Pragmata

Pragmata is an upcoming action-adventure game developed and published by Capcom. Set on a lunar research station, the game follows spacefarer Hugh and android Diana as they work together to fight a hostile AI known as IDUS that is controlling the station and return to Earth. The game is scheduled to be released on April 17, 2026 for PlayStation 5, Windows, Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox Series X/S.

Pragmata is an action-adventure third-person perspective video game. The player is able to control both Hugh and Diana at the same time, as they look for a way to escape a lunar research station infested with hostile AI robots. Hugh is equipped with a number of firearms, and a jetpack that allows him to dodge hostile attacks and reach distant areas. Bullets cannot penetrate through a robot's armor, though Diana can hack into a robot's defense system, disabling it and revealing its weak point for Hugh to attack. In each puzzle, the player must guide the cursor across the grid to reach the target tile, evading obstacles and toggling optional bonus nodes which may bring additional combat advantages such as increased weapon damage for Hugh. The puzzles are solved in real time, meaning that Hugh needs to dodge and evade hostile attacks during each hacking sequence.

On a seemingly lifeless research station located on the moon, spacefarer Hugh and android Diana find themselves targeted by IDUS, the hostile AI governing the station. The two must work together to defeat IDUS and return to Earth.

Pragmata is being developed by Capcom. The game was originally announced on June 11, 2020, during Sony Interactive Entertainment's PlayStation 5 reveal stream, as Capcom's first original franchise in eight years. Based on Capcom's 2021 annual report, Brian Ashcraft of Kotaku wrote, "One reason why the game looks so different from other Capcom titles is that it's the brainchild of new development staff". World building was supervised by Shoji Kawamori, who handled the Macross series.

Capcom struggled when creating Diana's visual design, originally wanting Diana to look like a full android. Creating a fully android character, however, brings challenges in character expression. Director Cho Yonghee cited Arale Norimaki from Dr. Slump as an android character with "cartoonish expressions", such as screwing her head off her body, that they could not recreate. As they had to contend with certain restrictions such as cultural aspects and sensitivities for the game's worldwide release, Capcom decided to translate Diana's roboticism into something more understated. Diana visually appears human but some of her machine-like mannerisms and voice venture into the uncanny valley.

Pragmata's New York City-like level was designed to look like it was created with generative AI, appearing as "slightly distorted" according to producer Naoto Oyama with illogical errors such as taxis sinking into floors or buses sprouting out of walls. Generative AI was not used to create this look as Capcom's "human developers painstakingly worked to incorporate mechanisms that express this AI-like uncanny feel". Elie Gould of PC Gamer called this art direction "human-made AI slop". However, Capcom had to consider balancing distortions in the environment to not be too distracting or to not be mistaken for puzzle clues by players.

To ensure Diana's hair looked realistic, it was rendered with RE Engine's physics-based hair simulation system.

Pragmata was developed in Capcom's RE Engine. It supports ray traced global illumination for indirect lighting and ray traced reflections. On PC, the game supports path tracing to enable multi-bounce lighting and higher quality ray traced reflections. Engine development support manager Masaru Ijuin said that path tracing "fundamentally transforms game visuals". On PlayStation 5 Pro, Pragmata has a single graphical mode that runs at 4K resolution at 60 frames per second. Xbox Series X uses a native 1080p resolution to upscale to 4K while Series S renders at a native 720p resolution upscaled to 1440p. The Switch 2 version runs at 540p upscaled to a 1080p output resolution.

For hair rendering, Pragmata uses RE Engine's strand hair system which first appeared on shorter hair in titles such as Resident Evil 4 (2023). RE Engine's hair strand system is a physics-based hair simulation system that aims to make hair look more natural and realistic compared to the traditional rasterized hair cards technique. Further development on the hair strand system to better simulate long hair was prompted by Diana's long hair in Pragmata that needed to accurately move. The team working on the game had to ask the RE Engine development team to make such additions to the engine's hair system. This work on Diana's hair rendering in Pragmata was later transferred to Resident Evil Requiem for Grace Ashcroft's hair.

Initially, Pragmata was announced for 2022, however in January 2021, Capcom announced that the game was delayed to 2023. In June 2023, Capcom released a trailer stating that the game had been delayed indefinitely. In the June 2025 installment of State of Play, Capcom announced that the game would be coming out in 2026.

At The Game Awards 2025, it was announced that the game would release on April 24, 2026 and a demo titled Pragmata: Sketchbook was made available on Steam. It was also announced that the game would be coming to the Nintendo Switch 2 and it would also get an Amiibo based on Diana. The demo was released on consoles on February 5, 2026. On March 5, it was announced during a Capcom Spotlight presentation that the release date had been brought forward a week to April 17, though the Nintendo Switch 2 version would retain the original April 24 release date in Japan.

Pragmata received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator website Metacritic. OpenCritic's consensus states that the game is "a visually breathtaking and highly inventive 'hack-and-shoot' hybrid that finally delivers on its long-awaited promise, blending Capcom's signature tight action with a unique dual-tasking combat system and a deeply moving emotional core", with 95% of critics recommending it.

• Official website