Pragmata

Capcom

While I am often accused of going against the grain for its own sake, I’m sorry, I just can’t hold my tongue on this one. Pragmata is one of the most widely praised games of the year, and I just do not like the main thing people cite about why it’s so compelling: Its father-daughter narrative between Hugh, a lost spaceman, and Diana, a child robot.

As a game, I really do like Pragmata. It feels like a flashback to an earlier generation of games in its simplicity. There are linear levels, there are enemies to fight strategically, there are puzzles to solve, and there are little hidden upgrades you take back to the little upgrade stations for character and weapon boosts. It’s great, I really like this loop and have enjoyed almost all of the gameplay (the platforming? Ehh).

But for me, this Hugh and Diana lone wolf and cub dynamic is just trying way, way too hard. This is not me being sick of father-child narratives that span games from The Last of Us to God of War, it’s that this is just not portrayed with the supposed depth it’s been praised for, nor do I find these characters especially engaging, given how hard they are pushing the found father/daughter thing.

For context, I am saying this as a parent. I have a young son and a daughter, and what’s being shown here with Diana is a little kid where literally everything they say is meant to be utterly adorable. As such, she feels more like a puppy than a child, wide-eyed and beaming in every single interaction. That’s just not at all how it goes, as much as you love your kids, as much as they have plenty of cute moments. That’s far from all it is.

There is zero friction here. Hugh has essentially adopted her within an hour of meeting her, and the relationship just does not feel authentic with how overly fawn-in-the-woods they’ve made Diana, and Hugh having a grand old time with her after watching three of his friends die and being stuck in a station that has apparently wiped out its entire human population. I am not looking for “dark” here, necessarily, but Diana might as well be a talking gun, a turret riding on your shoulder, blasting enemies and occasionally shouting that one is about to hit you.

Parenthood is far more complicated than what we’re seeing presented here. Every line and movement this robo-kid has cannot be engineered to be adorable. Hugh cannot be flat-out spelling things out like “family doesn’t have to be who you’re related to!” Like, let her throw a tantrum. Let Hugh get exasperated. It doesn’t have to be a full-on parental rebellion like many of the aforementioned games have, but the way this is executed here is going way, way over the top with the idea of “hello player, you must love this kid, she is perfect.” From moment one, nothing feels natural or believable about this. I do like her little drawings, however. Even those warm my cold heart.

Okay, grinch mode over. As a whole, I really do like the game, but I had to get this off my chest.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.