Pragmata brings giant robot kaiju boss battles to Japanese sci-fi action

Pragmata, delayed four years, arrives next month. A hands-on demo at Capcom's San Francisco office suggested earlier footage had been holding back much of the game's action.

The demo put building-sized robot kaiju at the centre of combat. One had a weird, alien hammerhead and a comically pregnant robo-belly. The bots use three distinct giant laser beam attacks that demand quick repositioning, while nearby buildings help convey their scale.

The hacking minigame has evolved to require shooting specific weak points to drop a bot's cybershields. A weapon called the Charge Piercer both charges and pierces with a giant laser beam. Capcom didn't allow direct capture, and the playable segment relied on targeting weak spots until the bot was stunned and a point-blank finisher could be delivered for major damage.

That encounter felt clearly early in the campaign. It suggested the action will escalate as astronaut Hugh and android sidekick Diana move closer to escaping the lunar base.

United States, San Francisco

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