This month’s Summer Game Fest featured one of Capcom’s best performances. Resident Evil 9 Requiem’s very special demo outweighs Pragmata, the publisher’s additional hands-on preview, which was much more revealing. This impending action shooter impressed me with its inventive gun-hacking mechanic.

Hugh Williams, the protagonist of the video game, recovers from a space station experience with the assistance of Diana, an google companion who resembles a young lady with long golden hair, long hair, and, for some reason, no shoes. A robot is gradually moving toward us, and we are immediately attacked by a robot that has little to no damage to our pistol. This is when Pragmata introduces the special engineer of hacking, which you can do while you fight, into its battle. This took a lot of work at first, but it immediately turns into something simple and enjoyable.

You must use Diana’s malware ability to expose weaknesses in each enemy, even though you can shoot with L2 and take with R2 like a normal shooter. A network, known as the Hacking Matrix, appears on the right side of the screen when an enemy is being targeted. You may then proceed an icon through the grid using the face buttons in order to get to a certain point.

The face keys function similarly to a D-pad: a square moves up, a circular movements left, and so on. Additionally, there are some special points in the generator that must be avoided or voluntarily passed through for more benefits. When you reach the end of the network, your weaponry will open up the shield of the enemy, allowing you to deal even greater damage. It’s a special fight mechanic in a shooter that I hadn’t seen before, and it was relatively simple to understand, giving the game a very enjoyable gunplay loop. &nbsp,

I was able to enter the hallway with more rivals and obstructions when I defeated the first one. If the switch is held down, Hugh is jump while holding the X and stay. This helped when crossing big gaps or avoiding harmful lasers. When I ran into a door and had to look for five keys to break them open and continue, this became a problem. Flying robots are one of the new enemy forms. The robots would evade my fire with ease, but a quick steal quickly stunned them, making them more vulnerable to attacks. Simply as I unlocked my new weapons, the flash weapon, a strolling tank-like army also appeared.

When one or more enemies are compromised, the flash gun does the same as a shotgun, causing much more harm to one or more. I even unlocked the limbo gun, the demo’s ultimate weapon, in addition to this. With an elongated picture, this fired like a grenade launcher, but with a balloon that would trap enemies inside and surprise them. It’s very important when dealing with multiple opponents at once, especially since each one requires thorough hacking, sometimes more than once, for each one.

We were able to locate a hacking network as we approached the demo’s last place. This item has a limited-use version that may fit into a strange space on the hacking grid that appears when an opponent is being targeted. A brown may be deployed if I moved my mouse over these nodes until I reached the finish line of the hacking mechanic. This network more lowers an opponent’s shields, allowing our shots to do more harm once they are vulnerable. &nbsp,

The game recommended stacking these networks and passing through more than one before finishing to get more and more benefits, to make points more interesting. Don’t get caught hackers while in the middle of a gunfight, which may require having to reset the hacking matrix, because you didn’t move your mouse over a square you’ve already passed.

Our hands-on demo ended abruptly just as the demo’s last employer appeared. Capcom forbade everyone from fighting the huge baddie for whatever reason. This is particularly peculiar because the majority of demos and previews typically end with a thrilling boss battle or climax. I wanted to put my new abilities to the test because I had a lot of discipline navigating the Hacking Matrix while dodging and shooting opponents, which was a real shame. It might have made me even more eager to try Pragmata once more and see what Capcom has created for its distinctive battle.

Pragmata will be available in 2026 for the Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and Computers.