Despite not being close to the halfway mark yet, 2026 is already looking like an exquisite year for sci-fi fans. An upcoming title that’s looking like it’ll reshuffle the staples of the genre is PRAGMATA, coming from the Capcom team.
I had the chance to attend a PRAGMATA preview on behalf of Kyusai, during which I played roughly two hours of PRAGMATA. Based on what I saw, it’s looking like a hell of a lot of fun so far – particularly for fans of punchy combat.
Colorful and celestial
PRAGMATA is an upcoming sci-fi action-adventure game from Capcom, focusing on the characters Hugh and Diana. It’s a third-person adventure, following the pair of characters as they navigate a robot-infested lunar base and look for a way back to Earth.
Hugh is a human – with a wicked robotic suit and arsenal of weapons – but Diana is an android, despite looking like a person. She seemed human for the most part, but did sometimes give uncanny valley vibes with her facial expressions or mannerisms.
The core gameplay revolves around the pair working together to solve puzzles and defeat foes, with Diana using her innate hacking abilities and Hugh providing his combat skills.
The preview ran for roughly two hours, following the game’s introduction. The bulk of the gameplay revolved around exploration and combat, but we did get to explore the game’s home base or hub.
There were several intricate upgrade systems to experiment with in the home base area, letting players enhance Hugh’s weapons and suits or upgrade Diana’s hacking abilities.
We didn’t get to experience much of the game’s story in the preview session, but from what I saw, the relationship between Hugh and Diana is sweet, with Hugh caring about Diana and trying to keep her safe – even if she’s determined to fight alongside him or chase after hologram cats.
I particularly liked the interactions between the two characters in combat. Diana stands on the back of Hugh’s suit and hacks enemies while he shoots them, and she’ll chatter away, encouraging Hugh to hack enemies before shooting them to maximize the damage potential.
Fast-paced, unique combat
One of the standouts of the PRAGMATA preview was the combat. Battles in PRAGMATA involve hacking with Diana to weaken enemies, using the hacking interface to plot a path between modules, then shooting enemies with Hugh.
Hugh has a number of different weapons to experiment with, letting him electrify and stun enemies, blast them away from him, or pierce their armour. The preview let us experiment with several fun weapons; my favorite was a decoy gun that helped to distract hordes of enemies by creating a Hugh hologram. A Hughlogram, if you will (and you will).
Enemies in PRAGMATA were eerie and futuristic, with some robots resembling humans and others resembling weaponized drones. Some enemies could simply be shot down, while others required you to hit their weak spots and attack them strategically.
I found the difficulty curve in the preview increased subtly and smoothly, gently making each combat encounter trickier as the hours ticked on. Learning the combat style didn’t take too long, but towards the end of the preview, I died a few times while trying to burn my way through a multi-stage group fight on a rooftop.
Visually, PRAGMATA was breathtaking, with a world that felt incredibly inviting to explore and learn more about. There were some little nods to other Capcom franchises, too, like a company on a billboard being owned by “A.Wesker” and a “Resident Devil” movie poster.
The preview featured some striking set pieces, with a gigantic comms tower among the main highlights. It was like static electricity frozen in time, almost tree-like in its stature, with a cascading trunk of glowing TV screens, standing tall amidst the seemingly 3D-printed city.
Performance-wise, I was impressed with PRAGMATA from what I saw. There weren’t any bugs or visual issues, other than a few minor clipping quirks in places, and the interface was intuitive, too.
If you’re a fan of sci-fi adventure games and you haven’t checked out PRAGMATA yet, you’re missing out. Based on the preview, this sci-fi game looks exquisite, blending lighthearted scenes and heavier themes, along with intricate gunplay and some seriously punchy boss fights.
FAQs
PRAGMATA was developed and published by Capcom.
The PRAGMATA release date is April 17, 2026.
PRAGMATA is a sci-fi action-adventure game with gameplay that merges hacking, gunplay, and exploration.
PRAGMATA can be played on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2.
The best Capcom games include Resident Evil Requiem, Devil May Cry 5, and the Resident Evil 4 remake.
