If I were to tell you that Capcom were to remake a 2010-made third-person shooter they created and was obscure as all heck, and it was called Pragmata, you may have believed me at one point. The Xbox 360 HD era was chock filled with third-person shooters from various companies West and East, and Capcom had a hand in making one or two at one point (Dark Void and Bionic Commando Remake on a technicality). For them to make an obscure one? Quite likely.

Thankfully, Pragmata is no remake: it’s a brand new IP from Capcom that’s a third-person shooter taking place in a seemingly abandoned space station. And yes, the gameplay and my 20-minute experience with it gave me a “2010s shooter” vibe from start to end. Believe me when I say that isn’t a bad thing after my time with the Tokyo Game Show 2025 exclusive demo.

Space Odyssey

Pragmata’s premise is simple: you play a lost astronaut named Hugh who gets accompanied by a child android named Diana. Together, they team up to escape the aforementioned slick space station while dealing with the rogue androids and giant weapon machines wandering around and berserking at anything living. While Hugh can use guns, the robots are armoured to the core like them From Software bots.

Fortunately you have a cute ace up your sleeve: Diana and her hacking skills. When you aim and target any enemy, a hacking minigame of sorts pop up. You have to press the d-pad and corresponding face button to that d-pad direction (Up+Triangle, Down +X, etc. for PlayStation controls) WHILE still aiming down sights to complete the hacking sequence -you just move the cursor to the proper nodes and “END” node to complete it. When that’s done, you critically debuff enemies and make them take double damage, while also exposing their weak spots for Hugh to gun down. And while this is happening in real time -albeit slowed down a tad- enemies can still move and do their attacks to stop you from interfering.

Yes, it sounds a tad complex and anxious-inducing. Fortunately, Hugh can dodge and move quicker than the bots he’s fighting. And the hacking minigame is on a small board so moving around nodes is quick and easy. Plus, you can collect additional hacking nodes that add in more nodes to further debuff enemies; these include lessening enemy attack damage, defenses, and even movement. The sky’s the limit when it comes to debuffing and hacking-improving, as I’m sure the devs have a lot in store to make Diana’s kit all the more necessary and impressive.

The level in the TGS 2025 demo has Hugh and Diana searching for five panels to unlock a big space door, solving simple door puzzles and fighting enemies with space lasers and hacking. After that, we came across a room clearly meant for a big boss.

And what a big robot it was, with rocket salvos and charge attacks, along with electric ground pound attacks. Diana’s hacking was really, REALLY important in not only dealing pure damage but also short-circuiting the giant mecha temporarily for Hugh to run up-close and use his “space shotgun” as his regular space pea shooter isn’t enough here.

Pragmata Sectorguard boss fight at #tgs2025 #capcom pic.twitter.com/3PteJUhB0H

— Kakuchopurei (@Kakuchopurei) September 26, 2025

Going into aiming-and-hacking mode while having your dodge input at the ready gets exhilarating, as the giant bot is unpredictable with its charges and its gunfire; it’s up to me to react properly to the combat situation.

Doll Me Up

Capcom’s new third-person shooter feels like a byproduct of the 2010s, and I say this with high praise. I do miss good third-person shooters with well-defined linear paths, set pieces filled with escalating action & boss fights, and a fun shooting mechanic. Pragmata solves the problem of adding puzzles to a shooting game by making the puzzle of hacking be the extension of the shooting while adding a much-needed kind of intensity and challenge that elevates the experience rather than frustrates.

It remains to be seen how tough the hacking-slash-shooting will get -like maybe introducing bots faster than Hugh. But so far the TGS 2025 demo shows all the great points of a neat idea set in a sci-fi setting. Pragmata is slated for a 2026 release for PC and consoles.