be manipulated into giving the answer using Wiktor's thaumaturgic abilities, or she can be convinced kindly by handing her the small doll found at the Burned Homestead.
Go To The Forest Clearing
To get to the forest clearing, players will have to talk to the Coachman again and travel to a separate area, which will now be unlocked on the world map. Upon arriving at the forest, Wiktor is met by an angry mob headed by Luka, and Vesna quickly appears to reveal to him that Wiktor is a thaumaturge who has already visited her. The pair is then spun into a frenzy, and it is revealed that Vesna carries the Flaw that has been attracting the Bukavac.
The Thaumaturge: The Real-World History of 1905 Warsaw
The Thaumaturge presents a version of 1905 Warsaw haunted by esoteric beasts, but its real story is rich and gripping by itself.
A combat sequence is initiated, in which players must defeat a total of three enemies across two phases. Utilizing Upyr's abilities and carefully strategizing, it will be possible to defeat the enemies and separate the Bukavac from its attachment to Vesna.
Having successfully defeated Vesna and Luka, Wiktor is now given the option to decide their fate. Since Vesna has been revealed as the source of the problems, the local villagers condemn her to be burned at the stake, and in a gesture of love, Luka demands that he be allowed to join her. Players can decide to convince Luka to change his mind, convince the pair to flee together, convince Vesna to flee alone, or do nothing and leave them to their unfortunate fate.
The Thaumaturge
- Released
- March 4, 2024
