Pragmata Test: Capcom signs a new great action game

CRITIQUE – The Japanese publisher continues its streak and delivers another video game that is set to leave a mark. This is thanks to a combat system that is truly unique.

9/10

Addictive, beautiful, touching, innovative… Superlatives are insufficient to qualify Pragmata, whose only downside is possibly its relative lack of ambition.

Who will stop Capcom? The Japanese publisher, who has recently released two very good titles within the last two months – Resident Evil Requiem (8/10) and Monster Hunter Stories 3 (7/10), returns on April 17 with the highly anticipated Pragmata. Rumors about its potentially chaotic production have been circulating, as the action title, announced in 2020 before being indefinitely postponed to 2023, carries the burden of being Capcom’s very first new solo license since Dragon’s Dogma, released in 2012.

The developers behind Pragmata seem to have effortlessly lifted a heavy burden. The adventure is so masterfully crafted and perfectly calibrated that we immediately started a second playthrough as soon as the end credits finished rolling – something we rarely do.

The struggles of artificial intelligence

If you’ve been following the project’s genesis, you won’t be surprised to hear that Pragmata is set in a lunar research station. Originally dedicated to the development of “lunafiber” – a revolutionary material similar to 3D printing filaments, capable of synthetically replicating anything from cars to cats to skyscrapers – the orbital structure experiences a sudden breakdown, prompting a team of engineers from Earth to come. Among them is Hugh, our protagonist, who is quickly separated from his squad and desperately tries to return to the blue planet.

Capcom’s title premise is quite classic, but it is shaken up by the rapid encounter with a “Pragmata”, an artificial creature with all the characteristics of a young girl. The blonde girl, quickly named Diana by Hugh, becomes the heart of the game from the first few minutes. Modelled meticulously (her hair is one of the most impressive aspects of the game) thanks to Capcom’s powerful RE Engine graphic engine, the robot, playful and endearing, paradoxically infuses the story with a dose of humanity that is missing in many video game scenarios. While we won’t spoil the key elements of her adventure, Pragmata continues to captivate the player, if only to discover the fate of our lovable android and her surrogate father, whose past unfolds through their discussions.

One could perhaps criticize Capcom for struggling to conceal its references, with Death Stranding, The Last of Us, and Stellar Blade at the forefront, but the modernity of the story, firmly rooted in the present, and the exploration of the role of artificial intelligence in the living world deserve praise. The game world unfolds through brilliant little notes scattered throughout the levels, informing us about the discomfort of the space station employees, gradually replaced by robots and reduced to mere spectators.

One small step for man, one giant leap for video games

Pragmata’s narrative hooks us, but it is the gameplay that keeps us engaged. In essence, Capcom builds on the foundations of post-RE4 Resident Evil (third-person shooting, over-the-shoulder camera, heavy movements, etc.), but adds an innovative idea that changes everything: hacking. Faced with the station’s aggressive robots controlled by power-hungry AI, Hugh quickly realizes that his weapons are ineffective against their hulls. Diana, on the other hand, has technologies capable of hacking their systems, making them vulnerable to bullets. To survive, you must control both the android and the man, constantly juggling between their distinct abilities.