Capcom’s sci-fi adventure action game Pragmata has been cooking for a long time, but from what I’ve played, it’s going to be well worth the wait. While my hands-on time with the game at Summer Game Fest was only short, it got its hooks into me quickly, and has been one of the games I’ve not stopped thinking about since.
From its mysterious AI-based narrative and lunar research base setting to its dual protagonists, their hybrid puzzle-combat and robot enemies, there’s plenty to get into here.
However, I’m most intrigued by the way it feels to play. Actually having protagonists Hugh and Diana in the palm of my hands with a controller, feeling how they move around the station, and taking the actual mechanics for a spin really gave me a really eye-opening window into the game.
How two become one
Put in the shoes of Hugh, who is sent to investigate a sci-fi-tastic station on the moon after contact is lost, I regain consciousness and am soon greeted by Diana, my rescuer, and a state-of-the-art android who looks like a young girl. The setup of these dual protagonists is a compelling one, and with Diana riding on Hugh’s back, I have the immediate sense of them blending to become more of a single character than a duo.
There’s debris everywhere, and the distinct shapes of bipedal androids on the floor, which I have to assume are not just sleeping. They immediately pose a threat that Hugh has to deal with. I quickly find out that just shooting Hugh’s weapons at an enemy is ineffectual. However, Diana quickly proves critical and can hack enemies to disable their armor and allow Hugh to inflict damage. He can then target weak points and take down baddies satisfyingly with his guns.
But there’s a bit more to it, as all that happens simultaneously with you in control of it all. It looks like you’re being asked to perform a combination of third-person action shooting and a BioShock minigame puzzle at the same time, which I was very sceptical of at first. However, all of my fears were soon allayed: it really does work.
Using Diana to hack enemies by routing through an on-screen grid, sometimes through tiles to trigger effects like extra damage, followed by a volley from Hugh’s weapons, is multilayered, yes, but never overwhelming. It’s compelling, and I like the way it engages different parts of your brain. It ups the ante, leaving every enemy encounter feeling impactful.
However, I will say that the movement and traversal didn’t feel quite right. While I appreciate that the heaviness seems intended to convey that Hugh is traveling with Diana on his back, I found it a little over-sluggish, and the hover ability a bit weak. Nothing is game-ruiningly slow, but it could be a little quicker for sure.
What comes after dreaming?
Something that certainly makes Pragamata a compelling upcoming game for me is the setting and what I’ve seen of the story. There’s elements of Philip K Dick and Blade Runner here, with a focus on AI and android awareness. In today’s context of AI in our everyday lives and the tech we use, this seems particularly of the moment.
The mystery of trying to find out what happened to the research facility is the kind of thing that’ll get me hooked by itself – I love Dead Space, for example – but the injection of AI droids, and simply not knowing what is going on or what has happened, is simple, but effective. I felt consistently compelled to move on to the next area, desperate to find out more.
There’s a lot of charming, almost early 2000s video game DNA here – and I mean that in the best possible way. Stylish sci-fi, heaps of intrigue, and some shooty guns and puzzles to boot, it all meshes together to make for a memorable experience and one I’m looking forward to when the game releases next year on PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC.
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rob.dwiar@futurenet.com (Rob Dwiar)
