I recently got the chance to play around two hours of CAPCOM’s upcoming sci-fi adventure PRAGMATA ahead of its April 17, 2026, launch and came away seriously impressed.
The section I played felt like it dropped me somewhere between the early and mid-game. I can’t say exactly where it sits in the overall story, but it definitely wasn’t a tutorial slice. That meant I wasn’t stuck replaying basic mechanics from the Sketchbook demo. Instead, I got to experiment with upgrades, tougher encounters, and a surprisingly intense boss fight to close things out.
Here’s how it all shook out.
Preview of the General Gameplay
The main objective of my preview session was to unlock a gate by activating a series of communication towers. Each tower functioned as its own mini-mission, mixing platforming sections with increasingly difficult combat encounters against waves of robots.
I played as the main protagonist, Hugh, an intergalactic life insurance auditor. However, I was accompanied the whole time by an android companion, Diana, who takes the form of a small girl.
For anyone who played the demo, you’ll know the two met after Hugh was woken from unconsciousness by Diana after being attacked by the AI robots. However, the section I played had moved beyond their early relationship, and the goal, as mentioned, was to get through a locked gate and make contact with Earth.
Every communication tower mission ramped up the challenge, though I actually died during one of the earlier tower runs (the second) after getting swarmed near the end. At that point, I hadn’t really been returning to "The Shelter" at the checkpoints to upgrade my weapons, suit, or hacking abilities. That turned out to be a mistake.
After respawning, I made it a rule to head back at every checkpoint to upgrade gear and restock before pushing forward. That decision paid off massively, especially when the preview wrapped up with a tough street-level boss battle (more on this later).
Lesson learned: Upgrade often.
Combat: Hack First, Shoot Second
The core hook of PRAGMATA’s combat is its hacking system, which you absolutely need to use.
If you try to brute-force enemies without hacking them first, your weapons do very little damage. Hacking opens up their defenses and lets you deal more meaningful damage, resulting in every enemy you encounter having two stages to combat: disable it first, then destroy.
Before playing, I’ll admit the hacking system looked a bit complicated from demo footage. In practice, though, it’s far more intuitive than expected. You have to navigate small hacking grids, hitting bonus nodes before landing on the green target to maximize damage or effects.
I wouldn’t say I mastered it in my two-hour session, as I wasn’t quick enough to consistently grab every bonus, but it felt more manageable than it first appeared in the demo. And, by playing on a PS5 Pro with a controller, I found navigating the hacking system pretty straightforward using the controller's easy-to-reach buttons. It's also worth pointing out here that, on the PS5 Pro, everything ran smoothly, with crisp visuals and no noticeable performance issues.
Weapons, Gadgets, and Survival
There’s a solid variety of weapons available, and I managed to unlock and upgrade quite a few during my session:
- A standard primary firearm
- A shotgun-style weapon
- A grenade launcher-type weapon
- A stun gun
- A charged blaster
- A defensive slot weapon that unlocks a decoy shooter
The decoy shooter was especially useful. It fires a fake copy of your character that enemies immediately target, giving you breathing room to reposition or hack safely.
One of the most important survival tools, though, comes from your companion, Diana. She has an override (or overdrive — I can’t quite remember the official name) ability that either stuns or wipes out nearby enemies. I used this when I was extremely low on health during that early failed tower attempt, and it absolutely saved me.
Health management is also worth noting: you get stereotypical “stim packs”, but these don’t fully restore your health. They only regenerate a portion, so you can’t rely on them to completely reset a bad situation. Planning ahead and upgrading regularly, especially your suit, makes a noticeable difference to how easy it is to survive.
Movement is Key
Movement in PRAGMATA feels clean and responsive, which is important because the communication towers include platforming sections that require precision to make certain jumps.
One tip I was told on the day was to use R1 on PS5 often. This lets you boost away from enemies and incoming attacks, thus becoming essential both in combat and in traversal sections that demand longer jumps. Once I got used to incorporating boost movement into fights, combat started to flow much more smoothly.
Diana’s Abilities Open Up Exploration
As the session progressed, I unlocked new abilities for Diana that expanded exploration options. One of the more notable ones allowed her to break down a spiky, obstructive substance blocking certain paths.
I’d seen this material multiple times before unlocking the ability, which made me want to backtrack for missed loot. I ultimately decided to push forward and finish the preview section instead, but it’s clear the game encourages revisiting areas once you’ve expanded your toolkit.
I don't know how many hours it roughly takes to complete PRAGMATA, but by having this extra ability that encourages you to go back and explore unfinished areas, you should find that you get far more play time out of the game than perhaps some similar but more basic Sci-Fi adventures offer.
A Futuristic Sci-Fi New York
Visually, the game looks fantastic.
The area I played through was some kind of futuristic, sci-fi reinterpretation of New York that is intentionally designed to be a recognizable “copy” to the main protagonist, Hugh, to further the storyline. I didn’t find out why a section of Earth had been replicated off-planet, but I’m sure this information gets revealed later in the game.
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Anyway, it all culminated in a striking street-level boss battle (a huge, terrifying robot) that made great use of the environment — environment, I should add, that’s dynamic, with some areas actually breaking from the combat going on in your own game.
For any Marvel fans reading, this kind of reminded me of the iconic "Battle of New York" in The Avengers, in that one of the most iconic cities in the world gets torn apart by a huge, powerful being and various smaller enemies. Ultimately, it falls upon you to overcome this threat, but teamwork with your companion, Diana, is the key to success.
Before wrapping up, I'll also add just how polished and detailed this area looked (again, especially on the PS5 Pro), with smooth performance throughout. Lighting and enemy design all stood out to me, giving the world a very vibrant but also very realistic feel for something that is, right now. an unrealistic reality.
Final Thoughts
After playing PRAGMATA for a couple of hours, I’m genuinely excited to see more.
One slight negative I could point out against it is that elements of the story do seem a bit trope-like, such as the clearly developing parental bond between Hugh and Diana. However, the game was unique and entertaining enough to play that I am all in on what this game is building towards, and did feel intrigued to find out more, especially about Diana.
The hacking system, while initially intimidating from the outside, turned out to be one of the game’s strongest features, and with Diana’s abilities expanding as the game went on, there’s definitely a strong will to go back and explore past areas once you complete them.
It’s challenging, for sure, especially if you neglect upgrades, but once you get used to hacking, firing, and the movement mechanics, surviving hordes of robots becomes much easier.
If the rest of the game builds on what I played here, PRAGMATA could be something pretty special when it launches later this year…
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