Pragmata Review - Straddling The Past and The Future
Ahh, the good old days, the vague era that has, shall we say, “experienced” games press such as myself looking back and smiling. If you ever see a games journo just starting off into the distance with a slight grin, chances are they are thinking of this era, reliving past victories and wondering why games just aren’t the same as they used to be. For each of us, that time period is slightly different; for some, it may be the Super Nintendo, others the Dreamcast, but for me, it is the PS3/360. That’s not to say I wasn’t into games before then, but it was in this era that I really began writing and diving deeper into the medium I loved. I feel like the developers at Capcom have the same love and respect for that era because their latest, Pragmata, is unashamedly based on that generation’s design philosophy. This is a game with a beginning, a middle and an end. It has no season pass, no open world, and no endgame. But what it does have is super tight gameplay, an enjoyable story and some epic setpieces, and frankly, I am all for it.
Pragmata feels, to me at least, like a bit of an amalgamation of a whole pile of games I have loved over the years. There is some Dead Space there for sure, a touch of Binary Domain, a little Vanquish, and even a pinch of Enslaved. It is a love letter to all of these titles (and more), yet at the same time, it is absolutely its own beast. Pragmata never feels like it is ripping off other titles; it just uses common ground to build its own journey. There is no copying of other mechanics simply because they are popular or because a clueless CEO says the game needs a certain feature, this is a game that uses the past to inform its future and boy does that make me smile.
The first thing I want to talk about is the length. About 14 hours of gameplay for a 75% completion. That is the sort of timeframe I can get behind. There is probably another 5 or 6 hours there if I wanted to go and explore every nook and cranny, but as it is, 14 hours felt perfect. I didn’t feel like it was dragging on, yet at the same time, it felt like a satisfying amount of time for the story to unfold. I was enthralled for the entirety of the game and never ever felt like there was meaningless padding put in to stretch out gametime. A rarity in this day and age for sure.
This could have only been achieved with the perfect balance of story and gameplay, and Capcom has pretty much nailed both. On the story front, it is a simple, well-worn tale that doesn’t really break any new ground, but it is told with verve and enthusiasm. It dips into classic Sci/Fi fare throughout, with common themes such as morality vs progress, the cost of science and the depths that grief will drive a person to; it is hardly treading new ground, but it is put together in a way that had me enthralled throughout. This is massively helped by the two extremely well-written lead characters, Hugh and Diana. Their interplay and relationships are the core of this story, and without that element, the story could have easily crumbled into a pit of bad Sci/Fi cliches. Diana’s overly innocent chirpiness is matched perfectly with Hugh’s fiercely independent, yet deeply caring nature. Some of my favourite moments were the quiet ones, where these two characters used their own strengths to help guide or shape an outlook from the other, showing just how well matched they are.
The gameplay, however, is the real star. This is a linear 3rd person adventure with a focus on gunplay, and that gunplay is just so damn satisfying, mainly because it is unlike anything else out there. You see, bullets do very little to the robotic enemies on their own. To actually damage any of these, quite creepy, machines, you need to enlist the help of Diana to hack them and expose their weaknesses. This is achieved with a simple grid-based mini-game. Aim at the enemy, complete a series of button presses, and the robot will then be susceptible to damage. As the game progresses, the mini-game becomes more complicated and extra bonuses, effects and traps are added to the process. If that sounds complicated, especially in the heat of battle, fear not. The pace of the combat is perfectly tuned to this mechanic, and as skill grows, it becomes a beautiful loop of hacking, dodging and shooting that never grows old.
All of this is brought to life thanks to that ever-amazing tech behind all of Capcom’s games, the RE engine. Frankly, I don’t know if it has ever looked as good as it does in Pragmata, and that is saying something. Running on my high-end gaming rig, it was a pure dream of stunning backgrounds, highly detailed characters and amazing effects. Even on my lower-spec laptop, things looked amazing, with the game scaling nicely. Handheld owners might want to hold off, though. On my Xbox Ally X, I had to drop the resolution and put everything to low, and I still suffered some slowdowns. It was playable, but hardly ideal. I expect that to change after a few weeks, and there have been some handheld optimisations patched in.
I also have to make special mention of the boss battles. Capcom has resurrected the amazing boss battle here, something that feels like a bit of a lost art. Each of the encounters was white-knuckle, edge-of-your-seat stuff that pushed my skills and moveset, without ever feeling unfair or overly punishing. In fact, the whole game falls into that same description; each encounter feels finely balanced between offering players a challenge without making things impossible. If I died (and die I did), it was my fault, but I immediately knew why and was able to adjust quickly. The game also balances the enemy variety wonderfully, so tactics have to constantly change. I couldn’t just rely on one trick to get through; I had to evolve and adapt, otherwise I was toast.
Games like Pragmata are the reason I started writing about video games, and I cannot express how delighted I am that in this day and age of endless live service, season passes, and endgames, Capcom still felt there was a place for this sort of title. There is a clear reverence to the classic 3rd Person titles of the 360/PS3 era, cribbing from more than a few, but at the same time, Pragmata is without doubt a game from 2026. The gameplay is the real highlight, but it is ably supported by a sweet, well-told, if a little unoriginal story. So, the next time you see me, looking off into the distance with a slight grin on my face, it could be that I am no longer wistfully yearning for the good old days, but reminiscing about my time with Hugh and Diana in the year 2026.
Pragmata was reviewed on PC with code kindly supplied by the publisher.
