For years following the June 2020 PlayStation Showcase, many felt that Pragmata might not ever see the light of day. Despite a very intriguing reveal trailer, the game didn’t hit its scheduled 2022 release date, which resulted in multiple delays. After a reappearance at State of Play, Pragmata is finally preparing to launch in 2026. The mysterious sci-fi game is set to be yet another new major IP from Capcom, joining both Exoprimal and Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess in recent years.
From the initial reveal trailer, I was already wanting to see more. We saw a man in a spacesuit appear on the streets of a city, seemingly on Earth, with a little girl tagging along and playing with a robotic, glitching cat. Around halfway through the trailer, a satellite crashes into space, throwing off the gravity and shooting the pair into space. The trailer ended with the two standing on the moon, looking on toward Earth, and that alone was enough for Pragmata to shoot up in my list of anticipated games at the time. What’s interesting to me about this trailer is that even with the stunning setting, we had no idea what the game would play like. After finally getting hands-on time with the game at Summer Game Fest: Play Days this year, Pragmata is unlike any game I’ve ever played—and it’s absolutely incredible.
Pragmata is set on the moon, following Hugh, a human astronaut, and Diana, an android. While everything at first seems normal aboard the space station, you quickly realize that the base’s AI has gone rogue, deeming Hugh a threat. As a result, the system sends all sorts of robots to eliminate Hugh, which leads him to meet Diana. The two end up working together in hopes of stopping the terrors set in place by the station and its AI.
Even with my brief 25-minute demo, I found myself deeply immersed in the narrative and world of Pragmata. While we have seen plenty of games set in abandoned space stations, the AI focus and visual design allow Pragmata to carve out its own identity. The game throws together action combat with puzzle-solving in a way that hasn’t really been done before.
So, how does Pragmata innovate in a market filled with action games? The answer lies with the design behind controlling Hugh and Diana, as you have to control the abilities of both characters at once. Hugh is able to utilize many different guns, which are scattered throughout the environment. This can range from his trusty pistol to rifles that deal a ton of damage but take time to recharge. You control Hugh by using the left stick to move around, the triggers to shoot and aim, and the right bumper to dodge incoming enemy attacks. Additionally, you can switch between your different guns with the D-Pad, similar to Resident Evil.
Diana, on the other hand, is where things get really fascinating. As an android herself, she has unique abilities that completely differ from what Hugh is capable of doing. Almost every action game out there has you use the standard buttons for various abilities, like shuffling between items, reloading, jumping, and more. However, in Pragmata, these buttons are used as directional inputs when hacking into enemies.
All enemies in the game feature an armor layer to protect against any unwanted damage. That poses a problem for Hugh, as his weapons cannot penetrate said armor, which results in minuscule damage. This is where Diana comes in—while you are controlling Hugh and jetting around the space station shooting enemies, you have to input directions as Diana to hack the enemies and open up their armor. These grids come in different sizes depending on the enemy, and you need to connect the start to the end as if it were a game of Snake. For maximum efficiency, there are various special squares that can leave enemies exposed for longer, so you want to pay close attention to the grid to maximize success with Hugh.
I found this combat system to really challenge every part of the brain, which is something that isn’t always the case nowadays. You can’t simply rely on shooting an enemy and dodging—you must do this while navigating puzzles using all four main buttons on the front of the controller (Square, Triangle, Circle, Cross). The result is a game that had me quickly analyzing every action and attempting to dodge and maneuver away from enemies as I hacked their armor defenses. It feels like there are so many different paths that the team can go in the final game, and that only has me more excited as I think about the possibilities.
Another strong point for me in my demo was the nature of the relationship between Hugh and Diana. The dynamic was already starting to pull me in, and I’m curious to see how Capcom depicts the two as stakes rise higher in the battle against the AI. An interesting story will be key to tying the entire experience together, and I’m hopeful that Capcom will deliver here based on my time with the game.
I also want to mention that, in between combat, there was a section dedicated to platforming around to solve puzzles. I had to find five different hackable locations to unlock a door, which required me to jump around as Hugh and seek out terminals for Diana to hack. Hugh’s moveset out of combat is fun, as he has both a jump and a hover that can be used to reach ledges and things of that nature. Based on the segment I played, I’m excited to see what other environmental puzzles are scattered throughout the space station.
Overall, Pragmata is also shaping up to be quite excellent. The genius combination of puzzle-based Hacking and traditional action gameplay sets up a game like no other, and I feel I’ve barely scratched the surface of what Capcom has in store for this game. During Play Days, Pragmata ended up being my favorite game of the entire show. I was able to play the game very early on, and I just couldn’t stop thinking about it in the days that followed. There is an unbelievable amount of potential here, and I cannot wait to get my hands on the game next year.
Pragmata is set to launch across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam in 2026.
