The Thaumaturge PS5 review

The story of a demon-haunted loner navigating the deadly trials and tribulations of early 20th Century Warsaw wasn’t something I thought I needed to experience this year, alongside all the Space Marining and Veil-guarding and, er, Sun Wukong-ing of 2024, but The Thaumaturge on PS5 has convinced me quite firmly otherwise.

Fool’s Theory’s game launched on PC back in March to fairly high praise despite some visual bugs and performance issues, but I never got around to playing it until now. On PS5 it’s slightly smoother, having the benefit of several months of tweaks and updates, though it isn’t perfect. Luckily, The Thaumaturge is one of those rare games that makes up for every single one of its flaws by being immensely playable and largely unique.

As Wiktor Szulski, you’ve travelled to Warsaw in 1905 seeking anything or anyone that can help you re-establish the link to your personal demon, or Salutor, which has been recently severed. You begin by seeking out the legendary Rasputin. The narrative unfolds in genuinely interesting directions, not least because of Wiktor’s rare and dangerous gift. As a Thaumaturge, he can see and communicate with actual demons, even calling upon them in combat situations.

Each of these Salutors represents a negative trait, or Flaw. Wiktor’s, for example, is Pride, which means he’ll often respond to comments and questions in a proud or even antagonistic way – something that often leads to him getting his head kicked in by an angry local. The combat initially took a while to click, and I’ll admit that even by the later stages I hadn’t gotten super comfortable with it. There’s a disjointedness to it that I found hard to ignore, despite the fact that the system itself is interesting.

It’s turn-based, and sees you and your opponent trading blows until one falls down. The twist here is that it’s also semi-card-based, with you drawing skills from a deck of acquired abilities for you and whichever Salutor you have equipped. The trick is to wear your opponent down, break their focus, improve your own stats, and take them out before they can do the same to you. We’ll ignore the fact that some fights see Wiktor get repeatedly slashed with blades or worse – this is a game after all.

You’ll need to choose the right skills for the right situation, as some can heal Wiktor, but may exact some kind of penance in return. The more skills you unlock the more varied the animations become for Wiktor and his demonic buddies, but it’s often these animations that stutter and create the jank that pulled me out of the moment. The camera work can be a bit stop-starty during fights, too. That being said, it didn’t ruin the experience for me – it was just something I regularly noticed.

Another thing I noticed but which I managed to largely ignore was the sometimes hit-and-miss voice acting. The actor behind Wiktor is superb, imbuing him with a quiet despair that can very quickly and subtly switch to dry, sarcastic wit when required. He’s a character with multiple layers, who feels immediately flawed and human despite his otherworldly talents. Other characters, though, particularly NPCs, fare less well, with random accents popping up here and there seemingly out of nowhere.

The Thaumaturge is a fairly glitchy game on PS5, but much less so than it was at launch on PC. And again, the gameplay does a lot to make up for any shortcomings. When not in combat Wiktor will often be using his various abilities to solve mini mysteries, complete side quests for NPCs, or investigate his environment to determine his next course of action.

Examining items will often give Wiktor psychic insight into the owner or creator of the item, which allows him to build cases of evidence in his mind. A great deal of The Thaumaturge’s runtime will be spent in such investigations, using focus to identify points of interest and then following spectral trails to your objectives.

Both combat and problem solving earn you skill points to use in one of four skill trees: Heart, Mind, Deed, and Word. Spending skill points in each will allow Wiktor to develop new abilities, open up new dialogue options, or even allow you to modify your existing combat skills with added effects.

The Thaumaturge is a game that sounds like it shouldn’t work on paper. There are a lot of elements clashing together from the turn-based combat to the deeper investigation mechanics and the RPG-lite progression, but the atmosphere is the gel that holds it together. The districts of Warsaw presented here are grim and rain-swept, gloomy and mucky, but there’s a strong human element and a palpable sense that you belong in the world even as Wiktor struggles to fit in or settle anywhere on a personal level.

Although it’s buggy at times and the combat didn’t quite click for me, I enjoyed my time with Wiktor and the world of The Thaumaturge. It’s a bleak place at times, but occasional snatches of humour add levity, and the deeper you peer into the mystery of Wiktor’s past and family history, the more engrossed you become in the eventual unravelling of it. It’s a slow-paced, occasionally clunky adventure, but one that delivers a unique experience in a year otherwise dominated by shooters and looters. If you missed The Thaumaturge before now, it’s well worth investigating the console version.