Well, it's half about the hacking. And that may be too much...
The Pragmata demo dropped in mid-December, but I wasn’t near a PC that could play it until recently. Or, at the very least, I wasn’t near one that I could both play and record the experience. I’m back at my beefy home PC, though, so it’s time to weigh in.
Built on Capcom’s versatile RE Engine, Pragmata is a curious thing, a shooter that’s equally about hacking as it is firing a multitude of weapons. Announced way back in 2022, the title was delayed several times before remerging in 2025… and it was only then when Capcom gave us an idea of what it was actually about.
“Set in a vision of the near future, Pragmata transports players to the moon,” Capcom said last year. “After a chance meeting aboard a seemingly lifeless lunar research station, spacefarer Hugh and android Diana find themselves caught in the crosshairs of a hostile AI in control of the station. Stranded and surrounded by enemies, only together can they hope to survive.”
In terms of locomotion and shooting, you control Hugh. Diana, meanwhile, remains perched on Hugh’s back all throughout, hacking enemies to damage them; more importantly, she exposes opponents’ vulnerabilities to cause further harm. While it may sound like a lot to have to control all at once, things are surprisingly fluid and easy. Using a controller, your joysticks and triggers work as in any other shooter, while your face buttons move a hacking path up, down, left, or right.
While Pragmata‘s sci-fi look and feel place it alongside the likes of Halo in terms of visuals, hacking itself was giving me Bioshock vibes. While you’re not placing water pipes in specific orders to make fluid travel in a specific direction, you’re nonetheless thinking like that, going from start to finish and always calculating the fastest, most efficient route to do so. Theoretically, you could kill enemies using only hacking, or only shooting… but it’s going to take you a hell of a longer than just combining the two types of actions.
In addition to the hacking enemies, you’re also going to be hacking doors and switches in one of two other mini-games. One will have you picking a direction with your d-pad, combining that with a corresponding face button press, and the other will have you using face buttons to rotate and activate circuits.
Pragmata‘s Sketchbook demo will take you twenty minutes at most, and ten minutes if you’re resourceful. That little chunk of gameplay experience proves enjoyable, fast, and frenzied, but I’m left wondering how sustainable the experience will be over longer play periods, and in general.
While time will ultimately answer my lingering questions, you don’t have to take my word on the demo itself — it’s still available on Windows PC via Steam right this second, and it planned for release on consoles before the main game itself. If you can’t play, you can check out a full run-through above.
Expect Pragmata from 24 April 2026 on Windows PC via Steam, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PS5, and Switch 2.
This article may contain affiliate links, meaning we could earn a small commission if you click-through and make a purchase. Stevivor is an independent outlet and our journalism is in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative.
