Pragmata Hands-On Preview: Capcom PS5 Game Has You Hack First, Shoot Later

I didn’t think it was possible, but somehow, Capcom’s done it. They’ve merged two of my favorite genres — shooters and puzzle games — into one beautiful package in Pragmata.

In case you’re in the dark and didn’t catch the latest trailer from Summer Game Fest, here’s a quick recap of the oft-delayed game. Pragmata is a third-person shooter from Capcom that might look a bit familiar if you’ve played Vanquish or Binary Domain. Rather than focusing your sights on human enemies, you’ll be tearing through aggressive robots as you try to escape the Cradle, an outer space facility that has been mysteriously abandoned.

You don the shoes (or, space boots?) of Hugh Williams. While our hero seems more than capable of mowing down legions of electronic baddies, he quickly discovers that his gunfire is having little effect. Thankfully, that’s where Diana comes in. This M3GAN lookalike certainly plays the “little girl robot” role quite well, but rather than excelling at hand-to-hand combat, Diana shines in hacking her hostile brethren, which renders them vulnerable to Hugh’s weaponry. 

While other games that have attempted to bolt-on puzzle-solving often rely on pausing the core gameplay loop to switch over to a different screen, Pragmata instead tasks you with hacking your robot foes in real-time. For those of you who remember BioShock’s hacking mini game (which itself is based on 1989’s Pipe Mania), the setup is very similar. You’ll direct an electrical current across a grid using the four-face buttons, routing through specific nodes that will damage enemies and lower their defenses. It’s a simple concept, but Capcom has built upon it in some clever ways. 

For starters, you don’t have to worry so much about reloading; in fact, during combat, a lot of shooter staples (reloading, weapon switching, dodging) are either all handled automatically or are mapped to the D-pad, triggers, or shoulder buttons. This frees up your right hand to handle hacking, while also allowing you to get back to shooting the minute an enemy becomes vulnerable. There are also a few different guns to choose from; aside from a standard pistol, the shockwave gun stands in for your traditional shotgun, while the stasis net can slow down enemies within a specific radius. 

Sadly, we only got to go hands-on with Pragmata for 20 minutes or so, but from what we played, we’re very excited to try out the full game for ourselves. Sadly, we have a bit of a wait ahead of us, as Pragmata isn’t set to release until 2026. 

The post Pragmata Hands-On Preview: Capcom PS5 Game Has You Hack First, Shoot Later appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.