Capcom’s Most Intriguing Game of 2026 Isn’t Resident Evil Requiem, It’s Pragmata

Heading into my appointment to go hands-on with Pragmata at Summer Game Fest Play Days a few days ago, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Ever since the game was first teased at a PlayStation Showcase all the way back in 2020, I haven’t been able to fully wrap my head around what it is. Turns out, it’s a sci-fi shooters with puzzle game elements that’s unlike anything I’ve played before.

2026 is shaping up to be a big year for Capcom thanks to games like Onimusha: Way of the Sword and Resident Evil Requiem. Onimusha: Way of the Sword looks like it will modernize a classic action game series to bring it in line with modern, intense action games, while Resident Evil Requiem will deliver tons of intimate, intense scares. Those titles will probably be part of many people’s most anticipated games of 2026 list, and I’m certainly looking for to them. But, to me, Pragmata is the most intriguing Capcom game coming out next year.

In Pragmata, players control a duo of characters trying to make their way back to Earth because they’re trapped in a giant research complex on the moon. My demo began with Hank, the man in the giant spacesuit, being awakened by Diana, an android taking the form of a young girl. Hank is pretty confused, but before long, a robot drops down and begins to aggressively attack them. That’s when I was thrust right into combat and start to get an idea of what playing Pragmata is actually like.

At first, it seems like Pragmata is your standard sci-fi third-person shooter, think Dead Space without the horror elements. But when Hank fires at the robot, he can barely any damage. To deal substantial damage to enemies, Diana needs to hack them. After aiming sights down at an enemy with the left trigger, players can start a hack. In this demo, there as only one kind of hack: navigating to a green node in a grid of squares.

Using the face buttons, I had fill in squares on that grid in order to reach the green node. As the demo went on, I obtained some different colored nodes, like blues, that I could also pass through to deal extra damage or gain other effects on enemies. From there, I could hold down right trigger and shoot with whatever gun Hugh was holding to deal massive damage. It’s a fairly simple loop, but an offers twist on combat that adds a little puzzle game flair into things.

Outside of combat, Pragmata looks like it’ll be a fairly familiar action adventure game where players have to solve various puzzles around the research complex through hacking to progress. My demo ended with Hugh and Diana restoring power to the complex by activating its power plant, although a giant robot then attacked them. While I didn’t get to play that boss fight, I can only imagine that it, and other later-game encounters, will shake up Pragmata’s shooting and puzzle hacking gameplay loop in some interesting ways.

One of my favorite games of 2024, Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, was also a genre mashup, so I’ll always be paying attention when Capcom is investing in a new IP with experimental gameplay ideas. Pragmata has been shrouded in mystery since its reveal, and is still a little hard to describe. Still, that allure makes it one of the most exciting games of 2026 to me, and certainly the upcoming Capcom game that sparks the most curiosity from me.

Pragmata will be released for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S sometime in 2026.