Pragmata finds gaming's future in its recent past

In Pragmata‘s future humanity can 3D print entire buildings in mere seconds thanks to a miraculous discovery called lunafilament. It only exists on the moon, which becomes the site of a massive mining operation run by a corporation known as Delphi, with most of the physical labor carried out by synthetic workers. Its lunar base also houses a variety of experiments into the uses of lunafilament, including D-I-0336-7—a lifelike artificial girl whose physical appearance is indistinguishable from the real thing. The entire complex is overseen by a central AI called IDUS. When the operation stops communicating with Earth, a four-man crew is sent to investigate—and three of them are promptly killed by robots controlled by the now-rogue AI. The one survivor, Hugh, is saved by D-I-0336-7, who he promptly nicknames Diana. Together they have to escape the now-hostile lunar base while also figuring out why IDUS has gone off the rails. 

That escape requires a hefty amount of shooting their way from one end of the base to the other. This is where Pragmata‘s signature trick comes into play: You control both Hugh and Diana simultaneously. Hugh’s guns barely hurt the various classes of 3D printed robots until their defenses have been hacked, which Diana does in real time in the middle of fights. You’ll use the face buttons to move Diana’s hacking node square-by-square through a small on-screen puzzle field, while using the joysticks and shoulder buttons to blast bad guys with Hugh’s guns. Diana’s hacking does damage of its own, especially if you move the node through certain special cells that cause extra pain or trigger certain perks, and also significantly increases the power of Hugh’s attacks. It’s a little confusing at first, but once you have it down it’s an exciting, distinctive approach to third-person shooting, setting Pragmata apart from games that might otherwise appear similar, like Dead Space or Gears Of War.

Diana’s an active participant in combat, and she and Hugh are basically inseparable; unlike so many children in movies, games, and TV shows, she never gets annoying. She’s not some snarky-beyond-her-years sitcom kid, a plot device who’s always in distress, or a too-cute moppet (although she definitely verges on that last one); she largely feels like a real kid, albeit one who silently mutters 1s and 0s when she’s communicating with machines. Hugh’s similarly more natural than his video game hero facade would indicate, and his own childhood as an orphan adopted into a loving and stable family parallels his growing relationship with Diana. Her upbringing as a test subject has deprived her of any sense of what family means, while her relationship with Hugh and his own life experience helps her understand that family can mean more than your blood. The father-daughter element grows a little complicated by certain plot twists, but it never becomes as stifling or overwrought as the relationship between Joel and Ellie in The Last Of Us, and there’s a surprising bit of relative subtlety to it all that you might not expect from a video game that’s mostly about blowing up robots on the moon. 

Beyond the story, Pragmata‘s full of smart decisions from start to finish. It avoids the excess of open world design by breaking the station up into a handful of discrete areas; they’re still not linear, straight-forward levels, though, but open-ended enough to offer a sense of discovery. Enemy types are diverse enough to keep things interesting, but it doesn’t overwhelm you with too many to keep track of. And just when it seems like it’s starting to grow too repetitive, Pragmata throws in a major new element that shifts how you have to handle each of those enemies. Hugh’s arsenal is a well-balanced selection of guns whose usefulness rarely overlap, but most combat encounters allow for several valid approaches, instead of trying to coerce you into a specific weapon or tactic. All of the game’s various collectibles and unlockables are clearly explained to the player, and its generous enough with its resources that you’ll almost always have at least one thing to upgrade whenever you head back to Hugh’s sanctuary. Pragmata‘s most defining trait might be its almost ruthless economy; there’s very little fat here, and almost all of its systems work expediently toward clear goals. 

That’s where Pragmata marks an obvious improvement over so many of the 15-year-old games it resembles. Despite being packed out with things to collect, mods to uncover, and skills to unlock, it never threatens to become overburdened. It remains lean and direct, its many options and additions avoiding the sense of bloat and sprawl that so often turn a game into a slog. Like its young synthetic hero, it retains a palpable, unmistakable humanity, like it’s the result of prudent decision-making and intentional design instead of checking off a list of expected features. If Pragmata makes you want to ask if games are back, that’s because it asks a question of its own: What if games were good, instead of formulaic, exploitative, or predatory? What if they could at least pretend to respect the audience instead of using or condescending to it? You’ll probably like the answer.

Pragmata was developed and published by Capcom. Our review is based on the PlayStation 5 version. It is also available for PC, Switch 2, and Xbox Series X/S.