As Pragmata’s release date approaches, more details are emerging which paint a clearer image of what to expect when you load in as Hugh and Diana for their tense lunar base escape. So, whilst we’ve already published a “15 Things To Know” feature, there’s enough scope for another one. This time, we’re looking at some of the game’s systems in more detail – from AI generated spaces, to suit augmentations and audio cues. Here’s fifteen more things to know about Pragmata. Please note these are all officially revealed information that you may not be aware of!
Everything in this article is based on officially revealed information.
Contains an “AI Generated” New York
Now, if you’ve watched the preview footage, chronologically starting after the demo’s events, you’ll have seen Hugh and Diana moving through a stage resembling Times Square – complete with subway vents, yellow taxis, and digital billboards. This image of New York is, of course, fake; a digitised replica. Glitches poke out of facades, half-printed cars sink into the street, and a whirlwind of distortion towers over the stage’s center. The developer deliberately designed this stage to appear AI generated, mirroring reality through a cracked reflection. Are there any similar levels, where real-life skews through digital lenses, that the developer is yet to show us?
A Surprising Amount of Demanding Platforming
Combining Hugh’s evasive jump, hover, and dash abilities with tight, vertical, sometimes unusual level design, the developer has been able to inject a surprising amount of platforming into Pragmata’s general gameplay. His suits manoeuvrability creates moments where you can test out his traversal capability, with items, power-ups, switches, and so on placed just out-of-reach. With this, combing through areas will be rewarding, although some early previewers are reporting that certain situations can be quite demanding, requiring you to get a strong grasp of Hugh’s capabilities to execute successfully.
Levels Follow a (Mostly) Linear Path
You’re probably already aware that Pragmata is not an open world game. Instead, its structure is one of semi-open zones; levels which follow a mostly linear path, with routes that are telegraphed. Progress is usually stifled by robotic threats, rogue AI systems, and environmental puzzles, but levels open up once these obstacles are overcome. Shortcuts reveal themselves, and previously arduous areas become a breeze for backtracking and loot discovery.
The Hack-Shoot Combat Loop Can Be Clunky
This is something early previewers have reported, but it doesn’t seem to be a widespread concern. See, occasionally, when Hugh and Diana engage in real-time hack ‘n shooting against large-scale enemies the game feel leans into clunkiness rather than fluidity. Smaller enemies, the ones you’ll face most often, aren’t included in this report. Whether you find dealing with the game’s more colossal foe to be awkward will come down to personal experience. This might be a non-issue, but it’s worth pointing out.
Different Coloured Nodes Add Specific Benefits to Hacking
While we discussed Diana’s hacking capability in our first “15 Things to Know” feature, we didn’t outline the different coloured nodes that sit within the grid. This is a key detail you need to know if your understanding is still surface level. See, navigate Diana’s cursor through the blue nodes and the damage enemies receive increases alongside their weak point exposure lasting longer. Yellow nodes introduce various powerful augmentations, such as allowing Diana to expose multiple enemies simultaneously. These moments can turn the tide in an outnumbered fight, but as the path to complete a multi-noded hack is longer there’s greater risk.
Diana Also Hacks Environmental Obstacles
Sections of Pragmata’s lunar research facility, including the Times Square replica, are sealed off by rogue security systems. Locked doors, electronic barriers, elevators, and other apparatus present obstacles for Hugh and Diana. However, Diana’s hacking ability extends to her loading into numerous panels to execute hacking minigames that function similarly to the combat loop. The puzzles do vary, but they still require you input commands with your controller’s face buttons. There are times, like in the demo’s rising platform section, that Diana will have to hack environmental obstacles under pressure, so the same techniques apply: be spatially aware, and use Hugh’s manoeuvrability effectively.
Environmental Hazards Can Be Used as Weapons
Throughout Hugh and Diana’s escape, they’ll encounter numerous environmental hazards; most can be lethal, although there is scope to use the station’s own hazardous systems against it too. First, one danger the pair must avoid is Red Dust, which is the station’s environmental corrupting agent that will consistently drain health and disrupt Diana’s hacking abilities if caught in its cloud. However, at certain points, Diana can hack nodes that unload nuclear-powered laser fire across the arena. These lasers will kill Hugh, yet they remain a potent weapon if used suitably.
Hugh’s Guns Can Be Specialised Tools
Yes, Hugh’s guns are also something we touched upon in our earlier “15 Things” feature, but what we didn’t tell you is that certain firearms function more as specialised tools than bullet-spraying weapons. Take the Stasis Net, for instance, which surrounds your enemies in a holographic dome. When they’re inside, they’re effectively stunned, making it easier to control crowds and line them up for hacking. Also, if Diana has a coloured node which can disable multiple shields in tandem, then this seems like one of the best times to use it.
Hugh Acquires a Decoy Generator
Perhaps the most visceral of Hugh’s weapons is the Decoy Generator which, you guessed it, generates a holographic copy of Hugh’s silhouette which, incredibly, distracts robotic enemies. Now, this one is billed as a defensive capability, in that it’ll divert an enemy’s attention, but truthfully it slots into Hugh and Diana’s hack-shoot combat loop seamlessly, where the lines between attack and defence move with fluidity throughout each encounter already.
Mods Can Be Attached to Hugh’s Suit
In the Shelter, there’s an AI figure called CABIN who seemingly hasn’t gone rogue, and this friendly robot gives Hugh and Diana access to various upgrades. For a thorough runthrough of the station’s safezone, you’ll have to check out the other “15 Things” feature, but in addition to what we outlined there: Hugh can attach various mods to his suit, right here in the Shelter. By trading collectible “Cabin Coins”, Hugh’s suit can be upgraded with various playstyle-specific augmentations, including devastating close-combat damage boosts.
Diana Also Has a Special Move
Yes, Hugh’s infant android companion has a powerful move of her own: Overdrive Protocol. Presented as the ultimate hacking ability, Overdrive Protocol can be accessed once Diana’s hacking gauge is full. When engaged, she can hack all nearby enemies simultaneously, immobilising them and making them vulnerable to Hugh’s firepower.
Large, Multi-Stage Boss Fights Demand Vertical Thinking
Good boss fights test the skills you’ve learned. In Pragmata, that means hacking through every node as Diana and unloading every tool in Hugh’s arsenal. One element spotted in the Times Square demo is the sense of verticality present in the culminating boss battle, whereby temporary structures must be scaled to reach an appropriate vantage point else Hugh’s bullets will be ineffective. This doesn’t just increase the spectacle, but ramps up the need for spatial awareness which didn’t demand such vertical thinking before the boss encounter.
The Demo Has Eight Possible Endings
Pragmata’s Sketchbook demo has eight possible endings. For an experience taking thirty minutes max to complete, that’s quite the ambition. Endings are determined largely by playstyle: finish the demo in under ten minutes, pass a certain threshold for resources gathered, finish the boss without taking damage. Why do we mention it here? Well, if this focused experience presents numerous discoverable conclusions then it seems plausible the full campaign could reward similar breadth in playstyle.
Audio Cues Are Gameplay Critical
So, one aspect integral to combat proficiency – we’ve mentioned it a handful of times – is spatial awareness. You’ll need to have a consistent understanding of your surroundings, especially during hacking moments, as attacks can come from all directions. Well, beyond visually scanning a space, the sound team has integrated audio cues that should clue you in on the direction your next attacker is approaching from. These directional audio cues will be as critical to gameplay as the threat you assess with your eyes.
Hugh Can Give Diana Gifts
The exact nature of Hugh and Diana’s relationship is being kept under wraps at present. A bond between the pair seems narratively locked-in either way, but you can influence the partnership beyond narrative progression by gifting Diana with Earth Memory Tokens which Hugh collects throughout their time together. After receiving, Diana can unlock snippets of life on Earth, including image slides or a CRT monitor.
