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A Thaumaturge does well in discovering the hidden secrets that seem to elude most people, but you don’t have to be one to understand this dark and twisted experience. If those things get tricky, we can explain everything. This in-depth guide will be your go-to regarding all the ins and outs of your first few hours in The Thaumaturge. Whether it’s figuring out how to discover various clues and secrets, understanding flaws, or even teaching you how to build up your Salutor army, we got you covered.
The Thaumaturge: Getting Started
When it comes to The Thaumaturge, you’ll quickly notice that you have quite a bit of say in your choices and actions. Where you won’t have any character creation options, you can start shaping how your character acts and responds to others almost immediately. There will be some moments where you’re not quite sure of yourself, and that’s fine. Just trust your instincts and avoid skipping cutscenes if you can. The story here is important; it shapes the story and influences your choices.
Table of contents
The Thaumaturge: Controls
When it comes to mouse and keyboard, there aren’t too many controls you need to worry about, but it can be nice to see them all in one place while you’re playing.
- Exploration
- Quicksave – F5
- Load Last Save – F8
- Zoom In – Mouse Wheel Up
- Zoom Out – Mouse Wheel Down
- Go To The Place – Left Mouse Button
- Use Perception – Right Mouse Button
- Track Next Entry – E
- Track Previous Entry – Q
- Head Up – W
- Head Down – S
- Head Left – A
- Head Right – D
- Help – H
- Combat
- Start the Fight – F
- Show Combat Log – X
- Improve Thaumaturgy – T
- Cancel Action – Right Mouse Button
- Dialogues
- Select – F
- Skip Dialogue – Space
- Recall Conversation – X
- Choose Option 1 – 1
- Choose Option 2 – 2
- Choose Option 3 – 3
- Choose Option 4 – 4
- Choose Option 5 – 5
- Down – S
- Up – W
- Tabs
- Close – Escape
- Select – F
- Down – S
- Up – W
- Left – A
- Right – D
- Previous Category – Z
- Next Category – X
- Previous Tab – Q
- Next Tab – E
- Function 1 – Space Bar
- Function 2 – C
- Journal – J
- Entries – G
- Map – M
- Thaumaturgy – O
- Belongings – I
- Go Back – Escape
- Next – E
- Head Up – W
- Head Down – S
Making The Right Choices
Throughout your time in The Thaumaturge, you’ll face changes quite regularly, but there’s one thing that you’ll always have control over. Choices. Wiktor Szulski with a “W” not a “V” will be entirely controlled by you. That said, anytime you come to a portion of the game where multiple choices can be made, you are the one to choose the direction the story follows.
Almost immediately after the first couple of cutscenes end, you’ll be faced with some choices that will allow you to choose how the story progresses, and more specifically, how you communicate with your sister. Every action you make ties into a later reaction in the game, so it’s important to think through your choices carefully.
Your First Peek at The Thaumaturge Gameplay
The Thaumaturge can be a bit confusing at times. There are quite a few mechanics mixed that we don’t often see, but that doesn’t mean you should get discouraged. We can help get it all figured out for you.
Perception
Using Perception in The Thaumaturge is what gets you through most of the quests available. It is essentially the bread and butter of a Thaumaturge. You use your Perception to see things that are hidden from others. This can include emotions, actions, thoughts, words, and even traces of flaws. Using your Perception often will quickly get you through the most difficult portions of the game.
You can use your Perception in nearly any situation, whether in combat, on the hunt for clues, or just exploring. Use your right mouse button and you will begin to see traces that can then be tracked.
Into The Village
When you first start your story as Wiktor, you’ll need to travel to the village right away to find a healer, but this is also the portion of the game where you really begin to learn about all the different elements that combine to create The Thaumaturge.
You’ll start with your basic choice-making, which we already talked about a bit. While this dialogue doesn’t hold any serious consequences for you, were you to be rude to the Coachman, it’s still important to get in the habit of responding in the way that will be best for you in the long run.
Hoping For the Better
Once inside the village, you’ll officially begin the prologue, Hoping For the Better. During this time, you’ll witness some detective work, combat, more choice-making, and some wild new concepts that will make the game much more interesting.
Find the Miracle Worker in the Tavern
The first thing you’ll want to do is to be ready with your Perception. As soon as you enter the area, you can right-click on your mouse and immediately start finding clues with Perception that would otherwise be invisible to the average eye.
Every time you examine an object with your Perception, you’ll form an observation about it. Each observation opens up new possibilities for you in dialogue and opens your eyes to things you wouldn’t know about otherwise. Once you’ve made enough observations, you’ll form a conclusion and be able to use that to your advantage.
Using new information, and a slight bit of fighting, you will be able to follow your Perception into the tavern and speak with the miracle worker. Though, it won’t be an easy task.
Flaws
Flaws are essentially what draw our demons, or Salutors, to us. While Flaws would typically not be a great thing to have, being that you are a Thaumaturge, they’re important to have if you want to utilize your Salutors to the best of your ability.
You start out with the flaw of Pride, which must be fed in order to increase it. This can be done in various dialogue options. If you see a red symbol to the right of the dialogue option, it will draw from your Flaw of Pride but also feed it as well. Having a full Pride Level will do much more good than harm, so it’s best to be prideful when you can.
Combat
The Thaumaturge utilizes turn-based combat mechanics, so you’ll have time to think out your moves before you make them. However, you should be aware that in-game combat requires a certain amount of strategy if you are to survive.
Victory Conditions
To win a fight in The Thaumaturge, you must deplete the enemy’s Health Points. You can see below each enemy, there is a red bar with a number on the top right side. This is the enemy’s Health Bar; the number above it is their total Health Points. As you attack them and deal damage, this number will lower until it has fully depleted and the enemy dies.
Combat Skills
Combat Skills are the type of attacks that you use. They can do multiple things in combat, whether it’s attacking, lowering the enemy’s Focus, or even increasing your own Focus. It all depends on the type of skill you choose to use.
Every combat skill that you use in The Thaumaturge has a specific time requirement. While some skills might be slow or very slow, others, like the Quick Attack, happen very quickly without any chance of enemies getting a shot in first.
Action Queue
Given that the combat in The Thaumaturge is turn-based, you’ll need to keep track of the action queue. Due to your increased Perception as a Thaumaturge, you can anticipate and predict enemy actions before they are made. This shows up in the top portion of the screen, with each enemy attack appearing as a bar.
Using the Action Queue, you can predict attacks that will be made on you. Because of this ability, you’ll be able to get attacks in before enemies do and even use skills that allow you to interrupt their upcoming actions once you unlock more skills in the future.
Understanding The Thaumaturge HUD
There are several different elements of the HUD that we’ll discuss now.
- Thaumaturgy
- This menu opens up the Thuamaturgy interface where you can spend new Thaumaturgy Points to purchase skill upgrades and improve your powers.
- Entries
- This menu gives you access to all Entries you’ve come across including Conclusions, Stories, Salutors, Characters, Text, Locations, and Factions.
- Map
- This menu opens up the map so you can see your location as well as all the points of interest around you and waypoints.
- Belongings
- This menu shows you everything you’ve collected in your inventory. This includes Story Items, Stereoscopic Photographs, Fashion Magazines, Gramophone Recordings, Sketches, and clothing.
The Thaumaturge F.A.Q.
There are surely some questions you might still have, so let’s check out some answers to frequently asked questions.
What Platforms Will The Thaumaturge Be On?
The Thaumaturge will be available on PC. It is unknown whether it will become available on other platforms in the future.
Can My PC Run The Thaumaturge?
The minimum requirements to run The Thaumaturge on PC are:
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 10 (64-bit)
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 (6 core with 3,5 GHz) or Intel i5-10400F (6 core with 2,9 Ghz)
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: Radeon 5600xt (6GB) or Nvidia GTX 1060 (6GB)
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 25 GB available space
This is subject to change as the game development progresses and new updates release.
The Thaumaturge is now available on PC.
