This is the fourth preview I’ve written on Pragmata. I’m sold. I don’t need to see any more of the game until its launch, but when Capcom invites you to their San Francisco headquarters before GDC to play the game for two hours, you go.
Ever since the game’s initial announcement, we wondered what exactly this game would be, and with every hands-on preview we’ve been invited to from Summer Game Fest, to Gamescom, to Tokyo Game Show, its identity has gotten more and more clear. While we can’t be sure of what the game is actually about, aside from the fact there’s a cute little robotic girl following the main character Hugh Williams around, we do know that it’s a level-based action game featuring puzzle-centric combat that’ll provide quite the adrenaline rush as you keep playing.
In the latest demo, I went through the entire second level of the game. Before coming in for the appointment, our Capcom reps highly recommended that we at least play through the 10-20-minute sketchbook demo downloadable via every platform the game is on. Of course, this was my fourth time playing the game. I didn’t need any of that. I was as ready as I’ll ever be (I died twice playing this build, but that’s neither here nor there).
Six locks, huh? Say less.
If you haven’t seen Pragmata in action yet, for the most part, the game is a third-person shooter with some basic platforming and heavy puzzle elements. How heavy? As you aim your gun to fire at an enemy, you can’t do any real damage until you hack them by solving a grid-based puzzle by using the face buttons as directional inputs.
The demo began at the hub that we mentioned in the last preview, but I decided to come back to it later. The action really started when we took out two bug-like robots with 3×4 grids before finally coming to a semi-open but vast area inspired by New York City. It was a sight to behold on the PS5 Pro. The environment featured New York’s visual glamour with the end of the world’s lifeless atmosphere providing for a believable middle ground for what the artists were trying to portray. The objective of this level was to contact earth from a nearby Comms Tower. Unfortunately, as we approached it, a massive gate blocked the way forward, and the only way through it was to disable the lock codes found in six beacons hidden throughout the map. So what was there to do? Explore New York, of course.
Granted, the game isn’t about sightseeing, so we were hardly exploring New York for fun. After opening a door into one of the buildings, hacking, and taking out more enemies on the way up to the rooftop, we found a beacon to unlock one of the grand door’s locks. It also just happened to be near another switch we flipped that somehow had the ability to generate a physical bridge for us to walk over the central part of the city towards the roof of more skyscrapers. Upon reaching the next rooftop, we found an elevator that led back to the hub, and we needed some heals, so it was perfectly placed.
Of course you wanna give her a present.
As we assumed from the last hands-on we did, the hub acts as a sort of base of operations for Hugh and Diana to both rest up and get to know each other. In fact, whenever you have something of interest to Diana, you have the option of giving her a present at the beginning of every visit to the base. In this instance, we gifted her with a TV that she used to, of course, watch cartoons.
In addition to bonding activities, frequent hub visits are vital because it’s the only place in the game you’ll be able to upgrade your suit, primary weapon, and hacking ability with the currency you pick up from fallen enemies. Another terminal at the base also levels up your upgrades for weapons, attacking, abilities, and other attachments. The base is all about bonding and building before going out and breaking more bots, and it’s a gameplay loop that makes the experience more approachable. It’s a nice touch.
Upon venturing out and entering what looked like an easy alleyway, a creepy robot twice our size with a big head looking out at us came out of nowhere, and it featured a 5×5 grid, so it was obvious it would take a little bit more time to kill. After continuous hacking and focusing on the weak point at the back of its neck, a weird red shield appeared at the front of its face which also rendered Diana’s hacking abilities useless. The only way to hack the robot again was to shoot its face shield. There were four red panels forming a 2×2 pattern, so if you got rid of the top left shield, it allowed you to have free movement of the hacking mechanism on the top left as well. I thought this was a pretty nifty way to handle gameplay with variety, and as is the case with Capcom’s style of gameplay, this knowledge came useful later.
Diana can’t hack enemies if the grid is red, so you’ll have to shoot down the red shields on the actual boss first to open the hacking grid up.
I don’t want to summarize the entire demo, because I know I’ll have to play through this section again once it’s time to review it, but one of my favorite parts of the the demo was when we unlocked the ability rid the environment of this glitchy gunk that prevented entry in various parts of the level. It was funny seeing Diana get hold of this newfound ability, and downloading the data as she quickly recited “00011001101101” and the like. Anyway, that ended up being the key to unlock the final locks and opening the grand door. Of course it wouldn’t be as easy as walking through. Once we neared the Comms Tower, a huge hammerhead boss reared its ugly head. It killed us a couple times, but the third time was the charm.
The boss featured a 7×7 grid to navigate and on top of that, every once in a while it would pop up those same red forcefield shields that we saw on the big-headed robot to make it hard for Diana to unleash her hacking damage. Remember, whenever you’re aiming your weapon, it affects your speed and mobility, and since this boss does have a quick but fairly obvious attack pattern, you have to decide when it’s worth it to keep shooting or just run around instead. It even has this ability to send shockwaves on the entire ground you’re in, forcing you to utilize thrusters to launch yourself up to higher ground to prevent big damage. Both the ability to dodge and dash really helped in this battle, and when we finally took it down, it was an amazing feeling.
Unfortunately, that’s where it ended. Needless to say, we want more.
Pragmata’s release date was confirmed at The Game Awards for April 24, but Diana and Capcom decided to play with our hearts a little more by moving the release up a week to April 17 on all platforms, which means everybody is only a month away from finally having their hands on the finished build. And after four previews, yeah, a review from us (or me) is a safe bet.
This is the fourth preview I’ve written on Pragmata. I’m sold. I don’t need to see any more of the game until its launch, but when Capcom invites you to their San Francisco headquarters before GDC to play the game for two hours, you go.
This is the fourth preview I’ve written on Pragmata. I’m sold. I don’t need to see any more of the game until its launch, but when Capcom invites you to their San Francisco headquarters before GDC to play the game for two hours, you go.
Ever since the game’s initial announcement, we wondered what exactly this game would be, and with every hands-on preview we’ve been invited to from Summer Game Fest, to Gamescom, to Tokyo Game Show, its identity has gotten more and more clear. While we can’t be sure of what the game is actually about, aside from the fact there’s a cute little robotic girl following the main character Hugh Williams around, we do know that it’s a level-based action game featuring puzzle-centric combat that’ll provide quite the adrenaline rush as you keep playing.
In the latest demo, I went through the entire second level of the game. Before coming in for the appointment, our Capcom reps highly recommended that we at least play through the 10-20-minute sketchbook demo downloadable via every platform the game is on. Of course, this was my fourth time playing the game. I didn’t need any of that. I was as ready as I’ll ever be (I died twice playing this build, but that’s neither here nor there).
Six locks, huh? Say less.
If you haven’t seen Pragmata in action yet, for the most part, the game is a third-person shooter with some basic platforming and heavy puzzle elements. How heavy? As you aim your gun to fire at an enemy, you can’t do any real damage until you hack them by solving a grid-based puzzle by using the face buttons as directional inputs.
The demo began at the hub that we mentioned in the last preview, but I decided to come back to it later. The action really started when we took out two bug-like robots with 3×4 grids before finally coming to a semi-open but vast area inspired by New York City. It was a sight to behold on the PS5 Pro. The environment featured New York’s visual glamour with the end of the world’s lifeless atmosphere providing for a believable middle ground for what the artists were trying to portray. The objective of this level was to contact earth from a nearby Comms Tower. Unfortunately, as we approached it, a massive gate blocked the way forward, and the only way through it was to disable the lock codes found in six beacons hidden throughout the map. So what was there to do? Explore New York, of course.
Granted, the game isn’t about sightseeing, so we were hardly exploring New York for fun. After opening a door into one of the buildings, hacking, and taking out more enemies on the way up to the rooftop, we found a beacon to unlock one of the grand door’s locks. It also just happened to be near another switch we flipped that somehow had the ability to generate a physical bridge for us to walk over the central part of the city towards the roof of more skyscrapers. Upon reaching the next rooftop, we found an elevator that led back to the hub, and we needed some heals, so it was perfectly placed.
Of course you wanna give her a present.
As we assumed from the last hands-on we did, the hub acts as a sort of base of operations for Hugh and Diana to both rest up and get to know each other. In fact, whenever you have something of interest to Diana, you have the option of giving her a present at the beginning of every visit to the base. In this instance, we gifted her with a TV that she used to, of course, watch cartoons.
In addition to bonding activities, frequent hub visits are vital because it’s the only place in the game you’ll be able to upgrade your suit, primary weapon, and hacking ability with the currency you pick up from fallen enemies. Another terminal at the base also levels up your upgrades for weapons, attacking, abilities, and other attachments. The base is all about bonding and building before going out and breaking more bots, and it’s a gameplay loop that makes the experience more approachable. It’s a nice touch.
Upon venturing out and entering what looked like an easy alleyway, a creepy robot twice our size with a big head looking out at us came out of nowhere, and it featured a 5×5 grid, so it was obvious it would take a little bit more time to kill. After continuous hacking and focusing on the weak point at the back of its neck, a weird red shield appeared at the front of its face which also rendered Diana’s hacking abilities useless. The only way to hack the robot again was to shoot its face shield. There were four red panels forming a 2×2 pattern, so if you got rid of the top left shield, it allowed you to have free movement of the hacking mechanism on the top left as well. I thought this was a pretty nifty way to handle gameplay with variety, and as is the case with Capcom’s style of gameplay, this knowledge came useful later.
Diana can’t hack enemies if the grid is red, so you’ll have to shoot down the red shields on the actual boss first to open the hacking grid up.
I don’t want to summarize the entire demo, because I know I’ll have to play through this section again once it’s time to review it, but one of my favorite parts of the the demo was when we unlocked the ability rid the environment of this glitchy gunk that prevented entry in various parts of the level. It was funny seeing Diana get hold of this newfound ability, and downloading the data as she quickly recited “00011001101101” and the like. Anyway, that ended up being the key to unlock the final locks and opening the grand door. Of course it wouldn’t be as easy as walking through. Once we neared the Comms Tower, a huge hammerhead boss reared its ugly head. It killed us a couple times, but the third time was the charm.
The boss featured a 7×7 grid to navigate and on top of that, every once in a while it would pop up those same red forcefield shields that we saw on the big-headed robot to make it hard for Diana to unleash her hacking damage. Remember, whenever you’re aiming your weapon, it affects your speed and mobility, and since this boss does have a quick but fairly obvious attack pattern, you have to decide when it’s worth it to keep shooting or just run around instead. It even has this ability to send shockwaves on the entire ground you’re in, forcing you to utilize thrusters to launch yourself up to higher ground to prevent big damage. Both the ability to dodge and dash really helped in this battle, and when we finally took it down, it was an amazing feeling.
Unfortunately, that’s where it ended. Needless to say, we want more.
Pragmata’s release date was confirmed at The Game Awards for April 24, but Diana and Capcom decided to play with our hearts a little more by moving the release up a week to April 17 on all platforms, which means everybody is only a month away from finally having their hands on the finished build. And after four previews, yeah, a review from us (or me) is a safe bet.
by Danreb Victorio
