Pragmata’s PC demo shows promise for its Switch 2 port

During The Game Awards last week, Capcom surprised everyone by revealing that its upcoming action game Pragmata would be heading to Nintendo Switch 2 on release. Ever since the launch of Nintendo’s newest console, it seems that Capcom is fully on board with bringing its latest and greatest games to the platform so that fans don’t need to split their game collection across multiple devices. We’ve already seen a rather solid port of Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, and the three newest, non-remake games in the Resident Evil series are coming, so it only makes sense that Pragmata would be next.

Another surprise last week was the announcement that a new demo would be available on Steam within a few hours. Having checked out that demo, I was impressed with the technology on display and intrigued by the promise that Pragmata has. It’s not a revolutionary new way to play a shooter, but the combination of real-time hacking with streamlined gunplay blends genres well enough to make me wonder how the final game will be. It also leads me to believe that the Switch 2 version might have the best controls of any of the console ports if mouse controls are implemented well.

 

 

How Pragmata runs

 

Now, Pragmata’s demo is very brief for a first playthrough. I finished it in 14 minutes and a little of that was fiddling with some graphical settings. On PC, the RE Engine has typically run well and Pragmata doesn’t buck that trend. Fully maxed out at 4K with DLAA and HDR, the game looks suitably next generation. I wouldn’t expect such a clean, crisp look on Switch 2, but considering the console comes packed with DLSS technology and even has decent ray-tracing capabilities, it could seriously surprise players. Kunitsu-Gami had bizarre HDR implementation on the console, though, so hopefully Capcom sorts that out.

 

What you’ll see in the demo

 

As for what the demo showcases, it throws players directly into a combat tutorial that explains how you’ll play. There’s a dodge mechanic, a floaty jump, and typical third-person shooter aiming controls. You cannot fire without first aiming, so it’s mimicking what Resident Evil 4 started 20 years ago. The enemies aren’t particularly fast in the demo, but they are quite durable, which leads into Pragmata’s unique twist on shooters: hacking.

While players will directly control Hugh Williams, the spacesuit clad hero shown off in promo materials, they can also command android companion Diana to hack objects and enemies. Through her, the combat shifts into a hacking minigame that is reminiscent of those pipe maze games or even the hacking segments from BioShock. At first, I wasn’t sure how you moved the cursor, but Pragmata is actually one of the first PC games I’ve played that defaults to using the thumb buttons on the mouse. By holding that thumb button, you then drag your mouse through tiles to link together weak points before hitting the core. Once finished, the enemies are now dramatically weakened and can be effectively damaged.

 

 

You can probably already see why I’m thinking the Switch 2 port might be the best console version. It will definitely lack the same high-res polish of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series ports, but using a thumbstick to navigate a maze in real-time while enemies are closing in sounds horrible. With a mouse, you can blitz these segments and it creates a flow state where your attention near instantly switches from scanning the environment to parsing the hacking board, then back again. You wind up feeling like a hacker from some 90s anime movie.

The demo does contain a few other weapons that Hugh can use. The first is a standard pistol and, interestingly, Pragmata does away with manual reloading. The pistol has infinite ammo, but can only fire six shots before it needs to cool down. You aren’t forced to spend all six before reloading, but each shot takes a second or two to reload. The two other weapons available take the form of a pulse rifle that is effectively a shotgun, and something that casts a wide-reaching net that will stunlock enemies. Both cannot be reloaded and only carry four shots maximum, but you can pick up more ammo to refill them. I’m guessing that since they fill a specific slot, there might be different weapon categories in the final game.

Anyway, that stun net gun is incredibly useful when multiple enemies are barreling down on you. The demo doesn’t highlight this, but the potential is that fast moving enemies can be stunned while you then hack everyone to weaken them. The pulse shotgun hits in a wide arc, so you can clear multiple foes with a single burst. The potential is there for combat dynamics that will test your brain as much as your reaction time.

 

 

Apart from the few battles, Pragmata’s demo has a little bit of exploration and platforming thrown in. Hugh has jump boots that let him float for a limited period, so you can slow your descent or cross wide gaps with a running start. It almost feels like a sped up Dead Space, which is in line with how the recent Resident Evil remakes controlled. The puzzles involve using Diana to hack things, which is mostly aiming at objects and then pressing a few keys in the correct sequence. I suppose anything could happen with that, such as throwing enemies in that don’t stop until you hack a switch, but the demo doesn’t get into that.

Capping things off, Hugh encounters a rather large robot at the end which requires a more thoughtful approach to combat. You’re still using Diana to hack the thing to weaken it, but since the robot can charge through obstacles and plow over Hugh, you cannot stand still for too long. I like that the wide spread rocket attack it has leaves a reticle on the ground for where shots will land. I do think that placing tons of secondary weapons on the floor kind of defeats the purpose of the limited ammo count, however. It would make more sense to allow players to stock ammo then requiring them to constantly collect the same gun just to finish a boss fight. The boss isn’t particularly tough, so it’s hard to say how those encounters will evolve over the campaign.

 

Let’s wait and see

 

For now, I do think Pragmata holds a lot of promise. Capcom might focus on Monster Hunter and Resident Evil a lot, but it has been pushing newer IPs in recent years. I don’t think we’ll see a belated port of Exoprimal to Switch 2 or anything, but with this game launching on Nintendo’s console, it has a better chance of taking off. There aren’t many shooters on the console right now despite it having built-in mouse controls. That could be a true game changer for when it comes to bridging the gap between PC and console players in regards to competitive games, even if Pragmata isn’t pushing that.

The demo is planned for release on other platforms in the future, so we’ll need to wait and see if a Switch 2 version materializes. There’s still some time left before Pragmata releases on April 24, 2026. It will be available on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch 2.

 

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