Pragmata is a game I didn’t expect to fall this hard for. Back when it was first announced in 2022 I just didn’t care for it. When the Sketchbook Demo released however, I had to give it a shot, and I’m so glad I did. From that demo I got completely hooked, ended up pre-ordering the same day, and ran through the demo constantly until I got all 8 endings. The full game release took the enjoyment I had and amplified it over a 10 hour long adventure. For those unaware, Pragmata is described as a unique sci-fi action-adventure game where you play as Hugh, a member of an ill-fated investigation team, and Diana, a young android, as they navigate a lunar facility taken over by rogue AI in search of a way to Earth. After having beaten the game fully, grabbing every collectible on the way, I can confidently say that this game has earned its spot on a very short list of my modern favorites, even if it has a handful of rough patches along the way.
Exploration & World Design
The Cradle is a joy to move around, but don’t expect this to be a game where you go to one area and call it a day. Some collectibles require features and abilities you won’t get until later on, causing you to backtrack if you truly want everything. While the world looks beautiful and the prizes you can get are nice, there have been a few moments where I’ll spend 5 minutes figuring out a puzzle to get to a prize, only to discover that prize requires an ability I haven’t unlocked yet. Those moments aren’t frequent enough to be dealbreakers, but they’re consistently the most disappointing part of exploration.
Combat & Hacking
This game features a unique mechanic where you hack enemies with Diana in order to open weak spots that allow you to blast them down as Hugh. At the start, it can feel rough to get used to, but once you get it down it almost feels second nature. This system has given me high highs and low lows in gameplay, as sometimes it feels nice doing a full combo, using multi-hacks and exploit mods to quickly take down enemies. Other times it feels rough and clunky. During a few hacks an error occurred where the starting circle just appeared outside of the actual grid, requiring awkward over-correction just to get a hack started. When it works it feels great, when it doesn’t work, it feels a bit rough.
Time Trials & Difficulty
Time Trials are a solid side activity that stayed manageable for the majority of the game, but potentially too manageable. Trials 1 through 18 felt pretty easy, making me underestimate the activity entirely, just using it as a free reward vender. Without much warning however, things shifted into max gear. Trial 19’s sub-100 second objective, Trial 20’s sub-55 second objective, and Trial 23’s “Damage enemies using enemies” challenge were all genuinely difficult in ways that it felt I was just thrown from a kiddie pool into an active war scene. As I’m writing this I’m still unsure how to “damage enemies using enemies”, all I can theorize is I have to pray one of the final enemies falls onto another enemy, damaging them. Players who breeze through the early trials should be prepared for that wall, but the rewards such as stamps for new cosmetics are so worth it in the end.
Performance (PC, 4K)
This review was played on a high-end computer with a NVIDIA RTX 4090 GPU, a 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900K CPU, and 64 GBs of DRR5 RAM. Originally I had noted down that my game hovered around 90 FPS during regular gameplay on high graphics. I later discovered that I had Ray-Tracing enabled during my experience, meaning this 90 FPS performance was actually better than I expected. After enabling DLSS 2X Frame Generation and Path Tracing I noticed my FPS stand out a little higher, being around 100-110 FPS during gameplay. This did cause a slight ghosting issue that has always been noticeable with DLSS, but it only became noticeable for up close objects.
Post Game & Customization
New Game+ is a welcome addition, and the ten secret missions and harder boss variants that get unlocked when going into a side mode known as “Unknown Signal” are exactly the kind of thing that keeps you hooked into the world after you’ve grown attached to it and watched how the game ends. On the cosmetics side, outfit customization is a nice feature with a decent enough selection to mix and match but the best-looking fits are locked behind completing the game or purchasing the Shelter Variety Pack DLC. It’s not egregious, but it does sting slightly when you’re mid-playthrough and wondering if the DLCs were all the game had to offer in terms of over the top customization. If you’re a fan of more simplistic customization, the early game still has nice outfits for you to collect and use!
Verdict
Pragmata is a rare experience you don’t see too often in recent years. It’s a new IP with a genuinely original idea at it’s core, and the craft to back it up. Playing it reminds me heavily of the early era of gaming where studios tried to experiment with new systems, instead of just trying to clone whatever works for the most profit. A few issues hold it just shy of being perfect for me, but this is comfortably one of my favorite games I’ve had the pleasure of playing in 2026 so far.
Pragmata: A beautifully experimental lunar adventure game that earns its place among the stars, and a spot in your hearts through the story, rough edges and all. – Lagback
