In Pragmata, you’ll soon face your first encounter with enemies as Hugh Williams and his capable AI partner Diana, the very Pragmata from the game’s title. You’ll need to quickly master the delicate balance between hacking enemy robots and shooting them down, which forms the core of the combat system.
Use Diana’s hacking abilities to make opponents Vulnerable to attacks (although they’ll become slightly more aggressive in return), and finish them off with Hugh’s constantly growing arsenal of weapons. Mastering this balance from the start is key to success!
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Hack Enemies to Expose and Damage Them
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One of the many features that sets Pragmata apart from other similar games is that you’ll need to work in tandem with Diana, hacking enemies before Hugh opens fire. This allows for more direct damage, creating a powerful combination of technology and firepower! The key to smooth progress on the Moon and helping Hugh establish contact with Earth is finding a balance between dealing damage through hacking and using the best equipment for maximum attack power.
When you target any enemy, a grid will appear on the right side of the screen. This is where you’ll control Diana as she navigates through this grid, passing through a short maze to deal damage to enemies in Pragmata. While these grids are relatively simple and small at first, they’ll soon grow and change shape, adding obstacles, hacking nodes, and other elements as you master the basics.
Although hacking an enemy is not a requirement to defeat them, it’s usually a good idea.
While Hugh can always use his weapons to shoot at hostile IDUS robots, you’ll be able to hack enemies to deal damage from a distance and even stun them, preventing them from counterattacking. Hacked enemies are considered Vulnerable and become more susceptible to damage from Hugh’s firepower for a short time.
However, you’ll need to divide your attention, as robots won’t freeze in place while you’re hacking them unless you’ve used one of your weapons or hacks to immobilize them. Dodge enemies while hacking to take advantage of their vulnerability to additional damage and keep Hugh and Diana safe in such a hazardous place as the Moon.
The maze is considered complete when you reach the green mark on the grid to deal the accumulated damage. Additionally, extra damage is added for each blue cell passed through the grid, not to mention the various hacking nodes you’ve added to your equipment for each area. Hit the green cell to launch a hacking attack and complement it with a well-timed firepower strike to take down the toughest enemies in Pragmata.
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Units are Both Weapons and Defense
While mastering hacking in Pragmata is undoubtedly crucial for success in combat, it’s not the only element. You’ll also have a variety of weapons for Hugh to support these hacks, complementing Diana’s computer-based damage with direct firepower.
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They’re called Units. Throughout the game, you can unlock dozens of unit types, but they’ll all fall into one of four categories.
In the top part of the equipment screen, Hugh’s Primary Unit is always equipped – a standard weapon that’s always with you and constantly recharges after you’ve emptied the magazine on enemies. As you progress through the main story, you’ll receive various options, but new ones can’t be unlocked until specific progress points.
On the left side of the equipment screen is your Attack Unit – a set of more powerful weapons with limited ammo that unlock as you progress through the game. In each sector, you can find several new weapon blueprints to unlock and manufacture on the Unit Printer in the Shelter. You can only add them to your equipment after manufacturing them yourself. Once the weapon is printed, you can add it to your gear at any time and further upgrade it through the same Unit Printer.
Opposite the Attack Unit, on the right side of your equipment in Pragmata, is the Tactical Unit – a support device that can provide various support depending on the module chosen for each block. These are your support units, capable of, for example, freezing enemies in place, reducing the size of the hacking grid, and more. They’re much less versatile than other equipment, so you’ll need to find the ones that best fit your playstyle.
Finally, at the bottom of the equipment screen is the Defense Unit – a series of equipment that offers a range of defensive enhancements capable of drastically changing the course of battle. Use decoy targets, drones, and more to tactically utilize the limited ammo and get the most out of each application.
While the Primary Unit will always be in your equipment, the key to smooth progress through missions on the Moon will be stopping to change Hugh’s equipment in Pragmata before boarding the tram to the next sector.
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The early sectors of the game don’t leave much room for maneuvering, but as you unlock new equipment or improved hacks, it’s a good idea to always change Hugh’s equipment before exiting the Shelter – what worked in one sector might not work in the next.
When you find blueprints for new units in Pragmata, don’t forget to print them on the Unit Printer so you can add them to your equipment permanently. While you can periodically replenish ammo from enemy drops (especially in tough group battles where the best weapons are used up quickly), it’s best to be as prepared as possible if you know what’s ahead.
Before each serious battle in the game, you’ll find a way back to the Shelter. So, if you have a relatively simple hack ahead and a Shelter exit nearby, it makes sense to return to the Shelter to unlock new upgrades, perform a firmware update, manually save the game, and so on.
Equipment Overview
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When you first encounter the equipment screen in Pragmata, you might be overwhelmed by the abundance of options. However, this customization system for each sector is designed to help you tune combat to your preferences – after all, there’s no one “right” way to play as you progress through the story.
The first part of the equipment screen in Pragmata is dedicated to setting up which units Hugh will have at his disposal before heading out to explore the next sector.
In this menu, you’ll be able to change the Primary, Attack, Tactical, and Defense units. All unlocked items will be visually represented, allowing you to compare them. Initially, you can only take one unit of each type with you, but as the story progresses, upgrades will significantly expand your arsenal.
Below the units in the first part of the equipment screen is a section where you choose several hacking nodes available as soon as you arrive in a sector on the tram. These are the yellow nodes you’ll see on the hacking grids in upcoming battles. Passing through them will give you various benefits, in addition to dealing damage to robots. They can deal damage to multiple enemies at once, increase damage, confuse robots, making them fight each other, and more.
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The next section of the main equipment screen, located between the weapons/hacking nodes and the tram boarding confirmation button, is for installing modules that give Hugh various static bonuses. There are four types of modules: Attack, Hack, Defense, and Support. Weigh which bonuses you’ll need in the upcoming area. Dozens of modules are available, so experiment with combinations to find the most effective ones for your playstyle.
On the Unit Printer in the Shelter, you can unlock upgrades that allow you to equip additional modules and hacking nodes as you progress through the story in Pragmata. Unlocking them often requires both Pure Lunum and Lunafilament, but the costs are more than justified. These upgrades add a multitude of bonus capabilities to your equipment, which can become a decisive advantage in the game’s toughest battles.
