Pragmata’s largely been a blast to play on any of its available platforms, with an innovative twist to sci-fi shooters and a story with a lot of emotional heft. We were quite impressed with the experience in our review, but while that was on a base PS5, we put in a fair bit of time with the PS5 Pro to see how its breathtaking visuals are brought to life on Sony’s mid-gen powerhouse.
Why, you ask? Well, we believe this could be one of the many reasons to justify a PS5 Pro purchase. Pragmata was always a visually ambitious title, and the RE Engine has already done some fine work with PSSR2 in Resident Evil Requiem. It’s worth exploring if the PS5 Pro is able to take Pragmata’s ambitions and deliver a presentation that feels premium not just at a glance, but in a consistent manner across the board.
So, has this one managed to achieve that feat? Or is it just another title that brings the usual compromise between visual fidelity and frame rates? We’re happy to take you through it, so let’s dive right in!
What Do The PS5 Pro Enhancements Offer?
With only a single mode on offer (basically a toggleable high frame rate mode), the PS5 Pro version of Pragmata does come with enhancements over what’s on offer in the base version. The base PS5 version targets 60fps on both its Quality and Performance modes, with the former dropping frames to sustain better ray tracing and visual fidelity, while the latter manages to stay at 60 frames per second for the most part, but at the cost of blurred backgrounds and a bit of shimmer from time to time.
On the Pro, you’re looking at 4K 60fps gameplay with ray tracing and PSSR-enhanced reconstruction, all of which work in tandem to present a sort of amalgamation of the base console’s two modes. It’s important to remember that the PC version comes with path tracing on board, and comparing the PS5 Pro’s output to what a high-end PC can deliver is obviously going to be in the latter’s favor.
But from our time with it on PS5 Pro, Pragmata is definitely looking like the complete package, although it may not be the best-looking version of the game across platforms. But why is that so?
While it might seem that the PS5 Pro coming with only a single mode is limiting, that’s actually far from the truth. Pragmata makes intelligent use of the console’s improved capabilities over its base counterpart to present a visually detailed, smooth experience that manages a consistent framerate while maintaining 4K visuals quite consistently. What’s more, it uses ray tracing and PSSR 2 quite well to ensure that what you’re looking at is good enough to be worth talking about.
But before we dive into the details, it’s worth noting that the PS5 Pro version does support 120 fps with VRR on compatible displays (through a toggleable High Frame Rate option), but we found that it varied a little too much for our liking. You’re better off with a more consistent framerate, considering how this one’s gameplay loop can be quite demanding on both your brains and fingers. We’d say that the game is better enjoyed when it’s more responsive; the default mode (when High Frame Rate mode was switched off) was the one we’d have recommended.
On the Pro, you’re getting a no-nonsense approach to visual fidelity that does very well to bring out the game’s impressive art direction while also having enough responsiveness during combat to make the action feel immersive and, most importantly, consistent. The PS5 Pro doesn’t force Pragmata to compromise, and that’s a very good thing for an experience like this one.
Diving Into The Graphics
It’s time to dive into what Pragmata looks like on the PS5 Pro. We’re happy to tell you that this one’s a stunner on the Pro, while the base PS5 does manage to look good, but with the compromises we’ve discussed earlier. You see it from the very moment you set foot on the lunar facility, its pristine walls and eerie silence shining through very well on the Pro. The colors shine through, and every scene looks so darn immersive that you could consider this one a showcase for your friends who might be thinking of picking up a new console.
The Pro brings that uncanny sci-fi vibe to life very well, and on a first glance, it gives off a very premium vibe to the entire experience. The sheer scale of the facility comes across very well, and you’re going to be stopping to take in the sights quite often during your playthrough. The image you get doesn’t just look sharp, which is kind of a given on the Pro, but looks expensive as the RE Engine works its magic on every scene that you’re in.
You only have to take a look at Hugh and Diana to see what we mean, as the character models are a great showcase of how well PSSR and the RE Engine work in tandem to generate stunning visuals in Pragmata. There’s barely any disparity between the gameplay and the cutscenes as far as they’re concerned, and the materials on Hugh’s suit, along with his facial features and animations, are all top-notch, a facet of the experience that holds true even on the base PS5.
But it’s Diana who’s the star of the show as far as Pragmata’s graphical capabilities are concerned. She’s equal parts creepy and adorable, which is a nuanced take on her characterization that the PS5 Pro brings to life. There’s a sort of disconnect between her android eyes and the facial expressions she often displays, and her model holds up very well in close-ups. Well enough to be a very believable take on her character. Of course, her hair rendering deserves a special mention, and it’s as good on the Pro as it is on every other platform. We’d go so far as to say that she represents a generational leap for graphical fidelity, while the environments she explores with Hugh sell a sense of scale very well.
That’s because those environments are oh so detailed on the Pro, with metallic surfaces reflecting light very realistically. Indeed, every surface in the game is quite readable both when standing still and while you’re in motion. Be it panels on the floor and walls, or the damage that shows on robots once you get a few bullets into them, it’s all done very well, and the PS5 Pro keeps up with everything you throw at it without breaking a sweat. They don’t just look clean, but react so believably to light that they sell the experience very well.
Of course, credit must be given where it’s due. Pragmata doesn’t get path-traced illumination like its PC counterpart, but what it does with its ray-traced global illumination does deserve a lot of praise. Enter an area with a direct light source, and things are immediately noticeable. You see rays bounce off surfaces, with all the variations you’d expect. Whether it’s in the background or right in front of you, the reflections are all there, and always working to set the mood for a scene, with natural changes across varying spaces.
Light glances gently off polished floors and metallic surfaces, while reflecting straight off glasses and monitors at angles that are quite natural. When you put Pragmata side by side with the base PS5’s performance mode, you’re going to see just how well the Pro handles lighting in comparison to the blurry backgrounds on the base version.
The shadow quality is another highlight, and they’re very stable in motion while remaining soft enough to look authentic. We didn’t see any drop in visual quality at all, and it all comes together so well that it makes the game feel quite grounded in reality, even as its art style and premise take you to a future that we’re still fairly distant from in the real world.
Speaking of the future, the fact that Pragmata manages to do all of this on the PS5 Pro while managing to avoid noise, image shimmering, and edge breaking on the PS5 Pro’s default mode is definitely a feather in this version’s cap. It’s clear that this one’s making very good use of PSSR 2’s ability to reconstruct images in real time, and doing it in a way that sells the game’s spectacle with stability, making the PS5 Pro version the one to beat. But of course, a stable image must be backed up by solid performance. How does the game hold up on that front?
Smooth Performance All Around
On the default 60 fps option, you might think that Pragmata is going to have to sacrifice a bit of responsiveness on the altar of its visual ambitions. But we can tell you that it isn’t the case, with consistent frame rates even during busier sections. That immediately makes the combat look and feel like it’s all behaving exactly as you want it to, while the visuals continue to hold up under strain.
And while higher frame rates are always welcome, our time with the 120 fps mode wasn’t as good as the default option. The frame rates often landed in the inconsistent fps range while the visuals took noticeable dips as the Pro tried to keep up with it all. You might want to give it a go if you’ve got the display for it, but we’re going to be choosing the stable 60 fps option every time, as it’s a great balance between visuals and performance.
Of course, we would have liked path tracing thrown into the mix, but that might be asking too much of the PS5 Pro, considering just how well it runs the experience without it. The performance at a higher frame rate is also something we’re not too happy with, considering how it reduces the visual quality, but again, 60 fps is quite enough for this one. It is worth mentioning for those of you looking to get higher frame rates on your displays, though.
To conclude, the PS5 Pro gives Pragmata its best possible version on consoles, although its best visual form is still going to go to its path-traced PC version. But it’s also more than just a cleaner version of what the base PS5 has to offer, with visuals and performance that blend seamlessly into an experience that vastly outdoes its lower-specced counterpart. This one’s a game that does more than just sharpen the image from a base PS5, but justifies the Pro as a visual platform that does well to bring unique experiences to life.
And on that note, it’s time to get back to hanging out with Diana and taking down rogue bots as a team!
