Platform(s): PC (version reviewed), Xbox Series, PlayStation 5
Genre: Third-Person Shooter, Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Escort

You have to hand it to Capcom: when they really try their best, they can churn out diamonds from roughs. This is the same company that makes sequels, rerelease collections of past titles like most of them from the Mega Man series, and has its luminaries like Hideyaki Itsuno and Hiroyuki Kobayashi leaving the company because they don’t want to do sequels and cash cows anymore. The latter is Resident Evil 4 (2023), whose high scores and sales that would make the company justify its current road of remaking more REs for good or ill of creativity. Mostly ill, but that’s up to the masses to decide.

Point is, once in a blue moon, Capcom at least remembers the time when they were releasing original bangers in the 80s and 90s, and even early 2000s, and this mentality does show up amidst the cracks of their foundation. First with the underrated Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, and now with space action-adventure title PRAGMATA.

My Girl

PRAGMATA is about a stranded space engineer named Hugh who has to escape a space station on the Moon run by a rogue AI named IDUS. This AI has control over most of the helper and weapons-carrying droids in the station (one full of 3D printings of Earth things, by the by), meaning you’ll have to fight through them to get to your exit. Your only source of help is from an android child named Diana, who is part hacker, part helper, and all bundles of cute and personality to complement the cypher-like nature of Hugh. I say “-like” because as you find out more details about the station and also conversing with Diana at the game’s literal shelter from the robot menace, you get to find out more about Hugh. PRAGMATA is about 12+ hours long, but you’ll get a lot out of your “short” experience because of how tight and cathartic everything feels, designed just to be a memorable linear action title. Puzzle rooms, optional boss wave rooms with tougher-than-usual enemies, split paths with different enemy waves, loads of secrets and databases to uncover; all that good stuff that’s laid out organically and with a lot more thought.

The game’s biggest hook is its shooting-hacking mechanics which perfectly overlays over one another. As Hugh, you aim and shoot bots attacking you with any weapon you find: your handy space pistol, the space shotgun, the charged shot railgun, and so forth. All bots are protected, so you need Diana’s literal over-the-shoulder help to hack through their defences. Using the Xbox controller as reference, you aim and fire by holding the left and right trigger respectively while moving the reticule around with the left analog stick. On the right side of the screen you see the hacking board; you move your hacking cursor by using the XYAB face buttons that moves it around (think d-pad controls but using said buttons). You need to have the hacking cursor through blue and yellow nodes and then complete it by hitting the green power button node; this will not only boost your damage but also lower the affected bot’s. Additional hacking debuffs can be added, and they can either stun enemies, or confuse them or just build up their Heat bar, making them easily prone to Hugh’s gun finishing moves because that’s clearly a Capcom thing to do. Which I am A-OK with.

I’ll admit: the controls take a while to get used to, but once you’re in the groove and an hour later, you’ll be shooting and space-dashing like a pro, dealing with tougher challenges like ranged enemies and giant freak robot bosses that can protect themselves from hacking, unless Hugh takes action and shoots down their obviously-glowing red shields. Again, this is another Capcom classic 90s action trope I am down with because PRAGMATA is clearly inspired by the 2000s shooter aughts era. Just made better and prettier, thanks to its sleek backdrop and robotics design as well as spot-on controls and clever use of combining puzzle hacking and shooting. I’m pretty shocked that no one else has thought of this idea since 2013 onward. But we’re now in 2026 and we’re all the better for it existing and done brilliantly. Having said that, I did try the game on keyboard and mouse; you alternatively have to hold the Left Alt key and move your mouse to do the hacking while aiming, but the upside is that mouse cursor movement is way faster than tapping onto face buttons. I still prefer playing the game on controller because I’m more used to the face buttons option, but the alternative control is great too once you get the hang of it.

Speaking of Capcom tropes, I could say that PRAGMATA’s narrative is the antithesis of other dad-and-child action video games; even if Hugh is sort of bland at first, he and Diana are great bonding with each other throughout the sci-fi plot. One could argue that PRAGMATA’s plot beats and cutscenes are emotionally manipulative due to its usage of dramatic and sad songs playing during bonding bits between Hugh and Diana. But in this video game culture context, most of us are pretty tired of the sad dad trope from The Last of Us and God of War -or any PlayStation family issue-focused single-player padded-out-with-open-world-nonsense game- and can use a more cheerful disposition once in a while. You have to remember that CAPCOM are the folks who made the ending to 2009’s Bionic Commando or even the recent Resident Evil Requiem, so having PRAGMATA’s plot unfold is honestly a breath of fresh air leaning towards some semblance of normalcy. Well, as normal as an AI obsessed with 3D printing can get.

It Takes Two

Having Capcom making a video game-as-heck video game that’s a brand new IP is an incredibly rare moment that should be cherished, because you know damn well they’re going to make their money back from their other Resident Evil reboots and Monster Hunter DLC sequels. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

While this is a far cry from Capcom returning to the past golden age, at the very least I will appreciate whatever droplets of creative risks they will push out. PRAGMATA is a remnant of a bygone third-person shooter-in-the-aughts, made better and engaging in this current gen of gaming due to its creative mix of hacking and shooting while delivering a heartfelt plot between a man and his foster robot daughter. Let’s just savour the moment, rare as it is, as we may not see these glimmers shine as bright again.

Pros

• Heartfelt story with a well-realized duo cast.
• Fun and engaging shooter and hacking mechanics that blend really well.
• Hectic boss battles.
• Amazing visuals & audiowork.
• Loads of customization and options for various shooting/hacking playstyles.

Cons

• Short, leaving you wanting more from this rare Capcom-made gem.

Final Score: 90/100

Review copy provided by publisher.