Games I Played in 2026 - PRAGMATA

Console: PS5, Switch 2, XSX, PC

Developer: Capcom

Release Date: April 17, 2026

Pragmata is a third-person shooter and puzzle-action game hybrid with a focus on improvisation, multitasking, and risk management. Announced all the way back in 2020, when the PS5 was first revealed, Pragmata was delayed multiple times due to apparent difficulties with the game's core mechanics. While I was first intrigued by Pragmata's reveal, I only became truly interested when it reemerged following its long delays with a trailer that had gorgeous piano music that genuinely made me a bit weepy-eyed. I got the game day 1, and I don't regret it at all. This was one of my most anticipated games of the year, after all!

THE POWER OF THE MOON

A gorgeous view of the Moon during the game's intro, with a massive tower emphasised.

Pragmata is a sci-fi game that entirely takes place on a facility on the Moon called the Cradle, created by the Delphi Corporation. Following a lack of communication, Hugh Williams and a crew of other engineers are sent to the Cradle to investigate and fix the problem with the communication equipment. Pragmata's world is quite fascinating, as it centers around "lim replicators," which are basically fancy 3D printers that can 3D print anything using a new material mined from the moon, lunafilament. Furthermore, to further cement it as a sci-fi game, the Cradle is run by an AI named IDUS and 3D printed robots are everywhere to ensure the Cradle functions.

When arriving at the Cradle, the crew gets no response and there's signs of trouble, with no humans anywhere. Before long, there's a massive moonquake that seemingly causes IDUS to go haywire, flagging the crew as threats. As a result of the moonquake and ensuing chaos, the entire crew dies, with Hugh only surviving due to being found and helped by a child-like android he eventually calls Diana. After that, the game's story is simple: Hugh needs to get back to Earth, and Diana is there to help him by guiding him around the Cradle and, more importantly, hacking the bots that IDUS is controlling to help Hugh fight back.

This is one part where Pragmata shines: despite being so narratively simple, it's thematically quite deep. The game's story and world tackles parenthood, grief, the nature of humanity, the purpose of life, life in a world run by AI (which is quite apropos nowadays), the beauty of nature, and more. All this is done through the thoroughly excellent script as well as the practically flawless performances of David Menkin and Grace Saif as Hugh and Diana, respectively. It's almost impossible not to fall in love with these two as they learn about each other. 

In the game's hub, the Shelter, you can talk with Diana and give her gifts.

Naturally, Hugh ends up as a father figure to Diana, who looks and behaves like a six year old girl for the most part, outside of also having the knowledge you'd expect from an android. Saif perfectly toes the line between adorable, curious child and intelligent, resourceful robot. Hugh, on the other hand, sounds disarmingly natural and charming, like just a normal guy who sometimes says the wrong thing, acts awkwardly, or is a bit dorky without feeling like an action movie star.

The bond that builds between Hugh and Diana happens quick in spite of Hugh's quips about disliking bots and children during the intro, and it'd be unbelievable if Diana wasn't so likeable and cute. The best part is how much extra dialogue there is; when in the game's hub, named the Shelter, Hugh can freely talk with Diana, and both will talk about a variety of subjects, from conversing about what just happened in the story to calling back to small talk they had during a quiet moment when out and about in the Cradle. There's even more dialogue when you go back to already-cleared areas, and it's all just so good.

One of the many collectibles in the game are Read Earth Memories (REMs), which are blueprints for the replicators in the Shelter to make presents for Diana. As a result, you can see her play with balloons, draw with crayons, try to learn how to skateboard, or have fun on a slide, amongst many others. It's genuinely precious and adds so much personality to the game, especially as you watch Diana being an adorable, curious kid. Her animations are delightful and though apparently mocapped by staff members, they feel genuinely childlike.

This relationship drives the entire plot forward, and is the main focus of the game narratively alongside the expected escape mission. I found myself wanting to find everything I could just to spend more time with my adorable android daughter and see her being heartwrenchingly cute. And naturally, without spoiling anything, the longer the game goes, the more the story hits, with some gorgeous, heartfelt, sincere cutscenes that had me weeping. Pragmata proves that being a gameplay-focused game doesn't mean you have to skimp on the narrative.

 

HACK, SHOOT, DODGE

A view of combat with the hacking array open, showing different nodes as well as the game's UI.

Like I alluded to, in spite of how well Pragmata handles its narrative, it's a very "video game-y" video game at its core. Lunafilament (the game's currency) pops out of defeated bots like candy, weapons are strongly color-coded, and it's all about handling all the game's mechanics at the same time. Pragmata's gameplay is genuinely unique except perhaps a couple of indies I don't know about: you have to do simple puzzles at the same time as you shoot at enemies and dodge their attacks. This superimposed style of gameplay means that while there's a somewhat low skill floor, the skill ceiling is massive.

To explain, Pragmata is a third-person shooter, but enemies take almost no damage. When aiming at an enemy, the hacking array (pictured above) will open, and you now control both the array and Hugh. Using the face buttons controls the hacking array while the stick controls Hugh, so it feels uncomfortable at first, especially since having the hacking array open means Hugh can't jump over shockwaves (since X is now down in the hacking array, not jump). This makes hip-firing a viable strategy, which is interesting and not something I see a lot of in third-person shooters. While hacking, the goal is to go through the blue OPEN nodes and eventually reach the green node, which will open the enemy's weakpoints for a limited time. Optional consumable yellow nodes can add on a variety of debuffs and effects if you pass through them, and you can have up to three active at the same time. It's very much a core part of the gameplay and not just a quaint little distraction.

Something that really stood out while playing, though, is how perfectly the game paces itself as far as new mechanics go. As soon as a mechanic is thoroughly learned and implemented in the player's toolkit, something else is added. A new gun, a new wrinkle, something. Up until the end of the game, Pragmata keeps doing this so naturally and seamlessly that it's never overwhelming. By the end of the game, you're juggling six different weapons as well as three consumable node types and equippable mods while fighting six different enemies in awkward terrain. It's really incredible.

You can upgrade Hugh's HP, his Primary weapon, and Diana's hacking

There's four weapon (called units) types, which are color-coded: Primary (Yellow), Attack (Red), Tactical (Green) and Defense (Blue). Your Primary weapon is a weapon with infinite ammo, but recharge time. Attack weapons are self-explanatory, being the main damage dealers meant to attack when enemies are OPENed. Tactical weapons are like support weapons, affecting enemies in various ways to make combat easier. Defense weapons make your life easier by either distracting or blocking enemies. The key aspect of all weapons that aren't your Primary is that they have very limited ammo; it's very easy to run out and be stuck with just your Primary. However, they're also easy to find, and while there aren't that many of each category (there's 14 weapons total, with two more unlocked post-game), they all have their uses. It means that you're often juggling weapons while fighting bots, having to make do with whatever you find.

With how many things you have to manage, it's shocking how smooth and intuitive Pragmata feels to play. While Hugh is wearing a big bulky armored spacesuit, he moves and sprints rather fast, has a high jump, can hover, and has a dodge (which is purely for repositioning/speed, not invincibility like in a game like Elden Ring). What's really interesting is the stamina meter and how it's used: sprinting doesn't spend it, but dodging, jumping and hovering do. This actually incentivizes quick movement and creative positioning by allowing you to sprint around however you wish. This comes especially in handy during boss fights and very busy skirmishes.

Enemy variety is very good, with about 14 different enemy types to play with, and some have stronger variations. Each enemy has a clear, rather simple plan of attack that makes them fairly easy to fight one-on-one, but the beauty of the game's combat comes when you're locked in a room with multiple different kinds of enemies and you're forced to evaluate which enemy to kill first, which weapon to use, what strategy to employ, what to use your yellow nodes on, and so on. This isn't to mention the boss fights, which are all excellent, unique, and fun. It's a masterful gameplay loop that, thanks to the immaculate pacing I mentioned, truly never gets old, even when going back to get collectibles. Whether carefully planning your next move under pressure or blasting through a group of enemies like a pro, Pragmata always feels like a dream to play during its 10-20h playtime.

A look at one of the game's challenges, along with its three goals.

Pragmata takes its core gameplay concept and pushes it quite far, namely through its challenge mode: the Training Simulations. There's 30 of these, and they are either a platforming challenge, an aiming challenge, or a combat challenge. These are generally gimmicky on purpose, as they force you to have a specific loadout and level. Each challenge has three goals: completion and two optional goals that are usually speed-focused or doing something you normally wouldn't. They're a fun side thing to do, and not only give good, tangible rewards, but also genuinely do help with figuring out how to use the tools in your arsenal. They're overall not too difficult while still requiring you to play well, with a few exceptions that are a bit oddly tuned in either direction. 

Outside of the Training Simulations, the main story itself paces itself so well that the game still feels fresh by the end, which is why the unlocks after beating the game are so welcome: you unlock the game's hard mode as well as a post-game with some additional challenges as well as harder boss rematches. You even get some extra weapons in the post-game, which is really welcome. The thing with Pragmata is that its very "video game-y" nature lends itself to speedrunning or just multiple playthroughs, somewhat similar to what the Resident Evil series does.

Standing in front of Area 3, the Terra Dome, highlighting the environment.

 

The game is structured in a really simple way, with you going from the Shelter to one of five Areas that are unlocked sequentially during the story. In each one there's some emergency exits, which return you to the Shelter instantly at the cost of respawning all enemies, similar to a soulslike game. These emergency exits also allow you to start where they are instead of at the beginning of the Area, and each Area is separated into sections that have trackers for each collectible there individually. There's no in-game map or radar, but you can have Diana scan your surroundings, highlighting nearby collectible precisely. Your job is just to figure out how to get there.

These collectibles all help either with upgrading Hugh and Diana, upgrading your arsenal, giving yourself new abilities (not through a skill tree, but just purchasing abilities), getting costumes for both characters, or some extra lore. My only issue is with the costumes: the ones earned during the main story are all kind of whatever, with similar color schemes and design elements, not feeling distinct enough from Hugh or Diana's really solid designs outside of one or two. The post-game and DLC costumes are more distinct and outlandish, which makes sense, but it's still a bit of a bummer to me. There's also one (admittedly useless) collectible that has no in-game tracker outside of when you get one, which is a bizarre choice especially since they're really hidden.

Something I found pretty surprising was not just the quality of the visuals (as Capcom is really knocking it out of the park lately), but how each Area feels unique and distinct, which is a massive achievement considering it all takes place in the Cradle, a pretty sterile sci-fi facility full of whites and grays. The game even changes the "yellow paint" to instead be blue with red stripes on certain boxes and platforms to keep things normal. Each Area is unique, from a glitchy city to a lab full of fake plants. The level design in general is just a joy to go through, being fairly simple but with quite a few hidden nooks and crannies that are fun to look for.

Hugh and Diana stand on a beach, looking at a sunset. But they're on the Moon...?

Pragmata's incredible soundtrack was composed by Yasumasa Kitagawa, and has three overall genres or styles. The majority of the soundtrack is comprised of either EDM tracks that suit the game's action perfectly, not being too fast or too slow and often with a sort of "pulse" that keeps things feeling tense. Then, there's the more ambient/relaxed tracks, which are either still on the electronic side, or, my favorite, these really beautiful piano-centric pieces. The piano pieces are what first hooked me through the game's trailers, and they're still my favorite parts of the soundtrack, even though the rest is also great. When in the Shelter, you can have music of your choice play, but only the calmer tracks that I love. Unfortunately, it always resets whenever you return.

 

PROS AND CONS

PROS

• Excellent and unique gameplay loop that never gets old.

• Perfectly paced with a perfect length.

• Simple but extremely well-executed story bolstered by excellent voice acting and writing.

• Beautiful visuals and a surprisingly varied array of locales.

• Gorgeous soundtrack.

• Lots of optional and bonus content that's all fun to play.

• Solid enemy variety to keep things fresh.

• Excellent boss battles across the board. 

• Really good weapon variety and gameplay customisation to suit a variety of gameplay styles.  

CONS

• One of the collectibles bizarrely has no tracker.

• If the gameplay really clicks for you, even a playthrough on Normal might feel a tad easy.

 

WORTH PLAYING?

I don't think I can make it any clearer that not only did I absolutely love Pragmata, I think it's one of my favorite games ever even now, a few months after finishing it. The gameplay hooked me, the music wowed me, the visuals awed me, and the story gripped me. It's a fantastic game, and one of Capcom's best. However, with how unique the gameplay is in this gameplay-focused game, I don't think it's really a game that everyone will vibe with. Thankfully, there's a demo available on every platform that I strongly recommend to at least try out Pragmata's gameplay to see if you connect with it. As far as I'm concerned, however, this is one of the best games of 2026, if not the best.