Pragmata Switch 2 Review: A Deeply Emotional Adventure
Capcom is known for taking good care of their Franchises. Monster Hunter, Resident Evil and Street Fighter all get very good games very often. However lately Capcom also dares to give new IPs a try. Pragmata is such a try and after years of development it's finally here and it might just be Capcom's best game yet.
Lost in Space
It was supposed to be a routine Mission. We lost contact with our Moon base, but no one expected anything serious. We were so naive. Not even an hour after our revival all of my crew members were dead and I would be too, if I wouldn't have found Diana.
Diana looks like a girl and talks like one. When I'm with her it's so easy to forget that she isn't a human. She is a Pragmata, some sort of super advanced robot? I'm not sure to be honest, the longer I'm with her the more I question myself what it actually means to be human.
She asks me about earth, and is curious to find out more about me and how the world works. She is caring and loving. It's kinda magical to see the world through her eyes. The glow of happiness when she for the first time used a slide, I surely will never forget. No matter if she's human or not. I know one thing for sure, I care about her a lot and I will bring her to earth and show her what it's like to be alive.
In order to do that we have to leave this god forsaken Moonbase. Easier said than done. IDUS the main computer of the base has taken over. She 3D prints Robots that have only one goal, to kill us.
Me alone are hopeless against those machines. Thankfully Diana isn't. She is able to hack them with her powers. I don't understand how she does it, but after she hacks them, they expose their weak spots. Which gives me an opening to shoot them. We really are a great team.
It's not all bad here though. I'm quite impressed with what humanity has built here. Some parts of this Moonstation look exactly like New York! Others like a beautiful beach or a wonderful forest. It's sometimes hard to accept that this isn't real. It does surely look like it.
Anyways, I need to get back to work. We are running out of time. I don't know how I will do this but I want Diana to see and feel how the real earth looks like. I want her to see the busy streets of New York and for her to feel real sand on her feet. In the end I don't care if she's human or not, I care about her and that's what matters.
Gameplay to match
As you might have been able to tell from the text above. A major focus point of Pragmata is the relationship between Hugh, our main character and Diana. But Pragmata isn't really a game that focuses super heavily on its story only.
The biggest part of Pragmata is its gameplay. You explore different parts of the Moon Base that offer a real variety of scenarios. The game also loves to hide secrets everywhere. Exploring every nook and cranny is really rewarding. One reason why this feels rewarding is that Pragmata isn't an easy game to begin with.
The core combat combines distinct gameplay aspects. While aiming at an enemy, you get some sort of small puzzle on the right side of the screen. This is Diana's hacking part. At the same time, you still have to control Hugh's movement, dodge attacks and then shoot once the Hacking is successful.
What really makes this combat system great though, is that it slowly builds layers upon layers. For example, Diana's hacking becomes more complicated over time. In the beginning, you mostly simply move a box from point A to point B. Later on, there are many obstacles on your way and decisions to be made. You can unlock many different hacking nodes, which grant you different kinds of skills.Some might freeze the enemy, others will turn enemies against each other or simply will make the enemy take more damage from Hughes shots. The same goes for Hughes gunplay. You unlock many different weapons over time. Some you have to charge up to make more damage, with others you can throw a grenade for great AOE damage or another one simply will create a barrier for you to hide in.
During your explorations, you will often return to your Homebase. A safe place where you can upgrade your skills and weapons. Pragmata offers a great variety of options and decision making for the Player. And that's still not all! You also unlock Mods, which you can change every time you leave the Homebase.
As you can imagine, those Mods also come with many different benefits. Some for example, make you do more hacking damage, others give you more HP or let you do more damage to enemies if you attack from behind. If you combine all those options, you can really decide how you want to play Pragmata.
Inside the Homebase, you will also unlock optional challenges that can become quite difficult but also grant you great rewards. The best part of returning to your Homebase however, isn't any of this, it's Diana herself.
What makes Pragmata special
Each time you return, you can talk to Diana. She will react to whatever happened in the story just moments before and also ask you deep questions about life on earth and what it means to be a human. You can also find many optional items for Diana that you can use in this Homebase. Like you can find a slide as described above and Diana will then use it and play with it.
One of the biggest Achievements Capcom did with Pragmata is to create a believable and incredible loveable child-like character. Diana is the true Highlight of this game! It's impossible not to love her and want to protect her. Sure, not every dialogue is perfectly written and sometimes it almost gets too deep, but in the end, Diana nails her role.
She is curious, naive and doesn't hold back when speaking the truth. If AI will ever be this way, we humans are seriously in trouble.
Another standout are the visuals of Pragmata. I played the whole game in docked mode on the Switch 2 and this is seriously the most impressive Switch 2 game I have seen yet on a technical level. The game runs smoothly and simply looks breathtaking at times. The great art direction and creative ideas when it comes to the level design make this Pragmata shine.
The game also offers tons of postgame content and unlockables. The Maingame is only around 10 Hours which is perfect for me, but I'm happy that there is still so much more to see and explore for people who want to spend more time with it.
No game is perfect
As you can tell from this review, I really loved my time with Pragmata, but you might ask, are there any flaws? To be perfectly honest, only a few minor ones. Sometimes it's really hard to keep track of everything that is happening on the screen.
The combat itself forces you to multitask, which is fun, but especially when there are many enemies at once, I sometimes felt like I got hit out of nowhere. Maybe the game's camera could have needed some more work in those sections.
Another small gripe I had with Pragmata is that it's a bit too much combat focused during the last 30% of the game. I feel like some small puzzle sections could have helped here. The last smaller flaw is Hugh himself.
Don't get me wrong, the narrative works overall, but Hugh himself as a character stays a little bit bland. Sometimes his writing can feel a little bit off. On one side, he feels like a little big simple minded friendly giant, but then in some talks with Diana, he talks like he is a professor of philosophy. This just makes him overall a little bit unbelievable as a character.
A game I won't forget
I will not say much about the last few Hours of Pragmata, but it deeply hit me and my wife, who was watching. We both cried! It's an emotional ride and truly epic at its ending. But what's so fascinating about Pragmata's narrative is that even though it gets grand at scale it always stays very small and personal. In the end the narrative only evolves around 4 characters.
Pragmata is a game about love, loss and what it means to be human. Capcom manages to combine all this with a never seen before style of gameplay, motivation progression and great customization options. Pragmata and especially Diana surely got a place in my heart and I really hope we will see more of this in the future.
Rating: Strongly recommended