Originally revealed during the Future of PlayStation Showcase before receiving an indefinite delay back in 2022, Capcom re-unveiled their new IP Pragmata during the latest PlayStation State of Play, and it’s now slated to release during 2026, alongside other big hitters like Resident Evil Requiem and Onimusha: Way of the Sword.
At Summer Game Fest, I had the opportunity to go hands-on with a 20-minute demo of Pragmata. At first glance, Pragmata looks like another over-the-shoulder third-person action game in the vein of the “sad dad” simulator as your character takes care of a child. Thankfully, Capcom found a unique angle for the concept besides its sci-fi aesthetic, which is boding well as we get to the game’s tentative release window.
In Pragmata, you play as Hugh, who wears a sleak, futuristic mecha suit and protects a robotic child named Diana as they navigate through a space station fighting rogue robots. Facing off with the varying robots on the moon station, the gameplay has an air of similarity to EA’s Dead Space. What sets Pragmata apart is a very simple but quite engaging hacking mechanic where you have to complete a specific pattern mini-game in order to expose the robot’s weaknesses, helping you take them down swiftly.
While the concept of “hack before you shoot” can seem annoying, in execution it is very satisfying when mixed with Pragmata’s competent gunplay. This leads to frantic scenarios where you’re simultaneously juggling hacking, aiming, and dodging, thus giving the game a unique identity. If you remember the code input mechanic from last year’s Helldivers 2, you’ll have a pretty good idea of how the hacking mechanic feels when playing. Besides a regenerating six bullet pistol, the demo also included a taste of other weapons you can use against enemies who also all have their own hacking patterns. This gave me a taste of the expanding strategy and puzzle solving that will be required when having to battle groups of enemies simultaneously.
Besides combat, the demo gave us a sense of the game’s moment-to-moment progression. Based on what we played, it seems like Pragmata is a curated linear experience with some deviations for exploration to solve some environmental puzzles via hacking to proceed. Considering that many other Capcom games eventually would go the wide linear route, there is a possibility Pragmata goes down that route as well, but it wasn’t conveyed in the demo besides the massive size of the facility. The mix of exploration and combat scenarios flowed fairly well, and it culminated in what seemed like it was going to be a boss fight before the demo had to be cut short by our Capcom representative.
There’s still time before Pragmata‘s release next year, and with some more polish work ahead of it (the frame rate was pretty inconsistent in the demo we played), it’s looking like a solid new IP for Capcom as the studio continues to fire on all cylinders. Considering what happened the last time Capcom tried to launch a new IP before it faded to nothing (I still miss you Deep Down), I’m glad Pragmata emerged from development hell, and it’s looking quite promising, indeed. Crossing fingers it delivers next year, and stay tuned for more on Pragmata in the future.
[…] critical and commercial success of Resident Evil Requiem, the positive momentum of next month’s Pragmata and the salivating return of Onimusha later this year, one would think they’re in good enough […]