Key Takeaways

• Gameplay Mechanics: The central gameplay mechanic involves collaboration between Hugh and Diana, requiring strategic teamwork.
• Unique Features: Pragmata introduces a hacking system that allows players to expose enemy weaknesses while managing combat.
• Expanding Arsenal: Players can upgrade their weapons and abilities, enhancing their combat strategies throughout the game.
• Emotional Narrative: The relationship between Hugh and Diana adds depth to the gameplay experience, making it more engaging.

For a variety of cultural reasons — strict laws surrounding gun ownership, a focus towards a lack of realistic violence against humans, and a wholly different military history and culture, to name a few — it’s incredibly rare to see a Japanese game publisher trying their hands at releasing a traditional, gritty shooter game, but the genre has by no means remained stagnant or been abandoned wholesale. Resident Evil Requiem is arguably one of the franchise’s strongest games to date, Metal Gear Solid Delta shows that there’s still an audience for stealth-action, and of course, who could forget Nintendo’s Splatoon, which is arguably one of the most successful multiplayer shooter series of our time.

Much like my experiences with two of my favorite Japanese third-person shooters (Vanquish and Binary Domain), when I first went hands-on with Pragmata last year, I was instantly sold. To be clear, the core premise is nothing revolutionary by any means. You play as systems engineer Hugh, who teams up with a curious android named Diana to solve the mystery behind the disappearance of all life from a lunar research facility.

No, you see, it was the central gameplay mechanic that immediately drew me in. Rather than simply escorting and babysitting Diana, the two of you have to work together. For some reason, the facility’s AI has gone rogue and is throwing just about every killer robot it can fabricate in your direction. While Hugh is certainly capable of shooting, hovering, and air-dashing with ease (thanks to his handy space suit and jet pack), enemies are completely impervious to your gunfire thanks to some truly impressive armor plating.

This is where Diana comes in. As an android, she’s capable of hacking into an enemy’s defenses, exposing their weak points for Hugh to fire at. This hacking process isn’t taken care of for you; instead, when you initiate a hack, a rectangular grid of nodes will appear on screen, and you’re tasked with moving a cursor (using the four face buttons), one node at a time, until it reaches its target. Along with hazardous nodes, there are also optional ones you enable that will help you in combat, and you have to juggle all of this while simultaneously shooting and dodging incoming attacks.

It sounds daunting at first, but it doesn’t take long for you to fall into the swing of things. Thankfully, things start simply enough in the opening hours; most enemy robots move at a leisurely pace and telegraph their moves ahead of time. However, once the opening chapters wrap up, Pragmata begins to really flex its muscles, layering new mechanics and systems on top of each other in an almost rapid-fire succession.

Take hacking for instance. When the mechanic is first introduced, you only need to worry about hitting a couple of nodes as you move across the hacking grid. Before long though you’ll be able to pepper in new nodes of your choosing which run the gamut from making enemies take more damage to hacking multiple robots at the same time or even confusing one robot into attacking its allies.

As for Hugh his arsenal of firearms quickly expands beyond his trusty pistol-like “Grip Gun” to include a shockwave shotgun a laser rifle that can be charged up for increased damage and more tactical weapons that can slow down or trip up enemies. My personal favorite has to be the decoy gun which spawns a hologram version of Hugh to distract any killer robot long enough to give you some much-needed breathing room.

In this way Pragmata very much feels like something that’s greater than the sum of its parts. If I were to think back hard enough I’m almost certain that each of its individual mechanics has made an appearance in other games but the way Capcom has tied everything together drip-feeding new loadouts suit upgrades and gameplay modifiers is nothing short of sublime.

Pragmata Review: Final Verdict

Pragmata’s mash-up of tight third-person shooting with an easy-to-grasp yet rewarding hacking mechanic is more than enough to be worth the price of admission but it’s everything surrounding this gameplay hook that sets it over the top. A bevy of collectibles combat challenges training missions and a robust upgrade and modifier system; all of it makes for an incredibly engaging experience one that’s anchored around the heartfelt and endearing relationship between Hugh and Diana.

SCORE: 9 /10

As ComingSoon’s review policy explains a score of 9 equates to “Excellent.” Entertainment that reaches this level is at the top of its type. The gold standard that every creator aims to reach.

Disclosure: The publisher provided a digital copy for our Pragmata PS5 review. Reviewed on version 1.200.000.