The Thaumaturge preview — Slavic terror in turbulent times

By Ron Burke

Posted on April 3, 2023

GDC was incredibly busy, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have time to check out some cool games while we were there. I had the chance to sit down with Artur Grochowski from 11 bit Studios to talk about their investigative thriller, The Thaumaturge. An isometric story-based RPG with turn-based combat is being published by 11 Bit Studios, known for their deeply unsettling titles that tend to stick with you long after you are done playing them, and from the little slice I got to see of the game so far, it’s going to join that list.

Before we get into the game details, it’s worth taking a moment and defining what a Thaumaturge is and what they can do. Thaumaturges are effectively magicians, but that sells their work short. In fact, they deal with paranormal creatures and events that others can’t see. Often referred to as miracle workers or “wonderworkers”, they serve the same function as a Witcher – needed only as far as they are useful, and shunned immediately after.

We catch up with our protagonist, Wiktor Szulski (that’s pronounced like Viktor, but spelled with a W – something he is keen to point out) in the year 1905. In this, the game’s prologue, we find Wiktor traversing Russia looking for help as his Thaumaturgical abilities are losing their power. He drops by a local train station and talks to the ticket merchant who passes along a letter from Wiktor’s sister. The ticket taker is very concerned about Wiktor’s wellbeing as his eyes are sallow, bloodshot, and his skin is cracked and pale. The telegram from his sister shows equal concern for his state as she asks where he is, and what she can do to help him. Wiktor believes he can find a man in the nearby village to help him – something that proves to be true, but far more than he bargained for.

At this time in history, Poland is suffering under the weight of three invading armies – Russia, Austria, and Germany. One is bad enough, but three is a boot directly on the neck of the poor people of Poland. These people need your help.

Arriving at the village we are surprised to run into none other than Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin. Yes – THAT Rasputin. Even outside the realm of fiction, Rasputin was regarded as a mystic himself, and as a self-professed holy man. He’s here in this village offering his healing skills to the sick and the wounded. He’s willing to help us, but he wants a bit of proof that we possess the thaumaturge skills Wiktor has claimed.

As a thaumaturge, Wiktor possesses exceptional perception. He’s able to sense things in his environment in a more tangible way, able to ascertain hidden objects, but also able to sense the emotions locked inside those items. It can also guide Wiktor on his way to wherever he needs to go next.

Rasputin asks us to find something in the tavern that belongs to him, and then based on that object, tell him something only he could know. Triggering our investigation mechanic, Wiktor locks in on a prayer book, but that’s not where we’ll find his secret. You see, a thaumaturge can see beyond our dimension into the ones underneath – Heart, Deed, Mind, and Word. These operate as a sort of tech tree to learn new powers and unlock paths and outcomes, but more than that they reveal parts of the soul that the owners most likely never want anyone to see.

We pass back Rasputin’s prayer book, providing him with the knowledge he seeks. It’s at this point we meet our Salatur, Upyr (or more accurately spelled Upiór in Slavic lore). A mystic creature, a salatur are often a person who was cursed before death, committed suicide, had their corpse desecrated, or otherwise met an untimely demise. They become specters, attaching themselves to a thaumaturge with strong emotional connections. This creature has guided our path and helped us grow, and with our current condition as proof, perhaps too fast, severing the link. With Rasputin as our soothsayer of sorts, we are able to heal a bit, putting us back on the trail of a more permanent solution.

Following the trail provided by Wictor’s salatur, Upyr, we are on the trail of a another salutor. Salutors are spirits that are attached to “Flaws”, festering in the humans in which those flaws reside. Born from the word “Newcomer”, these demons are the prey of thaumaturge who search for them, extract them, and then bind them to themselves. It rids the victim of the flaw, though it takes that tragic event into the body of the thaumaturge. The tradeoff is that it also brings tremendous power, allowing the thaumaturge to grow through their extraction and binding.

In this case, a village elder has asked Wiktor to investigate a nearby home that had burned to the ground. Using our powers of observation we begin to unravel the mystery. Our powers revealed a great deal of fear and anxiety attached to the burned objects in the rubble. We begin to sum up the last events of the previous owner, Vasilli, recreating the fire in our mind. It reveals that the fire actually covered a murder, but we’ll need to capture another salutor to find the murderer. As we begin to draw our conclusion, we unfortunately also draw the attention of some local soldiers.

Everyone has their own demons, though Wiktor more literally so. These demons, salutors, can help Wiktor manipulate combat outcomes, and even directly contribute. You can use them for good or ill, and you’ll have to live with yourself and the decisions you make. While we didn’t get to see it play out in the long term, it’s likely that actions taken in combat might come back to haunt you – in some cases, literally.

Unfortunately, the local soldiers feel that it’s time for you to leave. They’d happily take a donation to be on their way, but we’d rather take care of them our way.

Combat in The Thaumaturge is a turn based action affair, with a dash of card battling. There is an action queue at the top of the screen, and thanks to our power of perception we can see and predict how an enemy might attack us and when.

Combat is split into rounds, with quick attacks resulting in light damage, but delivered almost instantly. Heavier attacks take more time, but do more damage. With Wiktor’s attacks chosen, we can switch to our salatur (who is aligned to the heart dimension) so his attacks are based on health damage. He can also heal Wicktor in a pinch.

Beyond direct damage and healing, your upy can also cause diversions to reduce enemy focus. Diversion cancels an enemies queued attack with a quick slash to their back, or a forcful shove from behind. A distracted enemy is also open to other kinds of attacks. A strong attack allows Wiktor to unleash a tremendous amount of damage, concussing an enemy. In this case, a fatal amount of damage that makes the other two think twice about continuing the fight.

With the soldiers sent packing, Wiktor finishes up his investigation. He discovers that the murder is somehow connected to the village elder’s family. He believes the husband, Luka, has murdered Vasilli and burned his home to the ground, and heads back to confront him. Talking with him, Wiktor detects that he has a lot of passion, but also a great deal of fear and anxiety. He might have a salatur inside him. As we make that accusation we find that, as is often the case when connected to Slavik folklore, it’s not quite that simple.

Vesna (Luka’s wife and daughter to Vasilli) speaks up, revealing that it is she who has the flaw deep in her chest, and that she was the one who burned Vasilli’s house with him inside. It turns out that Vasilli was a bastard, beating Vesna constantly as a child.  We immediately see the salatur – a massive creature named Bukavac. Covered in chains and looking not unlike the massive “mind flayer” beast from Stranger Things, but far, far worse, Bukavac will be a dangerous foe. If we can tame him, he’d be a powerful ally, but we’ll need more skills.

As you explore and uncover mysteries, helping victims and solving puzzles, you’ll reveal additional skills in each of the dimensions. These can provide additional attack types, as well as various augments. One example is an attack modifier called “Fortune” which gives a higher percentage to interrupt enemy actions.

To tame Bukavac you’ll need to weaken it, but you don’t fight these creatures directly. Instead you’ll have to defeat the entities that it conjures. Meanwhile, it’s busy hitting you with things like Doom that can hurt you every single round. As before, you’ll pick from your available attack types for you and any salatur you deploy.

With the help of Rasputin once again, we manage to secure and subdue this salutur. Now we can unleash the power of Bukavac in battle, though this capture and the evil flaw Wiktor just absorbed is bound to have lasting consequences.

With Bukavac defeated, we head back to town only to find that residents intend to hang Vesna. At this point we’re presented with dialogue options. The first is locked as we didn’t develop a dimension or find enough objects of relevance – the game doesn’t provide you that sort of feedback, leaving it for you to discover. The second one was unlocked by information we’d found out through our previous conversations. There’s also one that says “Deed” which is tied to a manipulation mechanic. Unleashing Bukavc’s powers on this poor woman causes her to flee the town. If none of those options sound horrible enough, you are also welcome to just stand there and watch whatever justice the town metes out. The choices are yours.

Since we tamed more than one Salutor, we can now switch between them in battle, and their attacks and powers will immediately change. For example, the Doom attack Bukavac used on us applied suffering that caused damage over time. We can now use this on a group of soldiers who thought it’d be wise to try to push us around. One particularly bloody attack had Bukavac grab a guy by the throat, ripping it open and spraying gouts of blood everywhere.

Having achieved his objective and reconnected with Upyr, as well as gaining a new salutor, Wiktor can get back to the train station to get back to his sister. He talks to the same ticket merchant to send the telegram to let her know that he’s safe and finally healthy enough to continue on this journey. Unfortunately he instead receives news that his father has passed away. So now we will head to Warsaw to bury our father.

Before Wiktor can board the train, Rasputin reveals that he’s been seeing images of Odessa running with blood, and that he believes that he will be a part of history. He intends to change it, even at great personal cost to him – he will accompany Wiktor to Warsaw to see where everything leads.

This sequence closed out the prologue, as well as the demo for the game. While it’s still early days of development – the game was announced less than a month ago after all, but what I’ve seen is already looking great. The interplay between Wiktor’s powers, Upyr, the possibility of changing up gameplay with other salutor, and the mysteries that lie ahead look like it could be an exciting twist on Slavik folklore. I know one thing for sure – 11 Bit publishes games that stick with you long after the credits roll. With as deep and dark as the folklore already appears to be, it’s clear that The Thaumaturge will deliver plenty of that.

The Thaumaturge preview — Slavic terror in turbulent times