Pragmata preview: Very promising, even if Diana is a bit annoying

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Capcom is having a great start to 2026, largely thanks to the success of Leon S. Kennedy’s latest game. They’ll be hoping to keep up the momentum with their next release, Pragmata, which is coming out next month.

I recently visited Capcom’s London office and got to try out Pragmata for over an hour. To be honest, I hadn’t been very interested in the game before, but I was really impressed with what I played.

Pragmata takes place on a deserted lunar research station where astronaut Hugh and an android named Diana must work together. They’re fighting against a dangerous artificial intelligence that has taken over the station, all while trying to find a way back to Earth.

Okay, so from what I’ve seen of Pragmata, it really feels like a survival horror game. It looks like you can cripple enemies by shooting them in the legs, sending them stumbling so you can finish them off – pretty standard stuff for the genre, honestly.

Pragmata stands out from typical survival horror games not with slow, careful gameplay, but with a really smart and well-designed hacking mechanic.

Ugh, it’s so frustrating when enemies have armor at the beginning of a fight – my attacks barely do anything! Thankfully, Diana’s hack is the perfect fix for that. It really helps get through those tough defenses.

Pressing and holding the L2 button displays a grid on your screen. Moving through the grid’s squares towards the green target weakens enemy defenses, making them vulnerable to attack.

Taking detours to hit special nodes can give you benefits like extra damage or the ability to hack several enemies simultaneously. However, these nodes often have limited uses, adding a fresh take to how you manage your resources.

It’s important to remember that the hacking happens instantly – time doesn’t wait for anyone, whether human or machine.

As a fan, I can tell you this game really gets my heart racing, even in basic fights! When you get into bigger groups, things get seriously intense – it’s exactly the kind of challenge I love.

While the pressure can feel a bit forced, it’s a good thing because the battles in Pragmata aren’t usually very challenging.

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I played on the Normal difficulty setting, which was the hardest one available to me. Since I prefer using a mouse and keyboard and I’m not very good with controllers, the only parts of the game I really struggled with were the specially designed, extra-difficult challenge rooms.

As you play further into the game, you’ll discover more ways to use strategy, thanks to the weapons you collect and the different areas you explore.

I especially liked creating a holographic decoy of myself to trick a large group of robots into running straight into a giant laser.

The puzzles in this part of the game were pretty straightforward – I didn’t feel particularly clever for solving them, but they were still really enjoyable to figure out.

Generally, life follows a predictable pattern, but hidden surprises and personal discoveries still make it interesting.

Exploring your environment, even just looking around, will help you find useful items, upgrades, and collectibles which you can store in your central hub area.

To top it all off, my Pragmata experience ended with an epic battle against a massive, robotic monster in a recreated New York City. If that doesn’t convince you this game is amazing, I don’t know what will!

I don’t want to give too much away, so I’ll simply say that it rocked.

I joined the game a bit late, so I didn’t fully grasp the story, but what I experienced was interesting and I’m excited to learn more.

My main issue with the story is Diana, the android who accompanies Hugh. She constantly offers unhelpful suggestions, repeatedly asking things like, “Hugh, why don’t you go in there? Have you considered using your scanner?” It’s a bit like she’s nagging him incessantly.

Hugh is incredibly patient dealing with everything, but I understand why my own patience with Diana would improve if she could offer me a way out of this difficult situation, too.

Authors

Alex RaisbeckGaming writer

Alex Raisbeck writes about video games for TopMob, covering both popular titles and smaller independent games. He’s also contributed to well-known gaming publications like VideoGamer, GamesRadar+, PC Gamer, and PCGamesN.

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2026-03-17 18:35