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One of many shocking reveals from Capcom at this year's Summer Game Fest was a new trailer for Pragmata, the long-awaited sci-fi shooter first teased nearly five years ago. Hardcore Gamer had the chance to play a hands-on demo at this year's Summer Game Fest Play Days, which showed off the game's unique approach to combining puzzle and shooter gameplay.

Our demo began with the protagonist, Hugh, being saved by a small android girl, Diana, on a ship full of hostile robots. Hugh is equipped with a basic pistol, which immediately proves to be under-powered against the impenetrable armor of the futuristic cyborgs patrolling the space station. Diana quickly climbs on Hugh's back and initiates a hacking protocol, which brings up a five-by-five grid of squares with symbols scattered throughout.

Gameplay follows both characters simultaneously, with Hugh moving and dodging enemy attacks while carrying Diana on his back as she hacks the bots to expose their weak points. Diana's simple puzzle mechanic of drawing a line through colored squares before reaching the final green square in the sequence wouldn't prove challenging in most games, but combining it with the onslaught of enemies, attacking the duo makes it a highly compelling experience.

Passing through more colored blocks on the way to the final "execute" block exposes enemies for longer (with new colored blocks with other unique abilities able to be scavenged throughout the ship), allowing Hugh to attack in the limited window of time provided to him. He's equipped with various firearms that can be scavenged throughout the ship, but most bots are melee-based (a skill which Hugh is not proficient in), making close-quarters combat an intense and risky endeavor as bots slowly approach you.

Upon weakening enemy armor with Diana, a multitude of weak spots are exposed for Hugh to fire at, each having a different effect. For example, shooting at an enemy's leg will knock them down to one knee, delaying their approach, but firing at an enemy's head can deal much greater damage when exposed.

While we didn't get a look at the upgrade or currency systems in the game, it was interesting to note that weapons outside the main pistol are not permanent unlocks. Instead, they're scavenged from the ground or chests, containing a limited amount of ammo and removed from your inventory once all charges are used.

Outside of combat, Pragmata takes more of a Soulslike approach to progression, with respawn locations being manually unlocked in far-apart points and shortcuts being permanently unlocked after exploring a long stretch of level. Diana's hacking skills aren't limited to exposing enemy weak points, with locked doors and other protocols being able to be controlled through other hacking mini-games. Our demo ended with a tease for an upcoming boss fight with a giant mechanized robot, which we're sure was going to be an absolute doozy.

While our time with Pragmata was short, it was a relief to find that after all these years of waiting, this mysterious sci-fi adventure is both a fun and unique new experience of exciting action. With a release window of sometime in 2026, Pragmata is sure to be one of the most highly anticipated titles slated for release next year, arriving on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.