Capcom Just Fixed Third-Person Shooters

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Capcom creates a wide variety of games, from epic adventures like Dragon’s Dogma to the famous Resident Evil horror series. While the company is successful and respected in the gaming world, it often feels like it has to consistently deliver outstanding games to prove its worth. Capcom isn’t without its missteps – Monster Hunter World had some issues – but overall, it’s clearly a master of game development.

It’s not surprising that Capcom seems to have solved a major problem with third-person shooter games. Their impressive 2026 lineup includes several titles in the genre, and leading the charge is Pragmata, a truly unique sci-fi game with the potential to redefine how we experience them. While some might dismiss its gameplay as just a neat trick, I believe it’s far more than that – it genuinely elevates a genre that has been feeling stale for a while.

Pragmata Is Breathing New Life Into Third-Person Shooters

The recent demo for Pragmata, though brief, gives a strong impression of why it’s become a highly anticipated game for 2026. It features puzzles, combat, and a boss battle, all brought to life with surprisingly good voice acting and a captivating, well-written story. I’ve been intrigued by Pragmata since its initial, enigmatic trailer, but it was hard to get a feel for the gameplay – something you can experience when watching videos of games like Animal Crossing, Pokémon, or Monster Hunter.

Now that I’ve finally played Pragmata, I understand its initial appeal and why it’s quickly becoming a standout title in its genre. What sets Pragmata apart is its unique combat system. It blends fast-paced puzzle-solving with intelligent enemy AI, leading to incredibly tense and exciting battles. To effectively damage enemies, you first need to hack them. This hacking mechanic is quick enough to maintain the game’s fast pace, but challenging enough that failing feels like a real possibility. This potential for failure – being interrupted or taking damage during the hack – is the core of Pragmata’s thrilling tension.

What really sets this game apart is its ability to break away from the typical, repetitive nature of third-person shooters. Most games in this genre involve simply hiding behind cover and shooting enemies, or relying on special abilities to win. While these elements can add some variety, even clever AI can’t truly create suspense or raise the stakes without just making the game harder. Pragmata succeeds by leaning into Capcom’s expertise in survival horror, building genuine tension and making combat more thrilling. It demands more active participation from the player, making each fight feel more meaningful and engaging.

What really stops this game from feeling like just a cool trick is how they balanced risk and reward in the hacking. It’s not just about finding the right sequence to exploit an enemy. They added extra spaces in the hacking grid that can seriously boost your damage or make enemies way more vulnerable, but reaching for those bonuses takes time and effort. They’re super helpful in boss fights, which, thankfully, are epic, long, and really well-made. You have to be on your game and use every hack to the max. Honestly, I hope we see more third-person shooters take notes from what Pragmata is doing here.

Pragmata Should Serve As The Blueprint For Future Third-Person Shooters

Pragmata successfully blends puzzle-solving with third-person shooting, creating a fresh and engaging experience. While the third-person shooter genre has seen many groundbreaking games, Pragmata truly stands out by taking combat to a new level. It’s more than just adding a simple extra activity; the game fundamentally alters how you approach and interact with familiar combat scenarios.

I don’t think playing a game from a third-person view is automatically boring. It’s just a way to build a game, and there’s tons of room for cool ideas. But honestly, if a game just uses that viewpoint to do the same old things we’ve seen a million times, it gets really stale. Adding something genuinely new can make it feel fresh and exciting. Now, I’m not saying every third-person shooter needs a hacking puzzle or something. That approach really only works for a company like Capcom. Their experience with the intense action in Resident Evil lets them nail the scary, gripping fights in a game like Pragmata – they just get how to make that work.

I’m encouraging developers to build upon the core combat system by drawing on their strengths and experience. They can enrich the basic third-person shooter gameplay by adding elements from their previous work – things like puzzles, fast-paced action, realistic physics, or environments that can be broken and interacted with.

Many people will likely consider Pragmata one of the best sci-fi games, and it deserves that praise. I also hope it’s recognized as a standout title within the third-person shooter genre. Just as Breath of the Wild and Elden Ring raised the bar for open-world games, I believe Pragmata has the potential to define the future of third-person experiences. The demo was so enjoyable that it’s been hard for me to go back to playing other games in the genre, even the highly-rated ones.

Does the game Pragmata seem like a good model for how third-person shooters should be made going forward? Share your thoughts in the comments and join the discussion on the ComicBook Forum!

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2026-02-16 23:14