Capcom first introduced Pragmata – a uncommon unique IP from the writer greatest identified for Monster Hunter, Resident Evil, and Avenue Fighter – method again in June 2020.
Since then, it’s been delayed so many occasions that the actor behind its baby lead, Diana, is probably going properly on her method to a school training (if, certainly, the character is predicated on an actual individual).
You possibly can perceive why Capcom has taken its time with the sci-fi title: it doesn’t make wholly-original franchises typically – there was a 11-year hole between 2012’s Dragon’s Dogma and 2023’s Exoprimal – and the corporate is having fun with such a fruitful run of hits that it’s actually beneath no strain to hurry out a dud.
Another firm would set off alarm bells in the event that they delayed a venture like this a number of occasions over a full 5 years, however Capcom has sufficient belief within the financial institution with gamers that there’s confidence it can ship ultimately. Fortunately, a current hands-on press occasion instructed that is certainly the case, and Pragmata has shot up my private checklist of video games to be careful for in 2026.
Pragmata takes place within the close to future aboard an area station in disaster. Gamers management Hugh, an area man with fight abilities, alongside together with his android companion Diana, who has the looks of a human baby. Though few particulars have been shared concerning the plot, Pragmata’s trailers closely counsel actuality could have been twisted by generative AI and a mysterious substance often known as Lunafilament, and that every one will not be because it appears on the planet Earth we are able to see from our house home windows.
The curated 20-minute demo we performed begins with Hugh and Diana assembly for what seems to be the primary time. Hugh is injured, however a lot to his shock, this seemingly small baby is ready to get him again in control with little effort. After Hugh discovers Diana’s true nature, the pair determine to workforce up, and with the android clinging to the again of his house go well with, Hugh’s mission is to flee and attain Earth.
A misery name has been activated aboard the house station, and together with it, a military of frenzied safety robots. It’s right here that Pragmata’s core mechanic is lastly revealed: fight with a “hacking twist”.
Towards Hugh’s weapons, Pragmata’s robotic enemies are nearly invincible, together with his gun rounds bouncing off their shiny exterior as they slowly and menacingly march in direction of him, like a combination between I Am Robotic and The Terminator. That is the place Diana is available in: gamers should multitask aiming, capturing, and dodging utilizing the controller triggers, whereas concurrently ‘hacking’ enemies utilizing the face buttons.
As soon as initiated, the hack will show a mini-game on the precise aspect of the display screen, and gamers should full a snake-style circuit, connecting nodes on a grid from A-to-B, all whereas avoiding the approaching bot’s assaults within the bodily realm.
It’s a cool thought which makes for some actually intense fight, with bots typically getting inside inches of killing distance earlier than the hack is accomplished and Hugh blows them to items with a single shotgun blast. Whereas Hugh can’t meaningfully damage enemies with out Diana’s hacks, he can sluggish them down, particularly you probably have explicit weapons at hand with constricting ammo.
“It’s a cool thought which makes for some actually intense fight, with bots typically getting inside inches of killing distance earlier than the hack is accomplished and Hugh blows them to items”
Capcom has seemingly made a shooter the place gamers might want to lock in and continuously think about their choices. Capturing is satisfyingly weighty and, neatly, weapons solely have restricted photographs earlier than they’re junked totally, forcing you to assume strategically about which of them to make use of and which to avoid wasting for extra formidable foes.
Participant motion, too, feels grounded and regarded: Hugh controls like a tank, and though he can leap and glide throughout obstacles, he’s removed from an excellent soldier and feels weak amid the android risk.
Whereas the hacking premise could sound easy, we discovered it to be pleasurable throughout the context of a brief demo, with its tight fight arenas and punchy capturing. There’s additionally proof right here of the way it may meaningfully evolve over the total expertise.
Firstly, there are power-ups gamers can gather, that are added to the hacking mini-games. One, for instance, will add a node which, when handed by, will enhance your finish injury towards the enemy. Gamers can select to disregard this, ought to they need to reserve it for a harder foe.
The totally different robotic enemies we encountered additionally had varyingly advanced hacking mini-games, with flying drones prompting smaller hacking grids, and hulking mechs requiring the completion of bigger ones. When the demo ended with an enormous Steel Gear-like boss – which sadly we weren’t allowed to battle towards – we half anticipated a small Sudoku puzzle to seem on display screen.
Pragmata’s brief demo felt distinctive, polished, and left us wanting extra. There are query marks about how its concepts will shake out throughout an expertise possible in extra of tens of hours, however with Capcom’s unblemished fashionable monitor document, you’d be arduous pushed to not have religion that it’ll observe by on its concepts.
