REVIEW: ‘Pragmata’ Provides An Excellent And Emotional Sci-Fi Experience

Pragmata is an action-adventure game from Capcom that maintains the stellar quality seen in the publisher’s recent titles. Pragmata takes place in a futuristic setting and follows Hugh, an astronaut sent to the moon to investigate strange occurrences at a station known as The Cradle.

However, shortly after arriving and beginning their investigations, the group is hit by a mysterious seismic activity that causes the death of most of them, with Hugh being the only survivor. Things escalate even further when he is surrounded by a horde of androids who have become hostile after being controlled by the station’s mysterious AI, IDUS. Luckily, Hugh meets an advanced autonomous “Pragmata” whom he names Diana.

The two team up and begin their quest to get Hugh back to Earth and search for answers on the mystery behind what happened to IDUS and The Cradle, while evading and defeating several hostile androids that come after them. Pragmata successfully engages players with its interesting narrative, sci-fi elements, and great gameplay. 

Environmental storytelling is Pragmata’s most interesting and engaging narrative element.

Pragmata‘s narrative concept is incredibly simple, but as players progress through the game, the story expands, revealing several important details. This includes answers to what is truly happening on the Cradle, the origins of Diana and the androids, and who’s really behind the anomalies occurring on the moon.

However, the most interesting and engaging element of the narrative is the environmental storytelling, which reveals how far humanity has advanced and clues about its current state, explains why there’s a massive station on the moon, and so much more.

Each new stage and section of the Cradle further unveils the game’s mysteries, keeping players engaged from start to finish. The only drawback is that, as there aren’t many characters, with most being androids, the narrative is much more limited compared to other sci-fi games. Regardless, it remains entertaining. The story is gripping, touching, and even poignant at times, and it’s incredibly easy to fall in love with the protagonists and root for their unlikely partnership on their grand journey.

The combat system is unique, intense, fast-paced, and immensely satisfying.

Gameplay-wise, Pragmata is simple but layered. Players control Hugh and Diana in third person as they hack enemies and use a variety of weapons. Players aim and shoot at enemies with the analog sticks while simultaneously hacking them with the buttons on the right side of the controller.

The combat system is unique, intense, fast-paced, and immensely satisfying, especially when executed correctly. Players must hack androids as fast as they can while shooting and evading their attacks in order to deal as much damage as possible.

The best part of combat is finding ways of defeating enemies in the most efficient way possible. This includes finding the best combination of weapons, mods, and hacking tools during combat and using different tools for different scenarios. Weapons include the default rechargeable pistol, a plasma shotgun, a weapon that immobilizes androids, and more. Players also acquire a variety of mods, including mobility mods, mods that increase health and other stats, weapon mods, and more.

Pragmata is not especially difficult on the standard settings, making it easy to jump into.

Outside mods, players can also increase their stats at The Shelter, the duo’s customizable safe room. Stats and upgrades include enhancements to Hugh’s weapons, health, thrusters, mods, and Diana’s hacking abilities. Upgrading the duo’s stats is simple, versatile, and intuitive, with no skill trees or unnecessary level grinding. The gameplay elements are incredibly customizable, as players can spend as many resources as they want only on the tools and skills they wish, and still survive the game’s toughest challenges.

It’s worth noting that Pragmata is notably not a tough game to beat, as 80 percent of the game, if not the entire game, can be completed without dying on the standard difficulty setting, especially for players used to the genre. Additionally, the enemy variety is noticeably lacking, as players encounter many of the same enemy types throughout the game.

A great sound design matches every action to a perfect sound effect or audio cue.

Other than that, when not completing the game’s main objectives, players can also find and pick up several items that unlock facilities and objects at The Shelter for Diana to play with. This unlocks even more wholesome moments with her. They can also pick up holo logs revealing more about the narrative.

Picking up these items always feels rewarding, especially after the cute scenes and moments with Diana that follow. However, it’s worth noting that Pragmata is incredibly linear, so aside from these elements, there isn’t much to explore or gain from exploring.

The game also sports excellent sound design. Almost every action has a corresponding sound effect or audio feedback. Notable audio cues range from little details, like Hugh’s heavy footsteps echoing in the spacious chambers of the station, to the whir of his thrusters. The heavy sound of the metallic doors opening, each shot from a plasma weapon, and more fill out the soundscape. These little details do a great job of elevating the game’s sci-fi experience.

Pragmata is one of the best-looking sci-fi games in recent years.

Another of Pragmata’s best features is its visuals. The game sports immaculately detailed models, great lighting, and an amazing art direction. It is by far one of the best-looking sci-fi games in recent years, with an aesthetic unparalleled by most of its counterparts.

Lastly, while the game performs well throughout, with no lag, frame-rate dips, or crashes on PlayStation 5, an odd bug turned the characters’ entire skin pitch black. This happened at the start of the game after swapping between the visual and performance settings. However, it was quickly fixed by just restarting the game, and it didn’t occur again.

Overall, Pragmata is a great sci-fi action-adventure game that doesn’t demand much of its players and delivers an entertaining experience throughout. While it’s a game more tailored to sci-fi fans and is limited in scope, it is a near-perfectly crafted title that genre fans will no doubt enjoy.

Pragmata launches on April 17 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.