Pragmata is the latest showcase for Capcom's remarkable form this generation, and a rare example of an original IP that actually delivers. Built on the company's RE Engine, it continues a run of technically ambitious titles that arrive with an enviable level of technical polish, some exciting new ideas and tight production values. We'll be covering the console versions later this week, but for now we wanted to discuss what makes the PC version so great - and at times frustrating for owners of certain graphics cards.

Before we get into the tech, let's briefly round up what Pragmata is. At its core, it's an action‑adventure with survival horror DNA. You explore a vast space colony, gradually unlocking new regions and objectives in classic Capcom fashion. However, the game diverges from the studio's roots by building tension through fluid movement and varied encounters, rather than fixed-camera shenanigans or resource scarcity.

The key innovation here is the hacking mechanic centred on Diana, the android who accompanies protagonist Hugh. By initiating hacking in real time, you risk attack but get a significant weapon power-up if you succeed. This requires a little bit of skill and timing to pull off effectively, with mouse and keyboard players on PC having a slightly easier time of things, but gamepad controls still feeling well-tuned. The relationship between Diana and Hugh also gives the game much of its emotional weight. Their dialogue and interplay are a real highlight, bringing to mind the dynamics between Mega Man and Roll in Mega Man Legends. The two characters approach situations from different angles, and that contrast helps ground the story.

From a graphical perspective, Pragmata is one of the standout PC releases of the year so far, particularly when running in its path‑traced mode on high‑end hardware. Unlike older RE Engine horror titles, where PT mainly enhanced subtle shadow detail and low‑light behaviour, here the tech gets a full workout. The game's environments are built from a huge number of reflective surfaces, so the combination of global illumination and physically-accurate reflections dramatically elevates the presentation.

At its best, the image quality approaches that of pre‑rendered CGI, with open spaces bathed in convincing dynamic lights. The PT mode leans on Nvidia's ray reconstruction tech, which is isn't flawless due to occasional smearing on certain surfaces, but it still delivers a big boost to image quality. And if you're lucky enough to play the game on a top-spec RTX 5090 PC, it runs well even at maximum settings.

On mid-range hardware, such as our RTX 4060 and Ryzen 5 3600 test PC, the game is still able to run consistently above 50fps, at least across the first two levels. That's using DLSS balanced mode and optimised settings adapted from the technically similar Resident Evil 9. Drops into the 40s or 50s are possible during cutscenes where Diana's strand-based hair is front and centre, but performance still feels acceptable if you're using a VRR display. You could disable the fancier strand-based hair system and the ray tracing to improve performance, but ultimately, they feel like a core part of the game's visual identity.

However, there is a problem. When you do hit performance problems in Pragmata, there's the sense that Capcom isn't entirely responsible. Entering the control centre for the first team sees the arrival of egregious stutter - which disappears when, in our case, you disable the shadow cache option, freeing up memory. From thereon out, it's basically a mystery to the user as to whether further performance drops are down to the lack of GPU horsepower or whether you're hitting VRAM limits. In fairness, the graphics settings menu does give you some idea of VRAM consumption, but based on real-time monitoring, it's not really accurate.

On the one hand, 60-class graphics cards really need to leave 8GB framebuffers behind - a tough ask in the current climate. On the other hand though, there's the sense that perhaps Capcom should realise just how many 8GB GPUs are out there and provide more guidance to the user or improved VRAM optimisation.

Overall, Pragmata emerges as a game well worth recommending, as it's a rare original triple-A project with inventive mechanics, fascinating characters and cutting-edge rendering tech from a bespoke engine. On high‑end PCs it's an almost unqualified success, as you can really enjoy the incredible visuals of the path tracing mode, while even lower-end CPUs can get a smooth 60fps and an attractive gameplay experience - but delivering some kind of solution to the 8GB VRAM problem really should be front of mind to PC games developers.

Still, that can't quite take the sheen off of Capcom's triumph, which solidifies them as one of the best publishers of the generation - no one else really comes close when it comes to delivering such a quantity, quality and variety of new titles.