The Thaumaturge Review

thesixthaxis.com:

The Thaumaturge is an RPG where you collect monsters and use them to fight. This might sound like a certain other game, but this is set in Warsaw in 1906, the monsters are all horrific demons, and it heavily features the real-life fascinating weirdo Rasputin. So, there are a few differences, not to mention the bleak, melancholic tone and the fact that some of the people here are worse than the monsters.

If you’re curious, a Thaumaturge is someone who can sense emotions and intentions that have been imprinted onto items using the help of salutors – those demonic monsters. As you can imagine, this makes them an investigative force to be reckoned with, as all you have to do is touch a couple of things and everything you could possibly need to know presents itself. This is convenient, as it turns out Warsaw happens to be full of unrest, so there’s an awful lot of mysteries to be solved as desperation, greed, and betrayal are everywhere.

Enter Wictor Szulski who, at the beginning of the game, is looking for the famous faith healer Grigori Rasputin to help him regain control over his Thaumaturgy powers. Naturally, he is successful just in time for Wictor to have a dream about his father’s death and return to Warsaw. Rasputin, ever the mysterious weirdo, tags along and you find yourself in Warsaw in the early stages of a revolution.

The story and setting here is the highlight of the game. Rasputin in particular is a confounding presence, exactly what he wants is a complete mystery until late in the game and it’s the thing that I kept thinking about whilst I wasn’t playing. He’s portrayed well too, featuring all the weird cult-like behaviour you’d expect from a charismatic faith healer, whilst he himself is adamant he’s just helping people. He’d fit well into the right-wing manosphere these days. Outside of Rasputin, every character here has their own motives and feelings just waiting for you to find them imprinted onto a discarded onion or something, which is great – the