There isn’t much info available on Capcom’s upcoming sci-fi action-adventure titlePragmata, which makes it all the more interesting. Revealed with an utterly ambiguous cinematic trailer at Sony’s Future of Gaming Event last year,Pragmatahas garnished quite the attention, especially fromDeath Strandingand Hideo Kojima fans.
Capcom remains awfully quiet aboutPragamata. First revealed as a 2022 title for the next generation of hardware,Pragamatawas later pushed to 2023. Capcom’s silence is concerning, but this could be intentional, given how much hypePragamata’scryptic trailer has garnished and continues to do so.
RELATED:Every Pragmata Trailer Revealed So Far
Capcom and Kojima’s Uncanny Resemblance
Pragmata’sreveal 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 screamsDeath Stranding. Moreover, the man in the spaceship resembles Kojima Productions' mascot, Ludens. Even the mysterious little girl with cybernetic eyes symbolizes theBB fromDeath 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.
WhilePragmataseems like a spiritual successor toDeath Stranding, it isn’t the first time a Capcom game is looking similar to a Kojima game. When first revealed, Capcom’sResident Evil 7seemed oddly similar to Kojima’sPT.Furthermore,The Beginning Hourdemo ofResident Evil 7looked and played quite shockingly similar toPT, 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 forPragamata’sreveal or not, but since it did, it may have decided to go all the way likeDeath Stranding. As many would recall,Death Strandingwas 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 forDeath Strandingand kept fans intrigued, leading to an enormous hype build-up for the game.Death Strandingwasn’t the only game to be revealed too early. Big AAA titles such asCyberpunk 2077,Elden Ring, andStarfieldhave also followed a similar pattern, withElden Ringhaving one of the most dedicated subreddits platforms to date. However, these titles didn’t keep the audience engaged over with annual or quarterly updates asDeath Strandingdid.
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 ofPragmata, all of this is even more exciting because it’s the first newIP from Capcomin 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 ofPragmatajust like they did withDeath 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. WithCapcom’s E3 2021 showcaseconfirmed, the first of many such trailers could be right around the corner.
Pragmatais currently in development for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
