We previewed Pragmata's Moon
Amidst pristine white surfaces, an android child... and New York?
Exactly one month before the arrival of Pragmata (have you read the news about the early launch?), we were invited by Capcom and Plaion (the game's Italian distributor) to try out the Japanese software house's new action game in a secret room. The portion of the game made available to us was not the same as previously presented to the press, but another, new one, set in a slightly later section. A few weeks before launch, in short, Pragmata seems ready to reveal a bit more.
Pragmata's lunar settings
The first impact with Pragmata is filtered through the aesthetics of the lunar base where we meet Hugh, our protagonist, and Diana, the android with the appearance of a child who will accompany us on our adventure, with a truly decisive role, as we will see shortly. The aesthetic references immediately bring to mind Moon and that genre of sci-fi films: blindingly white environments, extreme cleanliness, minimalism that calms and at the same time disquiets. Within this environment, we are given some time to get to know Diana, who despite her appearance is an AI-controlled robot and carries with her a great deal of curiosity for the real world, the one beyond this lunar production station, the terrestrial one, of which Hugh can provide direct testimonies.
This environment, which also contains the hub to return to for applying modifications and upgrades to your equipment, represents only the antechamber of our mission, which takes place in another area of this lunar settlement: a replica of New York recreated through lunar fiber. Most likely later in the story, we are destined to discover more about this futuristic production system and the implications this material has had on society: in terms of gameplay, however, we immediately find ourselves immersed in a kind of bizarre Inception city, whose architecture based on the Big Apple of yesteryear is both strange and fascinating. But above all, it provides space for open-field battles. But at this point, it's time to talk about combat.
Pragmata's combat
Our presence on the lunar base, in fact, is not a cheerful stroll: we have been called on site to solve a decidedly disturbing problem, namely the breakdown of the AI system that manages the structure. In other words, it's up to us to reduce the abundant presence of robots, of various shapes (arachnophobes beware), that populate this lunar city to scrap metal. This time, however, the usual abundant dose of lead will not be enough, or rather, it will not be enough on its own. A good part of our chances of success are in fact linked to the hacking support provided by Diana, although in the reality of the gameplay it will be up to us to put it into practice successfully by moving our fingers quickly on the pad.
Specifically, aiming at the enemy by pressing the usual left trigger opens up two opportunities: hacking and shooting (also manageable simultaneously if your fingers allow it). Pressing the right trigger, as always, fires a shot; the four canonical buttons (triangle, X, square, and circle on the PS5 with which we tried the demo) control the progress of hacking on a square grid of different dimensions. Our goal is to move the cursor from the starting square to the arrival square, possibly collecting bonuses and avoiding penalties: pressing Triangle, for example, moves us to the upper square, while Circle takes us to the right, to be clear. On paper, it seems complicated, but with a bit of practice, it comes quite naturally. But above all, you quickly get used to this dynamic in which the fingers of the right hand move furiously to solve the mini-game as quickly as possible to lower the robots' defenses, so that the few bullets at our disposal can be effective. Yes, because weapons and ammunition are much less abundant than you would hope if you found yourself on a lunar base controlled by an out-of-control AI, so all that remains is to rely on Diana, the environment, and cool blood.
Our impressions of Pragmata
A couple of hours isn't much, but it's not often you spend a couple of hours on the Moon, right? Back on Earth, we try to put our thoughts in order. The first certainly goes to the RE Engine, already appreciated on Resident Evil Requiem and here dealing with wider and freer environments: in short, if during that city walk at the beginning of Requiem you wished to see Capcom's engine tackling environments of this type again, you will be satisfied. If the future of graphics is played on hair rendering, the RE Engine will certainly be ready!
Broadening our view a bit, this section offered us a taste of Pragmata's gameplay different from what has been shown to the press so far. Hacking is undoubtedly the core element and it works: every encounter benefits from an additional component of frenzy and unpredictability that transforms battles with numerous groups into ballets between prey and hunters. The verticality of the environments is also very interesting, requiring the use of the jetpack to be explored and brains to be traversed: the path to the next battle is not always obvious. And the presence of gigantic bosses, like the one we found ourselves facing, can offer truly intriguing developments. Suggestive insights also come from the narrative sector, although it is certainly the most derivative: the relationship between the protagonist and the child/robot is not the most original, but it is declined around nostalgia for Earth and human creations and can give rise to interesting situations very close to the experience of us humans today, off-screen.
Our return to Earth, therefore, was accompanied by decidedly positive feelings: the turning point of Pragmata will most likely be that hacking system, the true element that differentiates Capcom's action from other titles of the same genre. As far as we could see, this new system works quite well (and is fun, which is not a minor detail), it remains to verify it in the more advanced stages of the game, when it will necessarily have to be more complex and elaborate. We will read each other again on these pages in about a month for the definitive opinion.