Pragmata Preview

It’s safe to say that Pragamta has had a somewhat tumultuous development cycle since its first announcement back in 2020, and since that time, it has had, for the most part, radio silence on it. Not much was known about the title, other than the fact that there was a young girl who needed help, and it was a sci-fi-focused adventure. Fast forward to June 2025, and Capcom finally reintroduced the world to Pragmata, with a promise of a 2026 release.

I am pleased to say that Pragmata is indeed a real game, and that Gamer Guides were invited to a hands-on session with the game at Gamescom 2025. Once again, it looks like Capcom’s experimentation with action combat systems has found lightning in a bottle, as Pragmata’s new take on a third-person shooter is one that couldn’t be more fun to play.

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You’ll need to both hack and move at the same time in Pragmata.

The demo opens up with Hugh seemingly out of action and on the verge of death, following some kind of skirmish on a space station. A young girl, Diana, works on bringing his suit and vitals back online, and it’s not long before the two strike up a partnership. You may be forgiven for thinking this is setting up the same kind of story we’ve seen plenty of times before, such as in The Last of Us with Joel and Ellie.

You couldn’t be more wrong.

After an introductory combat sequence, you soon discover your bullets have very little impact on the Walker robot that lurches ever closer to Hugh and Diana. You’ll then learn that Diana, an Android herself, has the ability to hack these robots and lower their defenses, making your bullets effective. If you’re to fight back against the robots and learn more about what’s happened here, the two will have to strike up a partnership that goes beyond protection.

So, does this all happen automatically? The answer to that is a resounding no! In fact, this is where Pragmata’s unique selling point comes into play. Not only are you controlling Hugh and shooting, but at the same time, you’ll be playing a hacking mini-game to breach those defenses, all in real-time. Now I know you’re sitting there thinking, not another hacking mini-game, but this isn’t just any mini-game, and when it’s all in motion, it just works and feels very satisfying.

While holding down the aim button with the left trigger to point at your target, a hacking puzzle, represented in a 4x4 grid, will appear. Using the face buttons, you must navigate through this grid until you reach the goal square, at which point the hack takes place, and the enemy then becomes vulnerable. You’ll need to manage this while also avoiding your target’s attacks, and the hacking puzzle itself can also evolve.

Sometimes, you may see specific nodes that you can pass through that will give you a damage boost, or you may find pickups in the environment that add special effects and bonuses to your next three hacks. As this is just the early stages of the game and we didn’t have too long with it, I’m sure this will evolve even more as the game progresses. But it was incredibly satisfying to pull off, and to make dodging your enemies’ attacks easier, you have a dodge button you can use (on a cooldown).

On top of this, Hugh himself will find different guns as he navigates the space station. In our demo, we found a weapon that acts like a shotgun and one that can stun an enemy for a short duration. Unlike Hugh’s starting gun, the Grip Gun, these will only remain with you while they have ammo; once they run out, they break, and you’ll need to find another one. This means you’ll constantly need to be on the move to look for these weapons as you fight the robots, something that was evident in the boss encounter.

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The boss showcases the full potential of this combat system.

At the end of the demo, we fought a challenging battle against the Sector Guard, a massive robotic enemy that had the speed to match. Dodging was much more important here than against the regular Walkers, as at any point, he could charge at Hugh and Diana. Fortunately, there were boxes around the arena to top up ammo on guns and get defense down boosts to add to the hacking mini-game. The battle truly showcased the pure potential of this combat system, and I never once felt like it was a chore.

In fact, it was the opposite; by the time the demo was up, I just wanted to jump back in and play further, seeing what other scenarios came up. Of course, there’s more to Pragmata than just shooting; as we explored the halls of this section of the space station, I had to use Hugh’s hover ability to leap over obstacles and find locks to disengage, also with the help of Diana’s hacking. It’s clear this was an early stage of the game, but it did give us a rough idea of what to expect, and it looks like Capcom’s latest take on action combat appears to be a resounding success.