‘Pragmata’ Review

Developer: Capcom | Platform: PS5 | Playtime: 13:40 (24:40 total)

After several delays and just general project gestation, one of the last remaining PS5 reveal games Pragmata is finally out and it’s pretty damn good. I didn’t follow the prerelease too heavily other than it’s main re-reveal so my experience was fresh. It’s not a masterpiece but for a brand-new IP it’s a swing and a (nearly) massive hit.

The story follows Hugh, an engineer working for Dehli, sent to moonbase Cradle to fix some general problems. Disaster strikes with a moon quake and the base’s Robot workers going rogue, leading to the death of Hugh’s crew. Awakened by a childlike ‘Pragmata’ robot Hugh nicknames Diana, the pair work together to stop the station’s rogue AI and make their way back to Earth. 

The Father/Daughter relationship that forms between Hugh and Diana is what carries the story along. I appreciate that this isn’t like The Last of Us where there’s a deeper trauma preventing a true connection, Hugh is an orphan that understands the need for a parental figure despite not wanting kids. I’ll admit it’s a little frictionless and I don’t think I felt the same connection as a lot of players did by the end of the story - Not that I didn’t like Diana, I thought she was a very endearing character. The idle chatter the two engage in helps cement over any holes in characterisation.

At its core, the game is a fairly standard third person shooter (With emphasis on positioning and movement rather than cover shooting). Hugh only has a basic pistol on him with limited capacity that restores ammo gradually.  As he explores, he can find limited use weapons that come under the categories of Attack, Defence and Support. These might be a shotgun for Assault, a stasis net for defence or a decoy in support, just to name a few examples of each. All of these can be found in the world and upgraded back in the hub, where they can also be equipped for runs. 

The big gimmick and main selling point of the gameplay is the ability to hack enemies. When not hacked, enemies will take very little damage. Diana can hack enemies by navigating a grid on screen, snake style, using the D-pad to reach the end point. Exposed enemies take much more damage and have special weak points for even more damage. Things start off very basic to ease you in, with the extent of complexity being able to do a little damage with the hack itself. As the game goes on, Diana will be able to use special nodes that freeze an enemy in place or turn an enemy against another. There’s even hacking modes – rehack a hacked enemy and new special nodes appear – extra damage or filling up the heat meter to stagger an enemy and deliver big damage. The hacking grids get more complicated as the enemies get more advanced, getting larger, more complex in shape and having blocks in their design. The player also must optimise their routes in order to hack quickly enough but also not to use a good node at the wrong time. There’s a lot of strategy here which makes gameplay exciting. There are some drawbacks, getting hit will cancel a hack (while not aiming at an enemy only pauses it) making the mod that prevents that happening a must. Enemies walking into your line of sight also becomes a distraction as your hack screen completely changes. I assume this is intended challenge, but when there are multiple enemies in your peripheral view, the game sometimes doesn’t know which enemies hack menu to bring up. 

I might be picking fault with something that doesn’t really need picked at but it is curious that Diana has no further gameplay purpose other than Hacking. Obviously, Hacking is the games entire selling point and Diana’s presence carries a lot of the story thematically but in pure gameplay, her hacking ability could have easily been a generic robot, a flying space cow or even just a part of Hugh’s suit. I’m not saying the game needs it’s own token Resident Evil like secondary character stealth section but maybe something. 

The main hub of the game and where you’ll return to often is Shelter. Shelter operates perhaps most similarly to the Hunter’s Nightmare from Bloodborne (An odd comparison but stick with me).  Dying brings you back to Shelter and the various checkpoints throughout the levels bring you back to Shelter. There is fast travel but  only in the sense you can choose where to travel from when in Shelter. Here you will be able to upgrade Hugh’s Health, Weapon Damage and Diana’s hacking prowess as well as unlocking new abilities and upgrading the various weapons and hacking moduals you find (More below). Shelter is home to a friendly NPC by the name of Cabin who offers the player several bingo boards. Using the ‘Cabin Coins’ found throughout the world, the player can unlock new weapons, skins as well as accessing an enemy database, side lore story and Virtual missions for rewards. Shelter’s best feature  is the ability to display REMS. These are a collectible type that help simulate various earth based items such as a beach parasol or children’s globe. Completing a set for Diana leads to some charming moments. 

Upon completing the game, you unlock a bonus mode known as ‘Unknown Signal’. Less an epilogue and more of a... what if? Kind of scenario. Taking place before the final boss, the players unlock a new part of Cradle comprised of ten challenge chambers. To unlock them, the player must 100% the game as well as refighting harder versions of each sections box. Doing all that and beating the ten challenges gives the player some rewards including a special Mod. Completing the game with the Mod equipped unlocks a new ending. New ending is perhaps pushing it but it’s one extra line of dialogue – more of a cliffhanger and hint of a happier ending. Unknown Signal is fun, but I certainly wouldn’t play it just for the extra ending. 

Beating the game unlocks Lunatic difficulty but it can’t be played in NG+ (at the time of review, I’m hoping they change it in a patch). Lunatic is easily the hardest the game gets with enemies being stronger and more aggressive. I played for around an hour, reaching the first boss. Doable but I didn’t have enough steam left have doing everything else.

Despite slightly overstaying it’s welcome on the journey to the Platinum, Capcom have great new IP under their belt. Recent reports say this might be the first of a franchise. There’s room to improve but what you got here is a surprise hit that I enjoyed a great deal.