Pragmata review – Dad Space

Pragmata feels like a rarity in the current gaming landscape. A wholly original IP swimming in an ocean of sequels, remakes, and remasters, Capcom’s newest release juggles familiar elements with sleek sci-fi aesthetics and a unique gameplay hook to stand out as one of 2026’s biggest surprises so far.

Set in the near future, Pragmata kicks off with a trip to the Moon that quickly goes south once the protagonist, Hugh Williams, becomes the sole survivor of an attack orchestrated by the malevolent AI system IDUS. Rescued from the brink of death by a Pragmata–an android resembling a young girl that he names Diana–Hugh has to get to the bottom of this mystery before it’s too late. A task that’s easier said than done when IDUS is constantly 3D-printing hostile robots designed to impede him at every corner.

To make things even more challenging, Hugh’s weapons aren’t exactly the right tools for the job of stopping well-armoured androids. Fortunately, Diana helps to even the odds. Using the plucky automaton’s hacking skills, Hugh can expose weak points on the killer robots, peeling back their metal shells so that he can short-circuit them with firepower. Hack-and-shoot forms the basis of Pragmata’s third-person gameplay, and it’s an inventive system that Capcom nails on the first try, organically easing players into more complex subroutines, hazards, and varied robot designs that will keep you on your toes throughout the game.

What this hacking minigame does is add a sense of palpable tension to Pragmata, as each encounter pushes you into a corner where you have to juggle spatial awareness and the dangers around you. Things start easy enough when you quickly hack through the defenses of robots that are lumbering towards you and have easy-to-dodge attacks. However, as the game continues, the danger increases with more varied bots and tweaks to the minigames.

Fortunately, the dream team of Hugh and Diana also powers up through their journey, increasing their base stats, unlocking new hacking protocols, and amassing an arsenal of weapons to equip before setting out to a new sector on the Moon. Hacking is incredibly simple, as the four-button minigame sees you quickly work your way through nodes, passing through blue squares to weaken enemies and yellow squares to add extra effects to your attacks.

What makes the entire gameplay work is its “use it or lose it” mentality, as special hacks are finite and weapons have small pools of ammo. More resources are scattered throughout each stage, but there’s a subtle push in each enemy encounter for players to burn through their resources–albeit with some strategizing to help you juggle deadlier foes.

This makes each arena-shaped encounter feel fresh and exciting, thanks to all the options you’ll unlock along the way. Want to keep enemies locked down so that you can deliver precision hits to their exposed hardware? Hack them and activate a paralysis node to stop them in their tracks. Need some breathing room? Use a holographic decoy to corral your foes into position and hit them with homing missiles, lasers, and shotgun blasts. That’s the beauty of Pragmata, as there are always inventive options and strategies to choose from, with creative cunning consistently rewarding.

A trip back to the safe space of your well-stocked bunker is never far away, allowing for refreshing of supplies, levelling up your stats, and taking on training programs to gain resources that can empower you further. It’s also where you’ll spend a lot of time with Diana, who fortunately has more than enough charm and personality to cover for Hugh’s complete lack of character. A well-travelled explorer with a wealth of personal stories, Hugh quickly becomes a father figure to Diana along their journey. The latter is the heart and soul of Pragmata, and while the story beats are a little on the nose, the inquisitive scamp is a delightful blast of energy, plus believably child-like in her portrayal.

Pragmata’s story isn’t as obvious as it first appears, with the seemingly abandoned lunar base home to audio logs and diaries that hint at something sinister in the background. Once you finally discover the truth, it’s a surprising inversion of your expectations. For the record, the core campaign isn’t too long–expect a 10-12 hour time investment–but there’s more than enough replayability on hand to keep you coming back for more.

If you’re feeling jaded with video games that play it safe and don’t feel like they offer anything truly new, then Pragmata comes highly recommended. The game releases on 17 April for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2.