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In Pragmata, you play as Hugh Williams, an astronaut sent to investigate an important lunar facility after contact has been lost, and after being hurt by a lunar quake, an android named Diana who appears as a little girl.
Now, from the start it’s obvious that there will be some sort of father surrogate relationship in this game, and from what the demo shows us, it won’t be Joel-Ellie grim, but a genuine wholesome and fun relationship, and honestly, I prefer that.
Their relationship is fun and endearing, their abilities compliment each other, and I find the “I’m not your dad but once something bad happens I will show you that I care” trope to be washed out by now.
The demo shows us that Pragmata will be a combination of a hacking mini game, gunplay, as well as exploration, where Diana will hack the enemies and expose their weak points and Hugh will fill them with lead. Before you start sweating and worrying you might feel overwhelmed and it will be too much, let me ease your worries right away.
Controlling both Hugh and Diana is amazing, it’s seamless and after a few tries, it comes as natural, when encountering an enemy your first thought won’t be to shoot, but to hack. Using specific buttons instead of the arrows for hacking navigation might seem odd, but it soon turns to a fun and intuitive mechanic.
The combat is smooth, fun, and rewarding; blowing enemies to bits never gets old. Hugh has everything you’d expect from a sci-fi astronaut, he can jump, dodge, even hover. Meanwhile, Diana can hack enemies as well as doors, certain mechanisms and even checkpoints if the challenge proves too much for Hugh and he dies.
While it will take you a few encounters to get used to the combat, you’ll start to love it very quickly. The hacking has a time limit, but during the demo I never ran out of time. Performance-wise, it runs flawlessly, no drops, no stuttering, just smooth gameplay throughout the entire demo.
Final thoughts
The demo did exactly what it was supposed to, it was fun and entertaining and hooked me completely, leaving me counting down to the full release. The addictive combat loop, the relationship between Hugh and Diana, the beautiful environments, it all suggests that once out, Pragmata will be an insanely fun and interesting game. Now that I know what’s waiting for me, I am extremely excited.
