GAME CLEAR No. 294 -- Pragmata

Pragmata (2026, Multiplatform)

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Clear Version: PS5
Clear Platform: PS5
Clear Date: 5/5/26

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Why should I care?
Pragmata is a focused game in an era of excess. That counts for something.

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Moon’s Best Dad

Man, it’s funny. I ran out and got this game on the strength of solid reception and a reported 12-hour runtime. I also don’t play a ton of third-person shooters, and this one seemed to have a neat little combat gimmick, so it seemed like a nice little mixup from my personal habits. Anyway, the funny part is I thought it would be kind of fun to really be on top of a recent AAA release for once — you know, be able to join in on the discourse — but this game made me feel basically nothing! I’ve got very little to say.

I mean, I’ll try. Pragmata is indeed a polished AAA title with production value to spare but without much of the bloat that has plagued a lot of games for the past decade or so. On top of that, it’s a new IP, which is nice. As much as I adore Mega Man, Devil May Cry, Ghosts’n Goblins and other great Capcom properties, I always respect taking a risk on something new instead of going back to the well. On paper, there’s a lot to like.

In practice, there’s some nice stuff too. Namely, I’m a fan of the setting and the combat mechanics. The game stars spaceman Hugh and cybernetic humanoid child Diana in the distant future. They team up shortly after Hugh arrives on the Moon to investigate a loss of communication from the moonbase to Earth. Together, they work to unravel the mystery of why there don’t seem to be any humans left on the moon.

This works in Banjo-Kazooiesque fashion. Diminutive Diana rides on the back of Hugh’s space suit. He does the shooting, and she does the hacking (despite being childlike in all other ways, Diana is a natural at this). The enemies take the form of security robots ordered around by an AI system that controls the whole moonbase called IDUS. “Hacking” involves solving little sliding block puzzles that appear whenever you aim at an enemy. Completing the act reveals the bots’ weak points, allowing Hugh to blast away far more effectively (in fact, it is practically a waste of time to shoot at an unhacked enemy). Both shooting and hacking mechanics must be juggled simultaneously in real time, all while also keeping Hugh physically out of harm’s way from enemy attacks. I think it creates a really nice tension once the game gets going in earnest. It’s something neat and new.

The lunar world of Pragmata has some fun stuff going on too. In the game’s world, the Moon is home to lunafilament, a miracle substance that is being aggressively researched and mind. It can basically be used to 3D print anything you can dream of and at any scale. Well, mostly anyway. Before long, the cracks start to show. Not long into the game, you step into a replica of a New York City block, but it is kind of a horrific nightmare. If you’re just glancing at it, it looks right, but if you look closely at anything, you see mistakes abound. Taxicabs fused into buildings, shit that’s upside down, etc. Logs you find scattered around the facility (classic) reveal a company ravenously pursuing the power of lunafilament, uncertainty and mixed results of testing be damned. It all reads as a frankly heavy-handed criticism of the current generative AI moment we’re living through. I’m here for that!

Still, even with these praiseworthy aspects, it’s hard for me to describe the primary gameplay as much more than “pretty good.” The combat is novel, yes, but I was never really wowed by a boss encounter, and the mook fights got pretty samey over time. I enjoyed some of the obvious criticism of tech industry greed, but other aspects of the plot fell pretty flat.

In particular, I found absolutely nothing emotionally interesting about the game’s protagonists. The game is pretty clearly try to elicit some Dad Feelings in its players by way of the dynamic between unlikely partners Hugh and Diana. It’s kinda cute that they get closer through the course of the game, but I never had any genuine “aww” moments nor heartstring pullers.

For a mark as easy as me, that’s not a good sign! I loved my father very much and was very close to him, due in part to real and significant sacrifices he made to make my life better. He also died far too young at just 58 (I was 25). I miss him every day. It should be very easy to score emotional points off of me with basic father-child dynamics, but this game really didn’t move me at all! Perhaps most upsettingly of all, it had a story decision that I thought was actually kind of effective, but it ultimately pulled the punch. Ugh.

Anyway, as I often do, I’ve rambled on about a game I said I didn’t have much to say about. It’s decent fun to run around a cool and weird 3D-printed moonbase doing shooting combat with robots in a new and unique way, but it’s all ultimately let down by a nothing story. A better narrative could’ve elevated the merely good gameplay, or truly excellent gameplay could’ve saved a lousy plot. Alas. At least it respected my time. I really can’t praise that aspect enough.