Pragmata seems like an occasion of parallel pondering with Helldivers 2. Final yr’s hit multiplayer recreation was lauded for plenty of causes, however not least due to its strategems mechanic–demanding you enter a fancy collection of button presses within the warmth of fight. Pragmata, the third-person single-player shooter from Capcom, in all probability wasn’t immediately impressed by that recreation, however they signify comparable approaches. Central to Pragmata’s fight is the power to hack your robotic opponents to make them susceptible to assault, which in observe means frantically inputting buttons whereas androids bear down on you. It is a neat hook, and one which feels distinct from Helldivers’ take due to its personal puzzle format.
Hacking requires navigating throughout a sq. grid–at least, each one I noticed was square–with the controller’s face buttons representing the cardinal instructions to maneuver towards the objective. So in case your place to begin is within the top-left nook of a 3×3 grid, and the objective node is center-right, you would hit X, Circle, Circle to achieve the objective and take down the enemy defenses, after which they’re susceptible to assault. The puzzle interface pops up subsequent to enemies mechanically whenever you purpose down sights, so you are still transferring and even in a position to shoot whereas fixing the puzzle, requiring some tense psychological juggling.
However the hacking puzzles are additional difficult by particular nodes–power-ups that stack in case you go by them, and blocks that it’s essential navigate round. The puzzles are additionally one other technique to differentiate the problem of enemies. Small buzzing flyers had the 3×3 grid, whereas bigger humanoid walkers had 4×4 grids. I might think about even bigger enemies or bosses might develop the grid dimension much more.
The result’s an unusually dynamic sort of shooter that tickles completely different components of your mind on the identical time. Are you able to remedy the puzzle earlier than this robotic closes the hole or ought to put a long way between you first? Is that this enemy lethal sufficient that it is best to abandon a nearly-complete hack and dodge out of the best way? You’ll be able to decide up different particular nodes with restricted makes use of as properly, suggesting much more wrinkles to come back.
Hugh is an astronaut who finds himself remoted on a base crawling with killer robots, whereas Diana is the enigmatic youngster android he discovers. It could be correct to say that Hugh is the primary protagonist and Diana is a companion character, however it might be extra correct to say that you simply’re really enjoying each of them on the identical time. Diana hangs off Hugh’s again like Clank to his Ratchet, and whenever you provoke a hack you’re controlling her actions, not his. Hugh, in the meantime, is liable for transferring around the globe and firing your weapons.
And these weapons, naturally, assist additional differentiate your fight selections. The demo I performed solely had three–a easy pistol-like weapon that could possibly be used at vary, a shotgun-like blast weapon with massive stopping energy at brief vary, and an area-of-effect weapon that created a bubble to sluggish enemies. In their very own methods, every represented the central push and pull of Pragmata’s fight, which felt basically about fastidiously managing enemy encounters. Will your weapon sluggish an opponent down sufficient to purchase you additional time for the hack? Must you take successful to complete a hack after which attempt to end them off rapidly? These moments result in some satisfying pressure, even pitted towards simpler enemies.
In the meantime, Pragmata’s presentation, each visually and narratively, blends Capcom’s fondness for anime melodrama with grounded near-future sci-fi tropes. Diana is a precocious and cute little android with powers, whereas Hugh is the archetypal hero. The setting is stuffed with clear white plasticine hallways, whereas Hugh’s swimsuit and among the piping use the cumbersome white and first colours of precise NASA gear. A few of the early environments I noticed can look somewhat sterile, however that appears by design.
However the actual hook of Pragmata will naturally be the fight, which has me intrigued sufficient to need extra. The stress between the gunplay and hacking seems like fertile soil for a definite third-person shooter expertise, with numerous room to develop with each completely different suites of weapons and new wrinkles to the hacking puzzles. I am particularly curious to see what a late-game fight encounter would seem like, as soon as Hugh and Diana have amassed a wide selection of weapons and hacking instruments, and the enemies have grown extra refined. That potential alone makes this recreation one to observe.
Pragmata is coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Sequence X|S in 2026.