After 2 hours with Pragmata, the 6-year wait is starting to feel worth it

Two hours with Capcom's latest was one hell of a blast Ever since Capcom revealed Pragmata in 2020, the questions have flowed like a river. What’s with the moody astronaut? Does that little girl have psychic powers? Is that… Times Square? (Are we secretly playing a Mega Man game?) A recent hands-on preview of the game cleared up many questions surrounding Pragmata, but didn’t dissipate any of the intrigue around it. If anything, Pragmata seems more intriguing than ever. Following an indefinite delay in 2023, it seemed Pragmata was destined to become the next Scalebound — a buzzy game that rode years of hype into an ignominious cancellation. But then Pragmata showed legit signs of life. Over the past year, Polygon has previewed Pragmata multiple times. We’ve talked about its exhilarating combat (a mix of third-person shooting and board-game hacking). We’ve talked about its performance on Nintendo Switch 2 (shockingly good!). This recent preview was the most extensive yet, covering roughly two hours of early gameplay and revealing a lot of what the game actually is. First, to answer the questions at the top of this story, in order: His friends are dead. She does not. And yes/no/kinda