Capcom fires on all cylinders in the Marquee franchise. Monster Hunter has increased success, Resident Evil Train continues to roll, and Street Fighter continues to be a staple in the fighting game community. Along the way there was a new Onimisha and the last time I saw Devil May Cry was a expensive note. But sometimes Capcom experiments with new things of various successes. And that latest experiment comes from Pragmata, the sci-fi third-person shooter who stole a show for me at Summer Game Fest 2025.
Another sci-fi third-person shooter may not sound very appealing on the surface, but Pragmata is an example of how a single idea comes a long way to distinguish the game from the other packs. It’s here – in Pragmata, you need to hack to open up their weaknesses, not only by shooting enemies. The way this works is to engage in a hacking mini-game aimed at the sight. Here, you will use the face button to navigate through a 5 x 5 grid to draw the path that connects a particular node. And you have to do this in real time. Along that path, you can press additional nodes to give status effects or open weak spots.
If you’re smart enough to be smart with the dodge and positioning on the rocket boost, you can pull this apart unharmedly. Creating spaces for hacking and shooting is challenging when you are primarily fighting in small spaces. Pragmata is not a fast-paced game like Vanquish or Retrental, but rather like Dead Space or Gears of War. Also, there are no large amounts of weapons. There is a six-shot pistol with unlimited magazines, but slowly picks up disposable weapons like powerful heavy rifles and mullagnes to temporarily immobilize the enemy. These effective and limited weapons will make you more resourceful and make your battles more interesting.
The combat encounters feel more intentional, as they don’t blow up the waves of robots or drones. I think it’s important to avoid overdoing it in a hacking mini-game. For now, my concern is that the novelty of hacking mini-games wears deeper into Pragmata, which is determined by how gameplay mechanics evolve, and also how combat encounters present new challenges. In fact, it was an opportunity to showcase more of the possibilities of Pragmata, which is bothering the end of the demonstration when you approach a giant mech for what appears to be a boss fight.
Hacking is also integrated into environmental puzzles and exploration, offering a variety of styles of sequential button prompts to disable security locks or access terminals. Such small things are important in a rather linear game where you’re whipping little by little for the next big fight. Even the best parts of the campaign need that diversity to balance it. At the very least, I enjoy the fact that my involvement with Levels unfolds the premise of hacking in some way.
Whether combat or exploration, I find a lot of fun in games that offer you a more active element to get involved in its core gameplay. Although it’s a completely different genre, the timing-based mechanism of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 gave a fresh feel to turn-based RPG combat, and even the gesture-based input for scar-colored Nexus abilities was a fun way to distinguish it from other action RPGs. If Pragmata can build on the best ideas in a smart way, you might be able to lean into this conversation.
The demos were less story-wise (and I’m happy to focus on the compelling gameplay hooks instead), but I’m curious about what’s going on with Pragmata. The basic premise is that you’re stuck on the lunar high-tech space station, and you’re in control of a man named Hugh who wears a mech suit and uses a small weapon with a powerful firearm. But even if the story is simply a way to take you through a thrilling combat scenario, I want to believe it is necessary.
When it first came out in 2020, and after years of silence and delays, I know it’s on the way to 2026. I don’t expect it to be the next best game or necessarily the pillar of the next biggest game, but sometimes aaa can each release aaa.
