- Tested on PC using a code provided by the editor.
- Test configuration: RTX 4090 + AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D = 60 FPS constant in 4K with DLSS Quality + Frame Gen x2 and all max settings including path tracing.
- Completed in 12:40 p.m. depending on the game and in 5 p.m. according to the Steam counter.
- I took all my time and searched everywhere.
It was since 2024 and the excellentKunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddessthat Capcom had not issued an original licence. The Japanese publisher returns today withPragmata, a title announced in 2020 for a launch originally planned for 2022. The game will finally be released on April 17, 2026.PragmataHas he almost reached fireDeep Downin the limbos of the Arlesian video game? We'll probably never know. What, then, did this extension develop? Answer below.
Do androids dream of electric Leon?
Pragmatais a third person action game that puts us at the helm of Hugh and Diana, while the latter seek to escape from a lunar research station infested with killer robots commanded by a cracked AI. Hugh is a forty-year-old easy-to-live and flowing, the kind of gus that keeps his head cold and his morale in all circumstances, even after all his colleagues were crushed by a two-ton cast pipe, then sucked into the sidereal vacuum. A sure guy, this Hugh. « Youg » as in « Yugoslav »). Diana is a gifted android of childish appearance, who has no idea why the station's AI burned a circuit or what happened to all the local staff. It is never good to accept a position closely or far linked to space in the video game: do the NPCs never learn?
Just twenty minutes after meeting, Hugh seems ready to do anything for Diana, and our two protagonists naturally engage in OKLM conversations about fishing, childhood memories, the passage of seasons, dark chocolate, cat-dog preference, Ormuz Strait or the sense of life. Very quickly, we find ourselves decorating our base and offering presents to Diana, such as a slide or an insect drain. The player can then admire the charming little moat of the child who fret like a Pikachu in front of a power plant, when she does not turn her head squarely on the side, puzzled, as my cat Benny does when I explain to her that we have as an ancestor the dimetrodon.
Having chosen to put an end to my biological lineage, it reminded me of my outings at the zoo being marmot, but these scenes a little cucul la praline will probably blow up the players who made the bet childish. Special mention to the doublerGrace Saiffor its interpretation. I never thought I'd write this, but you have to admit that Diana is adorable, in addition to never becoming sore. More than just onesidekickIt is as important as Hugh on the screen.
Written like this, this narrative without a credible dramatic binder might seem harmful to the story, but not at all! In contrast toGod of War Ragnarökwho takes himself too seriously and does not stop adding tons of it to finally struggle to convince that his story is not written with his feet*, PragmataTotally assumes its sidefeel goodAnd a little stupid. The story is followed without displeasure and we reasonably appreciate our heroes, while the player voluntarily suspends his disbelief vis-à-vis their relationship not plausible for a penny, because its construction goes way too fast. Inoffensive in his speech,Pragmataassumes its entertainment status...
... And it works from the fire of God! Mainly because this ancillary narrative relies on agameplaycontrolled from end to end.Pragmatais an ingenious blend of genres that succeeds in combining TPS nicely with Snake puzzles on Nokia 3310. Wholesale Hugh shoots everything in GST mode (« Leave the guns to me! »), while Diana short-circuits without tomorrow using a hacking grid (« Pika pika! »), all simultaneously.
The fact that Capcom has managed to make a mini hacking game – an ordinary so rebarbative fireworks – so responsive and exhilarating is the feat ofgame design. This ability of Diana, combined with Hugh's jetpack, leads to an ultra-reactive and playful hybrid system in hand, serving a nerve and gripping action. It's so unfailing that we surprise ourselves to want to flirt with the 100% completion, just for the pleasure of controlling our characters. I haven't felt that way since theSpidermanInsomniac and their spider-man so pleasant to embody.
As if that were not enough, the robotic bestiary is varied and forces us to adapt our combat strategy. Many weapons and fleas modifyinggameplayfor the hacking part are also part of the game, in addition to a more classical improvement of Hugh's basic skills. The jousts are tedious and always end up in a deluge of explosions of luminous computer components that would not have denied Michael Bay, for the greatest pleasure of our dopamine channels. Anyway, you'll get it,Pragmatashines above all by itsgameplay. From the point of view of level design, we are dealing with corridors and a very guided and plan-plan progression, despite a noticeable verticality in places. You never lose your way, which is a good thing for this kind of purely action oriented games.
Finally, how not to mention the graphic and technical summit that Capcom once again achieves with the RE Engine and its effects of path tracing to take off the retina, which perfectly restores the cooling light of the stars on the glossy surfaces of the station. It reminded me of my weekend on the ISS last fall on the occasion of Leonardo DiCaprio's 51st anniversary. Everything inPragmataseems so pure, so clean: the windows are guaranteed there without any finger marks, the light bounces everywhere and everything is reflected, perhaps even a little too much. What about realism claimed by path tracing? I don't care, because it's beautiful in addition to being a fantasy for first-hour maniacs. I'm still shivering.
*Also, like any person normally constituted, I hate Atreus.
With Pragmata, Capcom proves once again its ability to create with maestria an original license of all parts. It doesn't matter that his light story holds on a bit of string and that the relationship between Hugh and Diana is ready to smile because of his intimate character so hasty, the heart of Pragmata lies above all in his gameplay so nervous, pleasant and strangely Zen to take in hand that we surprise ourselves to undertake the quest for 100%. All this makes Capcom want to continue on this innovative path by offering more new works rather than relying mostly on its established franchises.
For
- A story that doesn't take itself seriously...
- Friendly characters...
- A TPS hybrid gameplay / ingenious puzzle without anicroches
- Frequent and intense fighting
- Many weapons and hack chip enhancements for as many possible game styles
- Superb graphics and high-flying path tracing effects: Capcom at the cutting edge of PC technology
- English dubbing and Diana's movement capture
- A little too easy in Normal mode
Against
- ... and so much better because she doesn't fly high
- ... if not interesting or truly endearing
- Obligable music
- Optional platform challenges less adapted to TPS gameplay
- No difficult mode proposed in the first part
- Universe not very original
What did I laugh when I woke up reading your review? 😅It seems to stick perfectly to the light tone of the game as we do more too much today. Big Capcom. And nice puns in the way.
Thank you! The light tone was perfectly sticking to Pragmata, but I hope that this will not be the case for the remake of Dino Crisis that arrives at great steps (I feel it!).
In my opinion, as soon as Onimusha is released, Capcom will communicate on its next releases. So I say RE Veronica Remake, Devil May Cry 6 and potentially Dino Crisis. Unless a remake of Dino Crisis AND Veronica does too much at once...