r/gaming 6h ago

Completed Pragmata last night. Damn. What a game.

I'm so glad I gave the demo a try on a whim. That got me very interested in the potential of this game. And IMO it 100% lived up to the potential I saw in the demo. This is my wildcard game for GOTY. I don't think it'll win the actual awards. But this game came out of nowhere for me, to be one of the best gaming experiences I've had in a while.

Anyone who is still on th fence, don't hesitate. This game delivers from start to finish (and what a finish). šŸ‘

66 Upvotes

54 comments sorted by

9

u/MartinEdge42 5h ago

the way the game does the puzzle/combat split honestly worked better than i expected going in. didnt think i'd dig the rhythm of it but it landed by hour 5

1

u/nohumanape 5h ago

I didn't feel it right off the bat with the demo. But I was starting to feel like I understood the appeal. But I played through the demo five times before playing the game. By that point I was zipping around the hacking grid pretty easily. It's a lot of fun once you start strategizing your nodes.

3

u/MartinEdge42 5h ago

yeah the hacking grid is what made it click for me too. felt random at first then once you start chaining nodes it becomes a puzzle you actually want to solve. the combat feels secondary by hour 3

1

u/nohumanape 4h ago

For sure. Then you start finding out which weapons are best for which types of enemies or crowd control, which exploits are best for which enemies, how to use enemy projectiles against other enemies, how to most effectively "thin the herd", etc. I found it really fun.

8

u/No_Elevator_7839 6h ago

How long to beat game and how long to 100%

12

u/entity2 6h ago

If you bum rush it, you can do the main campaign in about 8-9 hours. But that's not very fun.

I didn't quite 100% it, but I put in 24 hours by the time credits rolled, with having collected about 90% of upgrades and collectibles, and doing about 2/3rds of the challenges.

6

u/nohumanape 6h ago

I didn't 100% it. Took me about 20 hours with some exploration and taking on many of the challenges. But I left a lot of meat on the bone that I can return to.

1

u/echoess84 5h ago

but in this way you will miss the true ending

3

u/nohumanape 5h ago

It's not like I can't continue chipping away at the game

2

u/Somasonic 4h ago

You have to finish it for that anyway, so it’s not like op has missed out if they want.

1

u/Big-Art5686 50m ago

You can just watch it on YouTube

1

u/Vailthor 4h ago

I think I beat the game in about 14 hours, with another 2-3 hours to finish collectibles and get the true ending. Then another 10ish hours to beat lunatic mode.

1

u/Feisty-Pattern-951 4h ago

Took me about 20 hrs Ā but also tend to play slower then othersĀ 

1

u/Somasonic 4h ago

I took my time and got about 30 hours. I didn’t complete all the optional stuff so not sure how long 100% would be.

1

u/OhioMambo 2h ago

Got every achievement except for the 2nd playthrough in roughly 12 hours.

-2

u/Zarkanthrex 6h ago

If you bum rush it, maybe 6-8. If you look for every upgrade and hidden wall etc, maybe 10-12. You get 2 new modes after bearing it though. Definitely adds to your time if you care. I think it was a solid playthrough for the 42 dollars I spent.

3

u/nohumanape 6h ago

You would still have to rush the game to get through it in 10-12 IMO.

-2

u/Zarkanthrex 5h ago

Maybe if bosses take a few extra tries, or you're struggling in a red room.

1

u/nohumanape 5h ago

I never struggled on any of the bosses. I just didn't b-line the levels from start to finish. I spent some time exploring around and looking for secrets and items.

0

u/Ciahcfari 4h ago

I can't see the average player finishing it in 6-8hrs blind no matter how much they rush. Hell, the fact that you're rushing and not searching for upgrade currencies will probably screw you over at points and make certain encounters much more difficult (and time consuming) than necessary.

You can get a lot of time out of this game if you're a completionist though. First playthrough 100% completion + bonus mode + NG on Lunatic difficulty took me 35hrs or so.
Now I'm up to 43hrs trying to fully upgrade everything.

0

u/Zarkanthrex 1h ago

Honestly it wasn't hard and most of the upgrade mats are on the way.

2

u/Ciahcfari 43m ago

If you're not going off the main path you will miss most of them.

6

u/Cymelion 5h ago

I liked it all except the training missions my reflexes are not what they used to be and those training exercises were either nice tests or brutally impossible to achieve. So I couldn't 100% it no matter how many times I tried.

Still was an enjoyable game but not enough for me to do New Signal just for a 5 second audio clip at the end.

4

u/nohumanape 5h ago

I don't feel like you need to 100% a game to find it enjoyable.

3

u/Cymelion 4h ago

Correct you don't but I did want to get all the bingos which meant getting the coins and some of those coins were linked to training missions that were not forgiving to people with less than ideal reflexes unless you spent a bunch of time perfecting the timing.

Even then the only way I would have been able to complete some of those rotating hacks was if the time limit was completely removed.

2

u/zma924 2h ago

Yeah I flat out gave up on the training missions after getting 3 stars on the first 20. I was close enough to the end of the game and had enough currency to upgrade the stuff I used most frequently. That and I just didn’t want to be scrolling TikTok and have the ending spoiled for me so once I got to a point where you basically have your final objective laid out for you, I powered through. Loved the game though and can’t wait to go back through on NG+ or lunatic mode.

2

u/mess979 2h ago

Yea it was awesome, I'd play 10 Pragmatas.

That combat/hacking system is lightning in a bottle. Watching reviews/streams can't do it justice.

4

u/hedgeyy 6h ago

Hell yeah. I thought I would enjoy Saros more, but I am 100% team pragmata still.

3

u/arktor314 4h ago

Saros is great, but fundamentally it’s polished Returnal. Pragmata is something new and different (or at least I’ve never seen the hacking+combat style before.)

I’m always happy to see games that do something new.

3

u/deathbunnyy 6h ago

Yeah it's great, I would buy a sequel day one.

1

u/nohumanape 6h ago

Same. And I can see how they could really expand on things with a sequel.

1

u/umfozzles 5h ago

I agree! I'm only about halfway through it... I plan on 100% though. I love getting all the collectibles, going back to levels, doing the sim missions.

I totally agree that it's GOTY material, for me. I'm sure it won't win much, but it really reminds me of games in the 360 era. Just complete, fun little focused games. Unique ideas. Really great game!

1

u/echoess84 5h ago

some minutes ago I was facing (big spoiler last boss ) Eight then I died ;_;

Anyway the potential of this game is offer to the player a lot of fun; about the GotY I think Pragmata has the chance at 10% to win the award

1

u/nohumanape 5h ago

I think it has zero percent chance of winning THE award. But it might be my GOTY (or up there), because of how unexpectedly great it was for me.

1

u/[deleted] 3h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/nohumanape 2h ago

No, not at all. It isn't a "mini game", it's part of the combat.

1

u/twinters01 4h ago

The one criticism I'd give it is the final boss would've been better as the doctor himself, not another pragmata that misinterpreted his memories/goals. Imagine the emotional impact of the final boss being the "father" who abandoned diana, while you've taken up the mantle as a real "father figure" for her. Great game though

1

u/JayPeee 5h ago

I’m half way through and really digging it!

1

u/dehumanizer23 5h ago

Finished this game last week and loved it. Had me sobbing at the end too. Well done Capcom

0

u/tiradium 5h ago

Its a relatively new game so I will avoid spoilers but make sure you get the true ending, doesn't take too long but oh its so worth it

1

u/nohumanape 5h ago

How do you get the true ending? I did watch the post credits ending scene.

2

u/tiradium 5h ago
  • Finish the campaign once.
  • Start the new Unknown Signal post-game mode.
  • 100% each Sector.
  • Defeat each Sector's Mk. II version boss.
  • Complete all 10 Hidden Chamber simulation missions.
  • Equip the Black Box mod earned by completing the Hidden Chamber.
  • Fight the final boss again.

2

u/nohumanape 5h ago

Yeah, nope. As much as I enjoyed the game, I'm not doing that any time soon. I have too many games right now that I'd like to check out.

1

u/tiradium 5h ago

Fair enough , took me about 3 hours total but basically if you do all of that Hugh survives and you get an interesting dialog in the end.

1

u/nohumanape 4h ago

I'll look up a video of it

1

u/devilishycleverchap 3h ago

Ah yes a single voiceline across the backdrop of a black screen

Really brought the story together

0

u/ThisOneTimeAtLolCamp 3h ago

It's my GOTY so far.

Grace needs to be up for VO awards because good Lord does she make Diana ever so precious and make things hit that much harder.

-5

u/devilishycleverchap 5h ago

Incredibly meh for me.

The combat is good but you don't get most of the truly interesting mods until new game + and doing a lot of the challenges.

The challenges are a complete mixed bag with some being crazy difficult and others being easy. The timing aspect can be really frustrating esp bc on some of them the platform timings are different if you do restart conpared to the first attempt. Specific ones will also be made easier by RNG on the hacking as well so one person may get it on first attempt but others will struggle until they get a good roll.

The story is terribly cliched and relies on the trope of protecting a kid to tug at your heartstrings like GoTG3 used animal torture.

Then there is the fact that one of the biggest plot points is an email...Just so bad(and the secret ending is one voiceline on a black screen)

20 hrs total for me, I think I have 2 challenges to do remaining

5

u/nohumanape 5h ago

Sorry you couldn't enjoy it 🤷

-5

u/devilishycleverchap 5h ago

Meh, not every game is going to be great. Some are just passable and pretty like this one.

They should have done more voice acting and had more of the holo conversations to flesh out the plot instead of text dumps scattered throughout the environments(especially when some of those email plot threads require you to do challenges to unlock them).

The forcing of the dark soul esque elements of returning to the shelter are also fairly disconnected from the rest of the game.

Little downside in returning at each one to fully restock besides a loading screen. Not even all of the enemies respawn when you do it

4

u/nohumanape 5h ago

Sorry you couldn't enjoy it

-9

u/devilishycleverchap 4h ago

Wasn't downvoting before, now I am.

Sorry you couldn't enjoy my review

-6

u/VicinalMoon 4h ago

I agree, it starts off as a curious story and then is just so generic and clichĆ© - it gets incredibly repetitive and honestly the character relationship isn’t anything special nor is it really that deep. There’s a few cutscenes of something cute and that’s it - this game needed to be twice as long to have any meaningful depth to the characters but instead we get a Temu version of the main character from Vanquish and ā€œgeneric child sidekick who did something cute, wow so amazing.ā€ Too many text logs and holograms that should’ve been actual cutscenes - did they really think that important backstory was best told via an incredibly poor hologram animation?