Fool’s Theory’s story-driven CRPGThe Thaumaturgesees players take on the titular role as a character named Wiktor, who can see, tame, and summon powerful ethereal entities known as Salutors. Supporting this key gameplay mechanic is a sorting system where Salutors, certain gameplay elements, and roleplay possibilities are essentially profiled. These are known inThe Thaumaturgeas Word, Heart, Deed, and Mind.
Magical abilities in combat or otherwise are no stranger toThe Thaumaturge’s developer Fool’s Theory, the studio behindthe upcomingWitcher 1remake. In a recent interview with Game Rant, design director Karolina Kuzia-Rokosz spoke more about Wiktor’s abilities and how they are impacted by the concept of Word, Heart, Deed, and Mind.
What Are Word, Heart, Deed, And Mind Mechanics In The Thaumaturge?
The Thaumaturgeis aturn-based, story-driven RPGwhere players wield different powers in and outside combat, including the ability to summon powerful Salutors, each with different characterization and abilities. Word, Heart, Deed, and Mind function as categories or “dimensions” that effectively “form the foundation of Thaumaturgy” in the game and also link closely to its Salutors, which are also divided into these four categories. Once players understand these dimensions, they’ll understand how each Salutor is tied to them. Kuzia-Rokosz went on to explain what Word, Heart, Deed, and Mind powers mean in practice.
If you uncover a secret belonging to the set of Mind, you can be sure you’ve found someone’s secretive thoughts, memories, ideas. The same applies to others: everything associated with the Word was once said, screamed, or whispered over the object of your interest. Heart implies that you’ve discovered remnants of someone’s emotions, desires, and love. And finally, when it comes to Deed, you’ve stumbled upon the remains of an action - pushing, pulling, smashing, a touch, etc.
How The Thaumaturge’s Word, Heart, Deed, And Mind Mechanics Impacts Its Gameplay
Often, video games can have some prettyunique magic systems, but what is especially interesting aboutThe Thaumaturge’s Heart, Deed, Mind, and Word mechanics is how they impact different kinds of gameplay, not just combat.
Each Salutor belongs to one of these dimensions, influencing how they respond to various situations, whether in combat or exploration. In combat, enemies use these dimensions to gain an upper hand over you. Outside of combat, Thaumaturges leverage these dimensions to better understand and categorize the emotions, thoughts, or desires of people.
As players explore and interact with the world of early 20th Century Warsaw and its various characters, players can use the powers of Word, Deed, Mind, and Heart in their investigations, enabling powers to reveal secrets or otherwise depending on which ones players utilize. The same seems to apply toturn-based combat, with each Salutor offering a different kind of approach per their specific gameplay abilities and associated with one of the aforementioned dimensions.
The Thaumaturge
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The Thaumaturge is an isometric, story-rich RPG with a unique take on turn-based combat, character development features, and investigation mechanics, facing you with morally ambiguous choices – set in a world teeming with mysterious powers and strange ethereal beings called salutors.The year is 1905. Warsaw lives under the yoke of imperial Russian tsardom. Its inhabitants constitute a diverse group of different ancestries, views, and beliefs with often conflicting interests: Russian soldiers, Jewish merchants, Polish townspeople, and more. Despite the circumstances, the city is a buzzing metropolis, where one can attend a breathtaking party with the high society, and later get robbed in one of the dark alleys of the Praga district. A city of great hopes and dreams on one hand and dark desires on the other.A thaumaturge bears both a gift and a burden at the same time. This parallel holds true for Wiktor Szulski, the game’s titular protagonist, who is drawn back to the tumultuous streets of 20th-century Warsaw by family matters. The gift of thaumaturgy is intertwined with family legacy, passed down through one’s ancestors. This mystical inheritance significantly shapes Wiktor’s life journey tied around a pursuit of unearthly entities and their hosts. As only a thaumaturge can tame these ethereal entities - known to a select few as salutors - utilizing their mystical abilities to discover secrets hidden within the human soul and speak to the Darkness, no one understands quite like Wiktor how everyone suffers their own demons.
