Another Hit for Capcom: Pragmata Review

Capcom's 2026 could go down in history as one of the best years in the long history of the Japanese software house. In recent months alone, the company has racked up a long list of successes, the likes of which haven't been seen in a long time. Starting with Resident Evil: Requiem, the ninth chapter of the horror saga that has brought the franchise back to popularity peaks not seen since the PlayStation era.

In the background, however, the Japanese company has accompanied the return of one of its most famous brands with two other hits, which went a little more unnoticed: Monster Hunter Stories 3, which despite being only a spin-off has managed to garner similar acclaim to the main chapters, and Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection, a collection that updates and makes available on modern systems the chapters originally released on 3DS. And it would be natural at this point to say that it's only April… if there wasn't another potential success just around the corner: Pragmata.

• The Plot of Pragmata
• Hacking and Weapons in Pragmata
• The Design of Pragmata
• Final Thoughts on Pragmata

The Plot of Pragmata

Capcom's new game takes us to the near future, where humanity has built a base on its satellite, the Moon, where the abundance of a new material, called Lunite, is enabling enormous technological developments. As in the most classic of sci-fi movie openings, something is not going right, and a team of four technicians is sent from Earth to investigate. Things quickly escalate due to moonquakes (as the phenomenon is called in the – incidentally – excellent Italian dubbing), and soon our alter-ego Hugh finds himself the sole survivor of the team.

On the lunar base, however, he is not alone. By his side is Diana, an android with the appearance of an 8-year-old girl (I don't know exactly, I just guessed, I'm not very good with children, but small anyway…) controlled by an AI that seems to come very close to human behavior, emotions included: a Pragmata. What exactly a Pragmata is and what functions it performs is not yet clear, but Hugh has far more urgent problems to think about, embodied by abundant supplies of robots ranging from humanoid size to that of a skyscraper (not to mention those that fly), all subservient to human programming and controlled by IDUS, the artificial intelligence that is in command of the entire station and is currently completely out of control. Fortunately for Hugh, and therefore for us players, Diana seems to be able to interface with the robotic threats alerted by IDUS and hack their defenses, allowing Hugh's weapons to damage them. Which brings us straight to the main, and most innovative, mechanic of Pragmata.

Hacking and Weapons in Pragmata

Once we get to know Diana and decide to take her with us around the lunar station, every time we aim our weapon at an enemy by pressing the left trigger, the hacking menu will open on the right side of the screen. This is a grid of variable dimensions within which we will have to move like in a game of Snake on a Nokia 3310 using the gamepad buttons (Triangle, Square, Circle, and X on PS5) as directional inputs to get as quickly as possible to the green square that starts the hacking. The grid, small for the first basic enemies, grows as hostilities increase, while bonuses and obstacles can appear between its cells.

Pragmata's upgrade and reward system allows Diana's capabilities to be increased, adding special yellow nodes to the grid that, if “stepped on,” enhance the effectiveness of the hacking, adding side effects ranging from overheating to a confused state that causes the afflicted robot to briefly target its allies. In fact, enemy encounters always take place on two levels simultaneously: on one hand, the primary operation is always hacking, which exposes the enemies' weak points, but electronic sabotage must go hand in hand with a good rate of fire, especially when the situation is crowded. Indeed, often the secret to a quick victory is the right combination of hacking and firepower.

At the beginning of his lunar adventure, Hugh is equipped only with a simple pistol, with a rather sparse rate of fire, but equipped with self-recharging energy bullets. For some reason, however, other weapons are present in the lunar base, and neither we nor Hugh will have much trouble getting our hands on them (the fallibility of the most sophisticated AIs is essential for the success of the plot, let's not be snobs). These additional tools are divided into three categories in the equipment menu, two offensive and one defensive, but each of these additional weapons has limited ammunition, and their use in battle is initially limited to one weapon per category, in addition to the standard pistol (which fortunately will become a much faster bayonet at a certain point).

The need to always consider the tactical and strategic plan of the encounter is further amplified by the presence of a wide range of upgrades, unlockable by collecting different types of in-game currencies, which modify and increase the effectiveness of weapons, the range of hacking, but also Hugh's individual abilities. If, for example, one chooses to grant a bonus to attacks made from behind, all of Hugh & Diana's equipment must be built on the ability to immobilize or disorient opponents, so as to be able to approach their backs without major threats. The more specific weapons, however, as mentioned, have limited ammunition, so it comes quite naturally to use them sparingly, relying on the primary weapon with infinite shots (but with a cooldown time) and rationing the use of rocket launchers and other more effective tools only when one is sure not to waste a shot. In any case, there's no need to worry too much about defining your build every time you jump into action: if a specific weapon is recommended for an encounter, the game will make you find it on the ground just before hostilities begin. Which brings us to the next point.

The Design of Pragmata

Pragmata does an exceptional job of concealing its old-school linear action structure under a very modern look. In fact, taking it apart piece by piece, Pragmata is an adventure across 6 levels, each disconnected from the other and linked by a central hub through which different areas are accessed. Each individual area is then further divided into blocks, and every time you enter a new block, the tram terminal (I swear, the shuttle that moves through the structure is called a tram! As a Milanese, I absolutely love it) activates, serving as a checkpoint: from there, you can return to the Cradle, our hub, and immediately spend everything you've collected to upgrade Hugh and Diana. Potentially, then, at each “checkpoint,” it's possible to return to base, heal, upgrade, and resume exploration from the last stop reached.

The game itself pushes in this direction by increasing the challenge level from block to block: since in the first run you can only choose easy or normal difficulty, I rarely felt the need to return to base; in fact, advancing with low health and zero medkits added that thrill that low difficulty often didn't allow. In fact, however, Pragmata never offers anything truly new after forming the Hugh & Diana duo in the first hour: sure, there are new weapons and new hacking abilities, but the basic mechanics remain the same throughout the game, perhaps to be executed more quickly or in more complicated situations. The increase is quantitative, not qualitative: bigger enemies, with larger health bars or more lethal attacks; and more complex hacking grids or those obstructed by temporary blocks. The apex of this philosophy is embodied by the boss fights, spectacular sequences in which we will have to deal with metallic beasts not as big as a building, but truly as big as an entire apartment complex. Even in this case, however, the script doesn't change much; you have to find the right distance in the context of decidedly vast arenas and dodge increasingly devastating attacks, alternating hacking and heavier calibers.

It's not a flaw (I'll get to that shortly), but a distinctive trait that Pragmata carries forward with consistency throughout the entire game experience, allowing variety to emerge elsewhere, particularly in the many categories of upgrades that allow you to customize your versions of Hugh & Diana and, through them, the approach to combat in the game. Even the lunar station, seemingly a labyrinth of tunnels and connections, is actually explored without particular worries: thanks to the objective indicator viewable through Diana, it's impossible to get lost, and in any case, there's almost always only one key to find and one door to open.

The lunar base itself reflects a very minimalist aesthetic canon focused on white, as sci-fi tradition dictates (I'm thinking of the more or less recent films Moon and Gravity, but the examples would be endless, including Adrift and other games on the theme) which the RE Engine manages to render with superb visual fidelity: it's a shame that, upon closer inspection, almost nothing is truly interactable (for example, there are parts of corridors where an invisible wall blocks us), but – once again – this is not necessarily a flaw, but rather a design choice (as well as an optimization of time/costs/benefits). As mentioned at the beginning, the game tries very hard to mask certain mechanisms because it has an idea in mind and wants to lead the player there, perhaps without making them overly notice the limitations of its options. And in this, Pragmata works very well.

The doubt is, rather, how well it can also work in the long run, because in the case of Pragmata this is an important point. Let me explain better. I finished the main adventure of Pragmata in about ten hours, and obviously there's still a lot to do to complete it 100%: I haven't played the additional simulation missions nor have I scoured every corner of the base to find the items left behind, but will I want to start a new game on hard difficulty to do so? The base and all the visited scenarios are truly a pleasure for the eyes, but apart from a few more inspired and imaginative sections, for the most part, it's corridors and white rooms: beautiful, very beautiful and shiny, but all white and all the same.

Similarly, the encounters along the way follow a rather decipherable progression, with the difficulty bar rising due to the presence of more and more lethal robots, not due to different attack routines or other “emergent” elements. And the plot, perfectly in line with the sci-fi mentioned earlier, clarifies everything in the first run, without needing a second to be understood. Thus, the stimulus remains the opportunity to test different builds, try different combinations of weapons & hacking, upgrade everything, and move like a damned, badass exterminator… which is not insignificant, I admit, but it's not my thing.

Final Thoughts on Pragmata

At this point, however, personal approach undoubtedly comes into play. I'm not the type who usually replays titles already completed (life is short and the backlog doesn't forgive), so I'm probably not the most sensitive person to the call of Pragmata's NewGame+. However, I think it's also quite undeniable that Pragmata relies heavily on that; combining the length of the adventure and the quantity of elements to discover within it, to fully appreciate Capcom's new action game, it's necessary to do at least a couple of playthroughs. I probably won't be the most enthusiastic person about this aspect of the game, but in my case, the first playthrough was beautiful and significant, full of emotional moments (be careful, they lean quite heavily on the father-daughter relationship, if you're sensitive) and battles I survived by jumping on the couch with satisfaction.

I had a lot of fun, because (or even if) the game was clever at masking its limitations almost until the end, but once I realized that everything I needed to survive I learned in the first hour of the game, the idea of playing a few more rounds became less appealing (I'm always and only speaking for myself, mind you; in fact, the idea at this point would be to tackle the entire game without optional upgrades, only skill-based ones, but I admit I'm excessively bad). Beyond that, however, Pragmata has many good ideas, even if it plays them out early, and ultimately it also gets by with the plot (whose genre dictates that AIs are very clever, but exploitable!). Perhaps it lacks a bit of that Resident Evil charisma (I said nothing, I know), that additional dose of mythology that encourages revisiting the same places in search of new clues (or perhaps simply more varied environments, who knows). All in all, however, Pragmata is an excellent action game that has what it takes to be fresh and stimulating, thanks especially to the hacking-related mechanics. The likelihood of returning to it later will depend on your urge for completionism or the fascination that the different combinations of weapons and upgrades will exert on you. The chances, however, that Pragmata is just the first chapter of a new saga ready to be added to Capcom's already extensive catalog, well, those are quite high already.