The Thaumaturge is an RPG set in Warsaw in the early 20th century while it's under Russian occupation and with elements of otherworldly beings and paranormal added in. We play as Wiktor Szulski, who is a thaumaturge, that is since childhood he had special powers involving otherworldly perception of places and objects and ability to interact with otherworldly beings known as Salutors. After his father passes away, Wiktor has to delve both into the criminal underworld and the high society of Warsaw in order to uncover what his father was planning and how it's tied to the political situation in the city.

I think a setting such as this (early 20th century Eastern Europe) is rare to see in games, and so it's quite refreshing and unique. The game uses events and characters from history and adds some of its own elements to develop its plot and characters. Wiktor is an interesting character to play as, because he isn't exactly a hero who strives to do the right thing. Most times he's in it just for himself, and depending on our decisions, we can be either just a mild annoyance to others or a complete ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Usually dialogue choices where we act arrogantly or inflame the situation are associated with the Flaw of Pride which Wiktor is carrying, and developing our pride can unlock new dialogue options later on, turning Wiktor into a different kind of person.

The plot tries to take us into multiple directions at once, which I felt made it seem a bit all over the place. Of course the setting is highly interesting, with the Russian empire pursuing its own interests, Polish nationalists and insurgents seeking to fight back, criminal gangs trying to profit from chaos and uncertainty, and also other thaumaturges having their own personal stake in the situation. Then there's also Rasputin, a well-known historical figure who was said to possess otherworldly powers. There are many interesting factions and characters at play here, but I feel that the plot sometimes bounced back and forth between them too abruptly and chaotically, and I thought some of those needed more time to cook and develop. Some parts of the story, particularly the parts near the end, felt a bit too rushed and anticlimactic. I suppose in some sense, the game is more mature in its story and not everything is solved through violence and big battles, and that you can conclude your story and get the ending through dialogue alone, but in another sense, it seems to lack that feeling of high stakes and adrenaline.

The gameplay consists of several aspects that you'd expect in an RPG. There's exploration of environments and detective work, there are dialogues with choices, there are skill trees, and there is combat. The combat is entirely turn-based, and I personally enjoyed it. It's not a super sophisticated battle system, and most fights aren't hard, but it is fun and allows for plenty of experimentation as we get to unlock many bonuses which we can apply to our attacks. When in combat, we usually have the Salutors assist us, so it's not just Wiktor alone fighting. We can only have one Salutor helping us at any one time, but we can swap between them at will. This is important because enemies often have buffs and bonuses, and using specific Salutors against them can remove those bonuses and make the enemy weaker. Each Salutor also has unique attacks, so swapping between them is useful depending on the situation. This is especially true for when we need to self-heal or cleanse ourselves off negative states, because there are no potions or other items to use. We can only rely on our Salutors for everything!

The combat is plentiful and often unavoidable when it occurs, but the game is by far not riddled with it every minute. There are many slower-going parts in the game where we have to partake more in detective work by scanning the environment for clues and making conclusions, and also dialogues with characters and make decisions on what to say and how to come across. Often we can even use our mystical powers to manipulate people too to get things our way. Availability of these depend on how we level up the skill trees.

For most of the game we can also explore parts of Warsaw city, find things in the environment that give us experience points, such as newspapers, letters, posters, etc. At times we can uncover sidequests. These can help us not only in gaining extra experience points, but also in developing trust with certain characters and even finding some of the Salutors (some of these we get through story missions, while others are optional and are gained only through sidequests). It can be tricky to find some of the sidequests though. I missed two Salutors in my playthrough and only in the ending narration realised that there were two sidequests that I somehow missed and didn't know about. Wish it wasn't so obscure to find some of them.

The music is generally nice. I particularly enjoyed the battle theme and found it to be quite catchy. The game is fully voice-acted and the voice acting is pretty great for all characters, even the minor ones.

The visuals of the places we visit are well-crafted and atmospheric. The characters visuals are also decent enough, and the UI and menus are great. The only issue I have though is that the game seems to be pretty graphically demanding, even though it doesn't look like it should be. Even with a good graphics card, you can expect your PC to start heating up and making jet engine noises after just half an hour of playing. At first I thought maybe I misjudged my PC's ability to play this game, but seems there are other people who have had this issue too. So be aware that the game can be more demanding on your PC than what you might expect from isometric or top down games.

Generally, I think The Thaumaturge is a decent RPG with a very interesting historical setting and characters, and a plot that can feel a bit rushed and underdeveloped in places, but generally good and worth experiencing. It offers a varied gameplay experience and isn't focused solely on combat and solving things with violence, although that is a necessary aspect in many parts of the game. I'd recommend the game on a discount, especially if you're unsure and on the fence about it.