Capcom Just Proved The Switch 2 Is A Powerhouse With Pragmata
The moon is a lonely, cold place until you’re shoved into a lunar research station being hunted by AI robots taking orders from a rogue computer. You’re Hugh, a spacefarer tied at the hip to a mysterious girl named Diana, and the stakes involve a desperate crawl to contact Earth before the whole station goes dark. The atmosphere is thick enough to choke on, blending high-tech machinery with a sombre, eerie vibe that keeps you looking over your shoulder.
Pragmata Nintendo Switch 2 Review: Specs & HUD
- Awesome graphics: The presentation is top-notch, and the space station location looks incredible.
- Download size: It’s a hefty one, so make sure you’ve got the space cleared on your Switch 2.
- Custom HUD: You can customise exactly what shows on your screen to keep the view clean.
- Centre reticle: There is a toggle for a centre reticle, including options for its colouring.
- Achievement system: It has its own in-game achievements that pop up right when you earn them.
- Amiibo support: Full support for the Diana Amiibo, which drops items and weapons for you.
- Tutorials: You get pop-ups as you play, plus a central manual menu to check later.
- Save slots: Ten save slots are available to manage your progress.
Gameplay Review & Mechanics Breakdown
Action-adventure gameplay is the core here, viewed from a third-person perspective with full 360-degree camera control in a fully 3D world. Your suit lets you jump, hover, and grab onto ledges, which is vital because there is a lot of verticality and platforming. You aren’t just following a path and can freely explore the elaborate locations that just get bigger as you go. The game does seamless crossovers between gameplay and cutscene, which is cool, but also annoying because all of a sudden you can’t control or jump, and you forget about the crossover.
Hacking is the core of the game and its most unique feature. When aiming at an enemy, you move a node through a hack maze to a green node. Combat continues while you do this, so at first it’s fiddly, but it becomes second nature. You can only do this when Diana is with you, as she is the brains and the hack. She can also scan areas to show items or interactions. You can talk with her whenever you like for hints or story nuggets. The bond between Diana and Hugh is very endearing; she’s a robot with no sense of Earth, and he’s teaching her what it’s like. It’s a very well-written, excellent story that makes the game hard to put down.
The Shelter is your safe hub for saving, upgrading, and changing your loadout. You use the Firmware updater there to upgrade your suit, Diana’s hacking, and your primary unit. You can find guns in the world, and while you drop them when ammo runs out, picking one up unlocks the blueprint to craft them back at the shelter. You carry up to four at a time, using the D-pad for quick select. The grip gun is slow, but always with you. There are also hundreds of mods to find, craft, and equip that let you create your own character build. Finding shelter license cards increases your shelter level, and you can exchange cabin coins at the stamp club for unique rewards. It makes the hub feel more homely over time.
Pragmata Nintendo Switch 2 Review: Performance & Fidelity
- Top-notch presentation: The atmosphere is incredible, and the locations get more elaborate the deeper you get.
- Loading times: For a game this big, the loading times are actually decent.
- Cutscenes: Character interactions have great voice work and animations; plus, they can be skipped or paused.
- Audio quality: The music is every bit as good as the game, with banging bass-heavy tunes for combat and sombre chimes for exploration.
- Seamless transitions: The jump between gameplay and cutscenes is visually impressive.
- Physics and movement: Moving through the 3D world feels solid, helped by a handy reset camera button.
Settings, Customisation & Control Details
- Accessibility presets: Includes specific presets for visual, audio, and motion sickness.
- Audio sliders: Granular control for dynamic range, voice, sound effects, music, and master volume.
- Subtitles: Huge range of options, including background, size, speaker name colour, and closed captioning.
- Camera settings: Invert axis, sensitivity sliders, horizontal/vertical deceleration, and distance (close/standard/far).
- Controller mapping: You can remap a few buttons, but it doesn’t include the sticks.
- Toggle/Hold: Run, aim, and limit eraser can be set to toggle or hold individually.
- Difficulty: Two game difficulties, casual and standard, but you cannot change them once you’ve started.
- No colorblind mode: While there isn’t a dedicated preset, you can edit many text and HUD colours individually.
- Control assists: Aim assist, rumble, and motion controls with sensitivity sliders are supported.
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Pragmata
Summary
GOOD STUFF
The atmosphere and presentation are top-notch, making the space station a place you actually want to explore. The hacking mechanic is a unique twist that feels great once you get the hang of it, especially with Diana helping you out. I love how the items you pick up emit a bright blue light, and the way you can upgrade your suit and gear in the shelter gives you a real sense of progression. The story is excellent and well-written, focusing on the endearing bond between Hugh and Diana as they deal with AI enemies like IDUS. With hundreds of mods and plenty of collectables like mini cabins and memories, there is a lot of replayability here for anyone who likes creating their own character builds.
BAD STUFF
I am not a huge fan of the close-quarters combat because the game loves chucking enemies into small rooms where you have to juggle multiple targets without a melee attack, which is a total pain. The seamless transitions are cool, but can be annoying when you suddenly lose control of your character without warning. Navigation is also a bit of a headache at times since it’s not always clear where to go or what needs to be done. The remapping is limited as it doesn’t include the sticks, and the lack of combat-specific accessibility options makes the fiddly, reflex-heavy fights harder than they need to be. Most annoying is not being able to save whenever you want, which is a bad thing for a mobile console like the Switch, and the invisible walls can really hit you with a dose of reality when you’re trying to explore.
FINAL VERDICT
Pragmata is a lot of fun to play and the more I play it, the more it drags me in. It’s a game that’s hard to put down thanks to the big boss fights and the sombre, bass-heavy music that sets the perfect tone for a lunar adventure. While the combat takes some getting used to and can be a challenge, the verticality and exploration pay off if you take the time to scope everything out. It’s a high-quality sci-fi trip that shows exactly what the Switch 2 can do when it’s firing on all cylinders.
