When you start a new game, a lengthy cutscene plays showing a spaceship travelling toward a station on the moon called the Cradle. The scene runs around three to four minutes and introduces Hugh, the protagonist, alongside his team. Once it ends, you’ll find yourself in the decontamination room where control of Hugh is handed to you and the basic movement controls appear on screen.
The Facility
Here’s a quick overview of the controls introduced here:
- Right Stick — Camera
- Press Right Stick — Reset camera
- Left Stick — Move
There are no collectibles or items to worry about in the Prologue. This section is purely about setting up the story and teaching you the basics, so focus on following the path.
You can move forward out of the decontamination room and into the next room. A door directly ahead will open automatically as you approach. Go through it and take a left. Keep following the linear path until you catch up with your team, where a brief cutscene plays showing everyone gathered around a 3D printer called the Lim Replicator. It weaves a substance called Lunafilament, which will become important later in the game.
Learning the Thrusters
After the cutscene, keep moving forward and take a left along the mustard-colored yellow railing. You’ll spot your teammate James standing on top of some boxes. He tells you the terminal is up ahead and that it’s time to test your thrusters. The controls will appear on screen, but here’s a quick overview:
- Left Stick — Run
- X — Jump
- Hold X — Hover
Right in front of you is a cargo crate. Jump on top of it and look to the right to spot a blue-glowing item. Pick it up as this is your first piece of Lunafilament. Lunafilament is refined from a mineral unique to the moon called Lunum and can absorb and copy any information it comes into contact with.
There are several more pieces of Lunafilament to collect in this area before moving on. From the top of the cargo crate, take a right to the platform ahead and hover across to the next platform in front of it, where you’ll find another piece. Get back to the cargo crate and jump down to find three more pieces of Lunafilament next to some boxes nearby. From there, take a left and look behind the box next to two cylinders for one more piece. Once you’ve collected everything, make your way back to the hover platform and head toward James.
The Seismic Event
Keep moving forward until you come across some rubble, where James activates a Walker, a 3D-printed android designed to help people on the Cradle. With the whole team reunited, a cutscene plays. Seismic activity strikes the moon, causing chaos as two of your teammates are sucked out into space, and the captain sacrifices himself to push Hugh out of the path of falling debris. Hugh falls into a pit below alongside the Walker android.
When Hugh wakes up, a small girl is repairing his suit. The reunion is short-lived as IDUS, the Cradle’s AI, interrupts and commands the Walker to attack and remove Hugh from the facility. The fight is on.
How Combat Works in Pragmata?
This is where the game introduces Hugh’s primary weapon. Here are the controls:
- L2 — Aim
- R2 — Fire
Hugh is struggling to hold his own, so the girl climbs onto his back and offers to help by hacking enemies.
How to Hack Enemies in Pragmata?
To hack an enemy, move close until a blue grid pattern appears around them. Hold L2 to start the hacking mini-game, then guide the cursor across the grid toward the EXE node, shown as a green power icon. Passing through blue gates along the path boosts your hack damage. Use the face buttons to move in each direction. Once you reach the EXE node, the enemy enters an OPEN state, leaving them exposed to Hugh’s gunfire.
Controls for hacking:
- L2 — Aim and enter hacking mode
- Triangle — Move cursor up
- X — Move cursor down
- Square — Move cursor left
- Circle — Move cursor right
- Hold L2 + Circle — Reset hack
Hack the Walker, then finish it off with Hugh’s weapon and collect the Lunafilament it drops. Shortly after, Hugh receives a call from the captain — he’s alive, but only briefly. His final order to Hugh is to contact Earth.
How to Hack Objects in Pragmata?
Directly ahead is a door with a red panel beside it that you’ll need to hack open. This is where the game introduces object hacking, which works differently from hacking enemies.
Hackable objects glow red and are typically placed near doors or along walls. When you get close, a blue rectangular cursor will appear over them. Hold L2 to start the mini-game.
Instead of an EXE node, you’ll see a central icon with branches extending to four surrounding squares. Each square contains one to four circuits with lines running through them. Rotate the circuits using the matching buttons until all the lines connect back to the center. There’s a timer, so you’ll need to act fast; if it runs out, you’ll have to restart the puzzle.
Once you crack it open, go through the door and look to the right to find a Repair Cartridge. Interact with it and hold Circle to recover. Repair Cartridges restore Hugh’s suit integrity and HP but need to be recharged at the Shelter before they can be used again.
Escaping to the Tram
Head through the door ahead. A brief cutscene shows a tram in the distance, that’s your way out. Jump down to the platform on the left and keep moving forward. A blue container will block your path, and multiple Walkers will come at you as you push toward the tram. Take down the bots first, then approach the container. It has a red device on it that needs to be hacked. This time, the puzzle requires you to connect three items before the timer runs out.
Once the container is moved, another Walker will appear. This is where the game introduces dodging and the Thruster Gauge. You can use your thrusters to avoid incoming attacks.
- R1 — Dodge
Note that both dodging and jumping consume the Thruster Gauge. If the gauge drops below a set level, actions like dodging, jumping, and hovering become temporarily unavailable until it recharges.
Clear out all remaining enemies and head to the tram to finish the Prologue. Your next destination is the Shelter.
The Prologue does a clean job of layering in Pragmata’s core mechanics one at a time across a single linear run. By the time you board the tram, you’ll have a working understanding of movement, combat, both types of hacking, and resource management. The next stop is the Shelter, where the real journey begins.