PRAGMATA

soooo kawai cuteeeeeeeeeeeeee

When I received this game as a birthday present, I was super excited for two reasons. 1.) The only feedback I heard for the game was that it was really good, and 2.) somehow DESPITE all the good feed back I had yet to be spoiled on anything. That was always weird to me but I was VERY excited to find out. Having completely beat that game , I can now firmly say that they were right and Pragmata is the most slept on game of 2026. The closest thing to a critique I will give is that Pragmata doesn't do MUCH that I could say is unique, but it does very successfully blend several things from other games. Almost immediately I was getting a "Deadspace but hopecore" vibe from the game. The game is VERY predictable (you can call the big bad almost immediately after meeting them) but it still manages to be enjoyable and emotional. The combat consists of chaining Diana's hacking with Hugh's firearms, and it works very well with you being able to focus on hacking more or just hacking to shoot, Some of the bosses and like one enemy flip that process but even with the core loop being simple, the game is good at throwing enough variety at you towards the middle/endgame that you have to think about where you are and what you are doing first. All in all a truly enjoyable simple experience. It certainly doesn't reinvent the wheel but its a fun memorable experience the whole ride.

it's very pragmatic

It was late when I put the controller down. The credits had finished, the screen was black, but my brain was still stuck on that one shot— Hugh shoving Diana into the Earthbound capsule while the grey lunar dust swallowed his boots, his helmet hiding whatever was left of his face. And the Dead Filament already climbing up his suit. She’s just a prototype printed from Lunafilament, a string of numbers who doesn’t understand birthdays, sunsets, or why humans eat three times a day. He’s just an unlucky astronaut who curses under his breath and says “Hell yeah” when he means “I’m terrified.” They weren’t supposed to meet. Delphi didn’t design them to care about each other. IDUS certainly didn’t account for it. But somewhere between the fake New York skyline and the artificial beach in the Shelter, “get back alive” stopped being a mission objective and became a promise. The cruelest part isn’t the sacrifice. It’s that Hugh never tells her he’s infected. Because if he did, he’d have to explain death. And she only just learned what the ocean looks like. In the normal ending, Diana stands on a real beach and says, “I’m ready.” And in the True Ending, after the black screen—that voice in the cabin: “Welcome back. What’s this? Traveling alone today?” Maybe he made it. Maybe the moon kept the light on for him. Pragmata isn’t really about hacking grids or third-person shooting. It’s about what happens when a dying man decides the last charge in his battery belongs to someone who was never meant to be a person. It’s about two broken things walking through a machine-run ruin and proving, quietly, that being human is just choosing to push the other one toward Earth. Thank you, CAPCOM, for letting me cry on the Moon in 2026. To Producer Naoto Oyama, the RE Engine crew, and every young developer who built PRAGMATA from scratch— Hello from a player who landed on your dead lunar station on April 17th, 2026. In a year full of open worlds and endless checklists, thank you for making something stubbornly linear. For trusting us with a story that doesn’t over-explain itself, a sci-fi world that feels cold because it should be cold, and a new IP that doesn’t try to please everyone. Thank you for Hugh Williams—a guy who’s scared, swears too much, and still gives his last power cell to a child-shaped machine. Thank you for Diana—D-I-0336-7—who asks what a birthday is, mimics sea waves in the Shelter, and never becomes another “vengeful AI” cliché. Thank you for the Hacking Matrix. For not making the puzzle a pause-screen chore, but weaving it into the gunfire until my hands and brain were fighting the same war. Thank you for the RE Engine moonlight, the glitched Manhattan towers, and that perfect drop of Black Dog. Thank you for the ending. For being brave enough to cut to black, and kind enough to leave us that signal at the very end: “Welcome back… traveling alone today?” We’ll take it. We’ll keep believing he came home. I know the dev logs said this was built by CAPCOM’s newer generation—young directors, risky ideas, no safety net. You proved that risk still matters in big-budget games. If there’s an Earth chapter someday—if Hugh ever pushes that Shelter door open again—I’ll be there. Neo Bushido jacket, Diana’s sleepy wave, and all. Wherever you go, I’ll be there. Thanks for the Moon. — A player who stayed behind with the signal

LIT

Excellent: gameplay, graphics, path tracing Good: travel, story, base building Neutral: controls (clunky, sluggish) Bad: new game plus (no changes / enhancements), secret ending (insubstantial)

*VERY VERY MINOR SPOILERS (for lack of better way to say it) BUT SPOILERS NONETHELESS* This is my GOTY. Without a doubt one of the best story games written in the past 8-10 years. The most recent game that comes to my mind that has better writing would be RDR2, which I consider one of if not the best game OAT. The gameplay is also really fun and unique, the hacking is like something I never experienced in any other game and it had me really intrigued to figure out what works best for the way I personally wanted to play. I never got bored through any cutscenes or gameplay through out the entire game! This game also get's the honor of being the 2nd ever game to make me cry... first one being the aforementioned RDR2. Please play this game if you want a good story with unique gameplay! Thank you CAPCOM for the experience I was honored to have behold onto me.