When Hugh Williams wakes up and discovers a child named Diana, everything seems a bit off. He’s in a full space suit, and this strange child who has just healed him is walking around barefoot in a facility called the Cradle. The idea that she’s an android doesn’t register until he meets one of the minions of IDUS, an autonomous base administrator.
The artificial intelligence deems them as unregistered guests and sends a Walker robot to deal with them. That’s when Diana steps into action, and players realize that “Pragmata” isn’t the run-of-the-mill sci-fi shooter. They learn that firing guns isn’t super effective, and that’s when players have to use Diana’s abilities to hack the machine, and the gameplay gets weird.
HACK AND FIRE
Players have to run through a quick minigame where they move a cursor through several nodes by pressing the face buttons to weaken the adversary. That’s when Hugh can take it down. It’s the main wrinkle in the short demo I played for the upcoming action title.
As Hugh, I faced a mission to activate the main power generator on this base, but to do that, I had to unlock nodes, and running through the area offered a quick overview of Hugh and Diana’s abilities. The protagonist can jump, but not very high. His suit has a dash that makes up for that. With it, he can leap over laser fences though players do have a cool-down on the speedy move.
Meanwhile, Diana can hack objects around the base, including Escape Hatches that save progress to doors. Her main ability is to weaken robotic enemies by infiltrating their systems by running through a minigame. Players can pick up Hacking nodes, which add a special marker and if players run the cursor through it, they can activate debuffs and other benefits. The only issue is in this demo was I could only carry three at a time.
BOSS FIGHT
Thankfully, Hugh has a bigger arsenal than just the handgun. He can pick up a Shockwave rifle that’s ideal for close-up attacks. It’s like a shotgun. Players also find a stasis net, which temporarily slows robots so that Diana can easily hack them without fear of being struck. What’s annoying about the firearm situation is that once players empty the clip, they have to find a whole new gun. I didn’t find any extra ammo.
The Cradle is a large base, and I needed help navigating it. The game does have way points that guides players to their next objective, and I followed it until I went up to the elevator into a large room that was obviously made for a boss. Several breakable boxes littered the periphery, and they contained a slew of weapons.
I wasn’t disappointed and fought a Metal Gear-looking mech. I quickly found the weak spot on its back, and I used tools like the stasis net to hold the machine in place while Diana used her hacks to lower its defense. Striking the fuel tanks on its back dealt massive damage, and when I hit it enough times, it created an opening, where I could rush in and deal more damage with an R2 attack, almost like a quicktime event.
The boss and the experience was easy, though I’m not sure how well the hacking mechanic will work with the gunplay. It feels somewhat like a forced gimmick, putting a minigame in the middle of a gunfight. It’s a commendable twist to gameplay, but hopefully, upgrades or tweaks can make it feel more natural in the flow of combat.
“Pragmata” is releasing in 2026 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S and PC.