In a world where Monster Hunter Wild drives great guns, Street Fighter 6 continues to please fight against the game’s fans, with new residents Resident Evil and Onimsha games ongoing. It’s easy to forget that Capcom offers something entirely new from major and reliable franchises. I’m always aware Practical As a slightly strange project, it endured both from the odd themes of past trailers and the seemingly bumpy development process. But the mystery surrounding it led to my constant “Does it appear?” Radar in front of the main showcase. Well, Summer Game Fest features a new trailer, a 20-minute demo that you could try out with the 2026 release window and a SGF Play Days in Los Angeles. In many aspects, Pragmata feels like a rather typical third-person space shooter, but it also brings some successful surprises.
For those unnoticed, Pragmata revolves around Hugh, covered in a space suit as the main controllable protagonist, but after some life-threatening problem with aboard a station orbiting the moon, he is saved by a mysterious android girl named Diana. Dressed in blue, she is a prominent contrast to the futuristic, metallic, disinfected environment of the game with a swaying veil of bright blonde hair. Thanks to past trailers, we already knew. However, Capcom is pretty tight and secret about what gameplay experiences to find in Pragmata. Until now.
Throughout the game, Diana sits on Hugh’s back and uses her remote hacking ability to open up new paths, bypass security protocols and, most importantly, assist in combat in large numbers. This is the first big surprise that Pragmata threw at me. Hugh is responsible for firing fraudulent robots on the Space Station with various energy-driven weapons, but can only do so after Diana breaks the enemy’s shield. To do this, you need to aim for the enemy and essentially trigger the types of hacking puzzles that are normally reserved in other action games and RPGs, such as opening locked doors, decrypting messages, or breaking into computer terminals. But Capcom has made it a core combat mechanic here.
There is also no slow motion, pause, or submenus. The puzzle floats next to Hugh and Diana. You need to control Hugh’s movements and resolve them in real time, dodging enemy attacks.
Cracking this puzzle involves using the face button on the controller to move the cursor around the grid to the green node. Doing so will destroy the enemy’s shield. However, you will need to navigate through some obstacle nodes. If it’s quick, you can also take a longer route to push the bonus node where the enemy takes more damage from Hugh’s weapon. After completing Diana’s puzzle, as an additional limitation to preventing her from spraying and praying, Hugh can target blue-glowing weaknesses to slow down enemies and send them out more quickly.
Juggling real-time third-person combat and hacking mini-games (especially when playing with a controller) seems to be totally confusing. But that’s not really the case. It works intuitively. This proficiency definitely happens when more elaborate puzzles and tougher enemies are thrown at you, but with this tiny slice, this seemingly complicated loop was surprisingly quick to pick up and enjoy.
I warn this with potential concern. I’m a bit worried that doing this hacking puzzle for all enemies throughout the game might be tiring. But from what I played, it’s a refreshing combat mechanic presented in a novel way.
In fact, Pragmata needs it. Gunplay is happy, but there are plenty of other games that can say the same thing. The movement is lively and features a boost pack, but again, I’ve seen it before. The interior of the lunar station, the view of the moon from the windows, and the android enemy designs are visually impressive, but there are plenty of other breathtaking space games as well. At this stage, I don’t think that Pragmata, these important pillars of this genre, are best in class, but experiencing the elements of the puzzle game made me keen to play more.
There is also the extraordinary stakes in the game and the relationship between Hugh and Diana. The short demo I played seemed set up at the beginning of the game to interact with each other for the first time with the two of them meeting, so I didn’t have much time to explore the story beats. However, the pair quickly built trust in each other within the opening minutes. I’m looking forward to where it leads in the full game.
Pragmata was always different A choice Capcom is the one to make, as it was easy to paste into what you know best in popular and trusted franchises. The fusion of action and mysterious real-time is still brave and I think this combat innovation (along with its mystical tale) will help you stand out even if you don’t take that much risk in other areas. After finally going in practical terms, Pragmata remains a game that I can’t stop thinking about.
