There isn't much info available on Capcom's upcoming sci-fi action-adventure title Pragmata, which makes it all the more interesting. Revealed with an utterly ambiguous cinematic trailer at Sony's Future of Gaming Event last year, Pragmata has garnished quite the attention, especially from Death Stranding and Hideo Kojima fans.
Capcom remains awfully quiet about Pragamata. First revealed as a 2022 title for the next generation of hardware, Pragamata was later pushed to 2023. Capcom's silence is concerning, but this could be intentional, given how much hype Pragamata's cryptic trailer has garnished and continues to do so.
Capcom and Kojima's Uncanny Resemblance
Pragmata's reveal trailer was quite cryptic, which led many to believe that it was actually Hideo Kojima's next game. It isn't surprising given how the eeriness of the game's environment screams Death Stranding. Moreover, the man in the spaceship resembles Kojima Productions' mascot, Ludens. Even the mysterious little girl with cybernetic eyes symbolizes the BB from Death Stranding. The trailer provides enough lore info for fans to gush and speculate about for the next months or years while also retaining the mystery of what or how the game actually plays out.
While Pragmata seems like a spiritual successor to Death Stranding, it isn't the first time a Capcom game is looking similar to a Kojima game. When first revealed, Capcom's Resident Evil 7 seemed oddly similar to Kojima's PT. Furthermore, The Beginning Hour demo of Resident Evil 7 looked and played quite shockingly similar to PT, leading many to speculate whether all of this was coincidental or intentional.
Following the Footsteps of Death Stranding
Capcom hasn't confirmed whether it was expecting such a reception for Pragamata's reveal or not, but since it did, it may have decided to go all the way like Death Stranding. As many would recall, Death Stranding was revealed fairly early during its development. For fans, the game began as soon as it was revealed, with a plethora of fan theories, fan arts, and more surfacing religiously over various social media forums.
Kojima revealed a trailer every few months until the game released, all of which continued to be as crpytic as possible, imposing more questions than they answered. Such a marketing tactic worked notably well for Death Stranding and kept fans intrigued, leading to an enormous hype build-up for the game. Death Stranding wasn't the only game to be revealed too early. Big AAA titles such as Cyberpunk 2077, Elden Ring, and Starfield have also followed a similar pattern, with Elden Ring having one of the most dedicated subreddits platforms to date. However, these titles didn't keep the audience engaged over with annual or quarterly updates as Death Stranding did.
The advantage of revealing a game too early, that too with a cryptic cinematic trailer that isn't representative of the gameplay experience, is that it gives players enough room for speculations. Such speculations lead to a free form of marketing and cultivate a humungous fan base even before the game is released. In the case of Pragmata, all of this is even more exciting because it's the first new IP from Capcom in years. A trailer as crpytic as the first one made fans even more curious about the grounds the company could cover with this project.
Capcom's current silence seems to indicate that it wants fans to embrace the mysterious nature of Pragmata just like they did with Death Stranding. If that really turns out to be the case, then fans should expect more such vague trailers that hide plenty of lore and tiny details for fans to unravel until the game is released. With Capcom's E3 2021 showcase confirmed, the first of many such trailers could be right around the corner.
Pragmata is currently in development for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.