Preview: 'Pragmata' has an unconventional twist to the sci-fi shooter
Briefly

Hugh Williams awakens in a full space suit inside the Cradle alongside Diana, a barefoot child who is an android and heals him. An autonomous base administrator, IDUS, dispatches a Walker robot to eject unregistered guests. Gunfire proves weak, so Diana hacks machines via a timed node minigame that lets Hugh exploit weakened systems. Hugh's mobility includes a low jump and a dash with cooldown used to traverse hazards. Diana can hack Escape Hatches to save progress, and players collect Hacking nodes for debuffs and benefits, limited to three at a time in the demo. Hugh also uses weapons like a Shockwave rifle for close combat.
When Hugh Williams wakes up and discovers a child named Diana, everything seems a bit off. He's in a full space suit, and this strange child who has just healed him is walking around barefoot in a facility called the Cradle. The idea that she's an android doesn't register until he meets one of the minions of IDUS, an autonomous base administrator.
They learn that firing guns isn't super effective, and that's when players have to use Diana's abilities to hack the machine, and the gameplay gets weird.HACK AND FIRE Players have to run through a quick minigame where they move a cursor through several nodes by pressing the face buttons to weaken the adversary. That's when Hugh can take it down. It's the main wrinkle in the short demo I played for the upcoming action title.
Meanwhile, Diana can hack objects around the base, including Escape Hatches that save progress to doors. Her main ability is to weaken robotic enemies by infiltrating their systems by running through a minigame. Players can pick up Hacking nodes, which add a special marker and if players run the cursor through it, they can activate debuffs and other benefits. The only issue is in this demo was I could only carry three at a time.
Read at The Mercury News
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