Pragmata Turns Solo Play into Perfect Co-Op

Controlling Two with One

At first glance, Pragmata looks like a standard sci-fi game — one astronaut, an android, and the desolation of a moon base in decay. But the moment I picked up the controller, that illusion disappeared. You don’t just play as Hugh, the stranded astronaut; you play as both him and Diana, the barefoot android girl who follows at his side.

Switching between their abilities felt seamless. One moment, I was firing at the enemies and dodging incoming projectiles; the next, I was directing Diana to hack open a gate or disrupt an enemy’s defences. It’s a kind of solo co-op, where two halves move with a shared rhythm.

Each command has a tactile precision — Hugh’s thrusters hum as he repositions, Diana’s hacking sends you across glowing grids. There’s no clunky handoff or AI lag; it feels as if both are extensions of one mind.

As director Yonghee Cho explained in our interview, that synergy was intentional. “Every encounter should make you stop and plan, not just react,” he said. That sense of controlled cooperation defines the experience, one where you’re never just the soldier or the support, but both.

A Moon Colony with Texture

The demo opened in a research facility half-buried in lunar dust, where the hum of machinery mingled with silence. The environment felt less like a traditional level and more like a living space, full of floating debris, flickering lights, and low-gravity physics that subtly distort motion.

Each corridor tells its own story. Scratched walls, emergency lights, and the scattered remains of scientific equipment suggest a catastrophe frozen in time. The world feels expansive, but the isolation keeps it personal; you’re exploring, not conquering. On PC, which is what the demo was running on, the game will feature ray tracing and NVIDIA DLSS 4 to deliver enhanced image quality and fluid gameplay on compatible GeForce RTX GPUs at launch.

Hugh’s thruster pack adds fluidity to traversal, letting you glide between broken platforms or dodge in zero-G. Diana, meanwhile, manipulates the environment by unlocking panels, reactivating doors, and even overcharging energy cores that light the path ahead.

Combat That Thinks as Much as It Shoots

Combat in Pragmata feels deliberate rather than frantic. Fights unfold as small tactical puzzles, each requiring you to coordinate between Hugh’s skills and Diana’s intelligence.

As robotic foes approached, just shooting did little to stop them. However, by linking up nodes using Diana and her grid-hacking system, the once impenetrable armour opens out, allowing Hugh’s shots with various weapons to do much more damage.

That rhythm of planning, executing, and adapting kept every encounter fresh, especially as more enemies came to the fore. The pair’s synergy makes you think about the battlefield differently: Diana isn’t a sidekick; she’s your lifeline.

As producer Naoto Oyama put it, “Every encounter should make you think — not just about the next move, but about how you’re moving together.” A boss fight expresses this more prominently, as a blend of movement, hacking, and shooting is the only way to survive. The result is combat that values thought over reaction, pacing over chaos.

The Shape of What’s to Come

After years of mystery, Pragmata finally feels tangible, not just another cinematic concept, but a game built on ideas that play beautifully in practice. My time with the demo proved that the long wait was worth it: the controls are instinctive, the pacing deliberate, and the emotional core unmistakably human.

Suppose the full experience can sustain that blend of atmosphere, strategy, and sincerity. In that case, Pragmata might stand as Capcom’s most personal project yet: a story of connection at the edge of space, where teamwork isn’t optional but essential.

Pragmata will launch sometime in 2026 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC with no specific release date set.