2026 has proved to be just Capcom going all-out with their game releases. Both Resident Evil Requiem and Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection have been such excellent entries to Capcom’s repertoire that I have been so excited to see how the rest of their titles for the year would fare. And now, I have had the pleasure of playing, finishing, and reviewing Pragmata – Capcom’s third big title of the year. In my previous first impressions article, I have shown just how excited I was for the game and even thought that it can possibly be another home run for them. Now, as I finished the game after roughly 20 hours of gameplay doing a kind of completionist run (tried to but there were some few things I couldn’t do as well as some of the post-game content), it’s time to find out if Pragmata really does stick the landing. Here’s my Pragmata review.
First Impressions Recap
Okay, just like before, I won’t go into so much detail anymore on stuff that I’ve discussed during my first impressions just to avoid getting repetitive. But here’s a quick summary of my thoughts from the previous article:
- In terms of premise, I mentioned that Pragmata is set in outer space (particularly the moon).
- The story so far back then was that Hugh and his team was sent there to check on something in the Lunar facility. An incident occurs which separates Hugh from the rest of the team. It also seems like all of them were killed because of this.
- Hugh survives and is saved by an android-like little girl named D-I-0336-7. Hugh then calls her Diana instead
- The combat loop of the game is having Diana to first hack the cybernetic enemies they encounter which will leave them vulnerable to Hugh’s gun attacks.
- The visuals are great especially with how they mix in the space station setting with other replica locations like the one that looks like New York
- Hugh and Diana have a sort of Father-Daughter relationship and you could give her toys etc through REMs that you collect across your adventure.
So now that I’ve gone through the full game and finished it, what’s changed?
Insanely Satisfying Combat Loop
This is Pragmata’s bread and butter. The single biggest selling point about this game is its combat. This game has some of the most intense and frenetic combat sequences ever with how you have to balance hacking and gunplay. As I mentioned before, most of your enemies, when unhacked, will shrug off any kind of damage. It’s only when you hack them with Diana that they go into this OPEN state where you can now do more damage to them and even massive damage to newly exposed weakpoints.
The game will start you off slow so you can get used to the controls for this loop but, later on, you’ll be facing rooms filled to the brim with enemies. You have to start dodging, hacking, switching weapons, hitting weakspots, all while dodging incoming enemy attacks from those that are still surrounding you. The fights are initially a bit difficult especially as it does take a bit for you to get used to the controls but I will commend the game for being able to pace things quite well. Not only does it pace the difficult in a very fair curve, but they also introduce new elements to combat that keeps things from seeming too repetitive. With this all together, fights would be so intense that I would really lock in and clearing waves of foes just felt so satisfying.
The game even gives you a huge array of potential weapons, skills, and mods (aka accessory-like items that grants you passive skills) that you can just approach combat your own way. While I focused on raw power and DPS output, I can imagine builds centered around hacking, crowd control, and more. There’s a lot to play around with in terms of the loadout you choose to bring with you into missions. Just don’t be TOO experimental as you won’t have enough (unless you’re actively farming) to fully upgrade all your skills, guns, etc.
Keyboard + Mouse Master Race
I have a confession. I initially said that I spend roughly 20 hours on the game. That’s inaccurate. I actually probably have a total of 30-35 hours on this game. This is because my first 10-15 hours was on the PlayStation 5… INITIALLY. It was later on that I received the STEAM code for this game and, after trying it, I made a decision right there and then to switch over to STEAM even if it meant starting from scratch. Why, you ask?
This is because aiming proved to be a challenge with the PS version aka the Controller version. You can say skill issue all you want but I did finish Resident Evil Requiem on the PS5 as well and aim didn’t really bother me back then. The thing with Pragmata is that guns here do have recoil and while that’s also not exactly unique to this game, remember that you have to aim for weakpoints AFTER you hack them which means you first AIM to trigger the hacking interface, you hack using the PS face buttons, then you aim for weakpoints quickly because the OPEN state of hacked enemies are only for a certain amount of time.
This was particularly noticeable when I secured the weapon called the Pulse Carbine. Let me explain. As mentioned in my first impressions article, all weapons in this game are consumable. You fire them for a set amount of times and after you fire the weapon’s last shot, the weapon is automatically discarded. You only have one primary weapon that automatically replenishes your ammo. In the beginning of the game, this is your pistol. At a certain point in the midgame though, you will pick up the Pulse Carbine which will serve as your second primary weapon which also replenishes its ammo over time. The Carbine though hits for way less damage per bullet BUT contributes a lot to the “heat” gauge of enemies which is a separate stagger-like guage that, if filled, will cause them to kneel down ang open themselves up to a CRITCIAL SHOT which is a button prompt animation that deals MASSIVE damage to an enemy. The biggest problem for me though is that this gun had huge recoil as well and felt almost unwieldy for me on a controller. As soon as I switched to Keyboard + Mouse? My god, I felt like a pro. I was landing shots and downing enemies faster than I ever had on a controller.
While I’m not saying that this game is unplayable on a controller, I’m simply recommending that if you have the option to, go on with Keyboard and Mouse for this one.
The Other Side of the Coin
So yes, Pragmata has an AMAZING combat system which I think is what this game’s masterpiece is. However, there are a few aspects in where the game doesn’t exactly hit the bullseye with this one.
Let’s start with the story but, don’t worry, I won’t spoil anything major. Is Pragmata’s story bad. No. But could it use some work? Yes. Overall, the story felt a little basic for me and it does so on two specific aspects.
First, overall story arc. It honestly felt a little bit too straightforward for me as someone who loves stories in gaming. I wouldn’t say that the plot doesn’t have a few twists here and there but for what I played (which is everything except the post-game content), it felt predictable in a way or at least not super surprising. I think there could’ve been a few more nuances to the story that could’ve been added to make you feel more invested. However, this one was just felt like I was going through the motions so to say. Like I said, It’s not BAD by any means. There have been plenty more weaker stories in AAA gaming history. But I really just wish this could’ve been more since the combat is just so very good.
The second story aspect that it misses out on is character development. As I mentioned before, it’s obvious that Hugh and Diana’s father-daugherish mechanic would be one of the key themes of the game. However, majority of these developments happen in the Shelter (this place you can go back to between levels and in checkpoints to level up and upgrade your stuff) and you just get a lot of cutesy moments between Hugh and Diana. They definitely made me smile and got an audible “aww” from me here and there but they really could’ve gone much deeper. I also think that the dialogue could have been done better as sometimes, it would just feel weird. Let me illustrate.
Me and Diana would come back to the Shelter after something really big just happened. I would then talk to Diana in the Shelter and, because it was a sad moment, she would talk in a very downtrodden / contemplative voice. I would then press the TALK prompt again and then suddenly (because I’ve exhausted all dialogue options) Hugh and Diana would suddenly be talking about something cute and Diana would be really happy hopping with joy. It just felt weird. Once again, was character development bad? No, it wasn’t. But because of things like these as well as because there wasn’t a lot of depth that was explored (at least for me), I just feel like it could’ve been made better so that emotional beats could hit much harder.
Lastly, in terms of exploration, I think my biggest complaint (which once again, isn’t really big but could have been improved) was how the game became so overly reliant on “FIND X THINGS TO PROCEED”. Like I don’t have anything against this mechanic but there were A LOT of levels in the game where it was always “PRESS 3 BUTTONS TO UNLOCK DOOR”, “INTERACT WITH 6 TERMINALS TO PROCEED”, “HACK 5 SWITCHES TO OPEN PATH”. These were the few times in the game that I felt like I was doing the same thing over and over.
Aside from that, I guess there are just a few tweaks that can honestly be fixed with a patch. Example, there are times (especially for completionist runs) when you can backtrack to a previous level to open something you couldn’t open before. This should be fine but if I want to go to a previous checkpoint if I’m mid-exploration, I would have to go back to the Shelter, THEN go to the checkpoint I wanna backtrack to, do the thing I wanted to do, go back to the Shelter again, THEN go to the checkpoint that corresponds to where I next need to go for progression. I do remember feeling this felt tedious because they could’ve allowed me to go directly to other checkpoints without having to first go back to the Shelter. Again, was this bad? Not at all. But could’ve definitely been improved.
Final Verdict: 8/10
Was Pragmata a great game? ABSOLUTELY. The combat of this game is so exhilarating that I can still definitely recommend that players give this a shot. Was it a home run though? Sadly, no. There are a few aspects like exploration, story, and character development where things could’ve definitely been improved and, unfortunately, holds this game back.
I’ll give it to them though. As a new IP, this was definitely a strong attempt. That combat system is a marvel of an idea and I hope they can do something more with that in the future. But hey, if you play these games for the action and don’t really mind the story much, this game could definitely be a good one to pick up for you.
Pragmata releases on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2, and PC on April 17, 2026.
*This game was primarily reviewed using a PC and secondarily using a PS5 via review copies sent by Capcom.