Pragmata Review
Do androids dream of electric sheep? That is a question that Philip K Dick posed and while we may never know the answer, if they could dream, it would definitely be about Pragmata because it explores the relationship complexities between humans and ai with nuance through Hugh and Diana.
As much as the hacking and narrative kept the experience fresh, the gameplay loop became slightly predictable by the end and you begin to see a lot of the same bots. Hugh’s motivation also felt wildly inconsistent at times.
With a narrative likely inspired by one of the most influential science fiction novels of all time, the experience is made whole by stunning visuals, intuitive controls, all of the polish and refinement you’d expect from Capcom and one of the most inventive combat mechanics of recent years that remained compelling throughout as it constantly evolved.
Forget sheep, Androids dream about Pragmata.
85
If you want more nuance to the review, continue reading below or check out our video review
PRAGMATA REVIEW
In the not-so distant future, Hugh Williams, a member of the Lunar Research Team and three other crew members are sent to the Lunar Research Station on the moon to investigate the loss of contact. Shorty after arriving on the Moon, Hugh gets separated from the rest of the team during a lunar quake and suffers catastrophic injuries.
When Hugh awakens, he discovers that his life had been saved thanks to a friendly android named Diana and the power of Lunafilament, an extremely rare resource discovered on the moon that offers unparalleled use, which is why the research station is here in the first place. Hugh’s new directive is now self preservation, try to re-establish contact with Earth and figure out how to get back home.
With Diana tagging along, Hugh quickly discovers that the androids and robots that inhabit the Lunar Space Station have gone rogue. Worse yet is that Hugh’s primary method of defence, the grip gun is basically useless against their armor. Diana once again steps into save the day as she has the power to hack and override their defence systems and expose their inner cores which are extremely vulnerable to traditional weapons that Hugh wields. The hacking ability is presented as a grid, which might look jarring and clunky, but it very intuitively meshes with the rest of the controls, which you will need because Pragmata doesn’t pause or slow down gameplay as you try to override and hack enemy defence protocols.
The mechanics of hacking start out simple enough as you need to navigate from one part of the grid to the other like a maze. The most apt comparison for the hacking mechanic would be 1989’s pipe mania. Gameplay not slowing down means that every encounter becomes stressful as you feel vulnerable and exposed. Stopping to avoid damage will leave the hack where it was and allow you to pick up where you left off, but taking damage will during a hack will reset the grid, which present a risk/reward scenario. At the start of Pragmata, you only need to be concerned with getting from point a to point b on the grid as this will open up their outer shell and expose the robots to massive damage, but as the experience evolves, so will the hacking mechanics in interesting and complicated ways.
After Diana and Hugh are able to dispatch a few waves of bots, they find a working tram, which can take them back to the center of the base, known as the shelter. The shelter will serve as your hub for nearly everything, including saving, upgrading, training, and more but at the beginning, it’s only a safe space, but as the experience progress it will feel more alive. After checking a terminal, Hugh tries to figure out the best methods to reestablish a connection with Earth, which will require hopping on the tram and travelling to different biomes around the space station.
Each biome feels unique from the factory to the city, from the forest to the mining colony and each one presents different challenges including massive and unique boss fights. These biomes also provided more areas for the relationship between Diana and Hugh to grow. Each biome is even full of fast travel spots or checkpoints, which work similar to bonfires in fromsoftware titles. You can head back to the shelter, change equipment, heal and return to the checkpoint, but enemies will have respawned.
Before heading out to each mission, you’ll be able to adjust your load-out, which wont offer much freedom at the start, but as the experience progresses, you’ll gain a lot more autonomy to your experience. From top to bottom, you’ll have a choice of what weapons to equip of which there are four classes including primary, offence, defence and tactical. Hacking mods can be equipped, which are limited use including freezing targets or even turning enemy bots against each other and you can also select your hacking mode, which is a passive that determines what you want successful hacks to offer such as overheat or increased damage. Finally, you’ll be able to equip suit mods that will give Hugh passive buffs across four skills including attack, defence, support and hacking. It can be something as simple as having a ten percent health bonus or having enemies remain exposed for longer after being hacked. With all of these variables to equip, you’ll be able to create plenty of different synergies to suit your preference.
PRAGMATA CRITICISMS
Pragmata offered a refreshing narrative about ai that wasn’t just pure doom and gloom, that is told through the endearing, but complicated relationship of Hugh and Diana. However, this was after the initial storyline was completely abandoned. Hugh and three of his close crewmates are sent to the Lunar Research Station to investigate why there has been a loss of contact. The beginning of the game even takes time to establish relationships between the crew, but after Hugh is awakened to find out that he was saved by Diana, his motives become extremely incongruous with the intro of the game.
The back of the box feature for Pragmata is easily the hacking mechanic, which was extremely unique and challenging. Unfortunately, even though the hacking evolves throughout the space odyssey with new complications and skills, the gameplay loop begins to feel slightly repetitive by the end. The objective is always behind a locked door with multiple safeguards spread across each biome with many combat arenas in the way, which became slightly predictable. Despite the high number of bots and variants of each, due to the sheer amount of combat in Pragmata, it does feel like you see a lot of familiar faces by the end
On a minor note, Diana’s lip sync never felt right, when arena featured a lot of enemies it could be hard to pinpoint the bots you want to prioritize and during enemy encounters there is a lot of repeated dialogue, which was especially evident during boss battles that could take upwards of 15-20 minutes, which hindered immersion slightly.
PRAGMATA VERDICT AND SCORE
Many times throughout Pragmata, it felt like the spiritual successor to Dead Space. There were many micro parallels from the deep space setting, the everyman protagonist investigating a distress signal, targeting enemy weak spots, and even your primary weapon occasionally resembling the plasma cutter. Pragmata was also filled with the same macro qualities including fantastic audio design, stunning visuals, immersive gameplay and impressive set pieces including one of the most jaw dropping finales of all time.
Pragamta deviates by favoring sci-fi over horror with the omnipresent threat consisting of rogue ai instead of necromorphs, a more optimistic tone, and gameplay being faster paced. Hugh’s motivation is erratic throughout, the narrative abandons the initial story, and as much as your hacking evolves, the gameplay loop can start to feel repetitive by the end, however Pragmata reaches the finale before monotony sets in.
With all the polish and refinement of a signature Capcom experience, one of the most inventive combat mechanics in years, and a narrative that offered a nuanced viewpoint on ai, Pragmata seems destined to become the next iconic Capcom franchise.
