Capcom’s Upcoming Game Delves into AI Horrors

Pragmata, a sci-fi action game, left me feeling more uneasy than expected. Capcom has been on a successful streak with hits like Monster Hunter World, which became their best-selling game, and reinventions in the Street Fighter and Resident Evil series. Now, they’re launching something new: Pragmata, set to release in April. After playing around two hours at Capcom’s office, it’s hard to explain the game fully. It’s a sci-fi third-person action game where you play as two characters. You explore a mysterious lunar research station as a man named Hugh in a space suit battling aggressive robots. You hack robots with an android named Diana, appearing as a child, using a grid-based minigame. Despite being robots, enemies have a chilling presence, like the Walker robots that sometimes blend among mannequins. Another enemy, a huge head with a red laser saw, is particularly unsettling. The robots’ strange design, according to director Yonghee Cho, implies they might have been created by AI, making you question their eerie appearance. The level showcased a New York-like city inaccurately recreated by AI, inspired by generative AI videos. The Pragmata development team, with experience from series like Resident Evil and Devil May Cry, drew on their expertise. Playing the demo reminded me of Resident Evil, with Hugh’s shooting style feeling similar to Leon Kennedy’s from that series. While Pragmata is an action game, it brings elements of Resident Evil’s survival horror into a new franchise, reminiscent of Capcom’s past work like Dino Crisis. It’s a strange yet familiar game that feels uniquely Capcom.