Game news This video game from the creators of the remake of The Witcher opened my eyes to a genre that I was no longer interested in at all, it’s a revelation!
For some time now, I’ve had my head on the handlebars and I’ve been playing Japanese role-playing games. Now that my pace of play is decreasing, I wanted to take a breather and, surprisingly, try some new titles. After a quick glance at the releases, I set my sights on a somewhat old-fashioned role-playing game, a genre that I had somewhat neglected in recent years, and I was right : The Thaumaturge, a new title from the future creators of the remake of The Witcher, opened my eyes and made me want to try CRPGs again.
Before the remake of The Witcher, this studio surprised me with its new game
In a release schedule as busy as the one looming in 2024, we quickly find ourselves having to make choices. Beyond the major launches at the start of the year, there are also all the more modest productions that are pouring in. For my part, the start of the year has been quite hectic and I have not held back my pleasure at the idea of discovering a recent title that is somewhat different from my habits in order to play it for a few hours and share my impressions. In this case, it’s role play The Thaumaturge which caught my attention, and one of the first arguments that caught my eye was clearly seeing the name of the studio Fool’s Theory. If the name is not the most popular currently, it could become so since they will have the difficult task of bringing the first opus of the saga back to life The Witcher from CD Projekt.
As if to better get their hands on, the Fool’s Theory teams were able to count on the support of the publisher 11 bit studios, better known for its involvement in projects This War of Mine And Frostpunk. It is therefore once again in this very particular atmosphere, inspired by an era not so far from ours (Poland at the beginning of the 20th century), that we embark through The Thaumaturge. Where the title spices up this context is by adding a fantastic and folkloric dimension to its historical setting, which has its small effect and is directly linked to the skills of the hero we control.. Baptized Wiktor Szulski, he has, thanks to his status as miracle worker, “ of a different and deeper understanding of the world “. More concretely, this translates a gallery of powers, distributed over four branches (Heart, Mind, Act, Word), which allows him to better discern emotionsparticularly those which become embedded in the different objects that each person handles, and to carry out the investigation wherever they go.
A modest role-playing game that goes against the current frenzy, and it feels good
It’s been quite a while since I last touched a pure role-playing game along the lines of The Thaumaturge. After weeks and weeks of play, dictated by the latest Japanese RPGs of the moment, very focused on action, I must say that I was both perplexed and intrigued at the idea of devoting a handful of hours to the latest creation from the Fool’s Theory studio. However, this apprehension was quickly chased away by the construction of the game, deliberately based on narration, study of the environment, analysis of lore and reflection offered by the numerous contextual information. Casually, The Thaumaturge can easily be placed an atmosphere that made me want to wander through its settings and better understand the way in which this imaginationwhich mixes historical and fantastic, revolves around the gaming experience.
In the pure tradition of role-playing games, The Thaumaturge offers a lot of textual clues, to the point where we mostly have the impression of conducting the investigation throughout the experience, as much about the plot as about the very mysterious powers of the hero. A worthy heir to the genre, the creation of Fool’s Theory takes its time, although the formula is used in fairly compartmentalized places. Don’t expect the freedom that some current role-playing games offer! While this certainly works to its disadvantage, the experience is held from a narrative point of view with dialogues of choice (which have their influence), a multitude of approaches to resolve certain interactions – notably via the use of abilities conferred by the Salutors, mystical creatures from which thaumaturges draw their powers, or the symbols that the we train to manipulate our interlocutors, a nice nod to The Witcher – and a quest resolution system that spans different branches to make them both more dense and interesting to follow.
Due to its somewhat atypical context, The Thaumaturge Made me want to get back into this type of role-playing game, to have in my hands a title that can be enjoyed without having to run in all directions, to change my consumption habits by giving a chance, from time to time, to more textual productions. In reality, I realized that the universe was sufficiently gripping to obscure the somewhat reduced presence of the clashes. Because yes, The Thaumaturge, it’s also a title that focuses on a strategic combat system full of good ideas. Unfortunately, I won’t have lasting memories of this aspect of the game.
A well-thought-out combat system that lacks madness
Sometimes, The Thaumaturge made me participate in turn-based combat halfway between grounded gameplay and the use of supernatural abilities. On paper, the principle is interesting since it allows you to combine the physical skills of the hero – which often consists of throwing a more or less well-felt punch – and the techniques offered by the different Salutors that we recover at thread of adventure. The role-playing codes are there, we even find a queue of actions which allows us to visualize the order in which adversaries attack us and a speed system which makes an ability trigger more or less quickly. Thanks to this, the tactical aspect is expanding and can also count on other additions which arrive gradually such as the alteration of the concentration of the adversaries, the applications of negative states such as suffering and the attributes to be circumvented using the techniques of the different Salutors.
Globally, The Thaumaturge doesn’t really put your back against the wall during each encounter. These can be crossed with difficulty as long as you take care in your approach and take advantage of the different weakening techniques. The problem is that because of that, I quickly experienced a certain weariness as The Thaumaturge wants to do too much with its mechanics without making them exceptional. So, the few times we can take advantage of it, we come up against the same routine and, ultimately, this undermines immersion more than anything else. Ultimately, the strong point remains this atmosphere, the dubbing of the characters, the psychological dimension which runs through the mystical side of the plotwhile the fights are ultimately anecdotal although intelligently constructed and somewhat original.
At the end of the day, The Thaumaturge would have benefited more from being just an investigation game because that is its greatest strength and the aspect that I find, personally, the most catchy. Certainly, it is not the most pleasing game to the eye, the best animated in its characters or the one which leaves us great freedom of approach, but its austere universe with a heavy atmosphere gives it a certain cachet. I know full well that The Thaumaturge will perhaps not be my greatest surprise of the year but I already know that I will not forget what he taught menamely that I must not abandon more traditional CRPGs because I risk missing out on unique and original experiences!