If you haven't yet tried Pragmata, you should head to the store of your choice and download the Sketchbook demo right now. Sure, you could read my initial hands-on to get a sense of the gameplay, but there's nothing like experiencing the hacking/shooting hybrid yourself. It's an innovative twist on the classic shooter genre that forces a risk/reward calculation into nearly every encounter.

One element that isn't in the Sketchbook demo is the Shelter, which is a safe area that acts as your home base in the game. I took a first look at a limited version of the Shelter in the TGS 2025 demo that Capcom showed off to the press. For GDC 2026, Capcom invited me over for a final hands-on. This time, I got to see more of the Shelter as well as a whole new area.

This time around, I had a use for the Cabin Coins that you earn by finding Read Earth Memories (or REMs) and gifting them to Diana. You can use the Cabin Coins to unlock items on the Shelter's stamp board. Each coin is good for one stamp. Each stamp gives you a bonus item. It could be enemy data, a key, or a power up. Unlock a row of stamps for a bingo, which gives you an additional item.

My first unlock gave me SectorGuard bot data. My first bingo gave me an extra repair cartridge (an extra health refill) for Hugh. The stamp boards seem to pair to levels, as the one that was available in the demo has a row that was locked out. To reveal it, I had to first get a red zone gate key (this was one of my stamps), and then I had to find and beat the red zone in the available level.

The red zone is basically a challenge area with a limited amount of space and a whole lot of bots. You don't need to enter it to beat the level, so you can always come back later once you've leveled up a bit.

Because this build of the game had more upgrades and weapons unlocked, it also gave me a much better sense of how progression works for Hugh and Diana. Upgrading weapons and unlocking perks allows you to customize Hugh for your play style. Want to make your hacks last longer? Done. Prefer to play defensively with a focus on health? Not a problem. Like rocking a glass cannon? You can do that.

Honestly, my only real complaint is that Pragmata offers up a number of options, but it doesn't have any way for you to save multiple loadouts. I can easily foresee different loadouts being appropriate for different levels, or having two or three favorite loadouts that I would want available before jumping into a level. Sure, I can always select everything manually every time, but that's a bit tedious once a large number of items is unlocked. That said, everything else about Pragmata feels polished, so maybe the developers can slip it in with a patch.

While the first level of Pragmata was straightforward, the second level opens up a bit. It's not an open world, but there is a lot more flexibility to explore and shortcuts unlock as you progress.

The mission goal tasked Hugh and Diana with reaching a comms tower in a city that appeared to be a re-creation of New York. Something went wrong with the construction of the replica city. Lunafilament was either damaged or malfunctioning throughout, so there were odd distortions. In the sci-fi show "The Expanse," the protomolecule took over Ganymede station, and there were random growths everywhere. Well, imagine that, but with tech. Mix in a little of the "Inception" dreamworld, and you've got a good idea of what it was like to explore the replica New York level in Pragmata.

Some of the new weapons in this build were the Riot Blaster (which has knock back), a Charge Piercer that is basically a sniper rifle that can charge up for more damage, and a Decoy Generator that creates a fake Hugh to pull aggro from a group of enemies. The Decoy Generator is surprisingly useful for crowd control.

Crowd control is an important survival skill in Pragmata, as single enemies are easy to take down, but they can be deadly in large groups. Keeping them back with a Stasis Gun or distracting them with a decoy can give you precious moments to thin the herd. While I never felt like the game was being unfair, I did feel the pressure a few times.

Enemy variety also increased, with a robot that looks disturbingly like a large doll deploying shields that block Diana's hacking ability. I had to eliminate the shields before I could successfully hack these Resident Evil rejects. Those shields were also a hint of things to come, as the level boss also had them.

Looking something like a hammerhead shark head on a robot body, the New York boss was quite the challenge, in part because ammo was scarce. Pragmata had been somewhat generous up to this point, but getting into the boss fight made me realize how much the game wants you to make every shot count. There's still room for error, but this is not a spray-and-pray game. You need to be methodical if you want to be deadly.

The New York level also had some smartly placed environmental triggers that Hugh could use against enemies. Hit them too soon and they would trigger harmlessly, but if you're methodical and wait for the right moment, it's possible to eliminate entire groups with a single switch. It pays to be aware of your environment.

The action is going to be the main draw for many, but the interactions between Hugh and Diana are the cherry on top. This was hinted at in the earlier demos, but seeing their banter play out over an entire level has me convinced that whoever wrote the script is absolutely, 100%, a parent to young kids.

Early on in the demo level, Diana does something risky, and Hugh jumps to stop her. Diana's response? "If I break, you can just fix me back up!"

That is kid logic to a tee.

There were also some fun visual easter eggs hidden throughout the level, such as a billboard that was tagged as "A Wesker Production" and a "Resident Devil III" movie poster. I didn't spot any Mega Man references, but I would be shocked if they aren't in there somewhere.

To borrow a phrase from one of our other editors, Pragmata is basically Daddy Duty, just with guns and hacking — and I am here for it.