“Pragmata was not on my radar before playing this demo.”
Capcom’s new AAA franchise arrives for Switch 2 on April 24th, the same day as PS5, PC and Xbox. That’s worth a round of applause for Nintendo’s handheld but the real question is how does it compare?
If you’ve tried Split Fiction on Switch 2, you’ll be familiar with some of the sacrifices.
The game looks fine but its resolution and hair psychics have taken pretty substantial hits.
It doesn’t help that the main character (Hugh) is piggybacking a little android girl with long blonde hair (Diana) the entire time. Her stiff hair is kind of hard to ignore, especially if you’ve seen how good the game can look in 4K on PC, and the compromises are much more noticeable if you’re playing on a big screen.
Pragmata plays much better in handheld mode on the Switch 2
In handheld mode, Pragmata is downright stunning.
If I hadn’t just played Resident Evil Requiem on the Switch 2, I would say Pragmata had a shot at matching Cyberpunk 2077, Star Wars Outlaws and Assassins Creed Shadows as one of the best looking games on the system.
If you don’t have another console or just prioritise portable play like me, it’s a fantastic way to play.
Pragmata controlled wonderfully, especially with gyro controls, and I loved hacking robot enemies to expose their weaknesses way more than I thought I would. I’ve never played a shooter quite like it and, in many ways, it did remind me of the excellent Dead Space.
Limited ammunition keeps you on your toes, the shotgun has incredible weight behind every shot and firing a stasis net to trap an enemy in place is very handy in tight corridors.
Teaming up with an android to escape a hostile AI on a desolate moon base is a great premise.
Here’s hoping Capcom has the narrative chops to stick the landing.
The father-daughter dynamic is ripe with emotional potential but it’s not easy to hit the heights of The Last of Us and God of War.
A worthy delay? We’ll know soon enough
Pragmata was initially slated for 2022. It’s been a long time coming. If it hadn’t been delayed, it may never have arrived on the Switch 2.
With a rumoured Nintendo Partner Direct on the horizon, nothing is more important than proving Nintendo’s new console can compete in the AAA stakes; except maybe announcing (and releasing) a new 3D Mario or Zelda!
Mark Santomartino was invited by Nintendo to play a number of upcoming games at their Melbourne headquarters.
