The moon has always been a spot of interest and wonder that humankind has dreamed about reaching and finally setting foot on, if briefly. Establishing moon bases and creating a permanent foothold on the barren landscape is something that humanity still has not completely mastered in this day and age. In science fiction, when you leave Earth and set up a colony elsewhere, there’s probably a good reason for leaving God’s green Earth. In PRAGMATA, the journey is about doing the exact opposite: escaping the confines of the lunar stations and returning to Earth, not just by yourself but with a young girl/android named Diana along with you.
PRAGMATA is much more than an escort mission. While the playable astronaut controls all of the movement and offensive capabilities, the young Diana riding piggyback along the way has some serious hacking prowess. As players dodge and shoot their way through autonomous death machines and androids, Diana can simultaneously hack through the enemy’s defenses. On paper, this sounds arduous with having to juggle between moving on one analog stick, aiming with another, firing with the shoulder buttons, and trying to navigate through a hacking minigame with Diana on the face buttons. In practice, it all flows very intuitively. The actual hacking minigame is about moving through a grid, bypassing traps, collecting nodes, and targeting the enemy core. In practice, the earlier hacking segments only took a second or two to move your little avatar around and collect the requisite nodes in order to disable the enemy shields.
There is a few weapons at the player’s disposal in PRAGMATA early on, each having its own mechanics and capabilities beyond just shooting and dealing damage. The player’s signature pistol has infinite ammo and takes time to recharge, while other weapons picked up off the ground might only have a clip or two before they’re discarded and replaced with something else. There’s a variety of energy weapons, and I leaned more into the energy shotgun type when it came to blasting my way through the brief demo.
It’s not all linear hallways and shooting gallery corridors in PRAGMATA. The player astronaut can jump and glide about briefly to reach far-off platforms, or shoot security locks and open up new elevators to help traverse the lunar station. Taking a step off the beaten path rewards the players with fresh weapons and even permanently increases the number of healing items they can carry at a given time.
PRAGMATA’s demo only ran about fifteen minutes or so after getting an initial introduction to the setting and reintroduction to a game that Capcom has revealed and talked about only briefly since the initial reveal five years ago today. During my entire session, I kept getting these uncanny Lost Planet vibes through the gunplay and overall technology used in the construction of the world. However, I’m sure this is just a personal take on the world of PRAGMATA.
There’s still some time to go before this adventure is ready for players’ hands as PRAGMATA will launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X, and PC sometime in 2026.
About the author: Kai joined the gaming team of Wccftech in 2016 and has since penned over a hundred reviews and interview pieces, covering a bit of everything from one-man indie gems to AAA masterpieces and whatever lies in between. Over the recent months, Kai has expanded into preview and interview coverage of not only the gaming side of the industry but also tech and consumer electronics.
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