I went into Pragmata with an entirely cynical attitude. It was hard not to. After all, here was a story about a mega corporation literally taking AI too far and replacing human workers with robots and other cost-cutting methods with no regard for worker safety. So when I was finally introduced to Diana, your main AI companion in Pragmata, I was wary. And also tired. Please don’t let this be some kind of “Actually, AI good” narrative. Like I need any of those in these dark times we live in.
To my surprise, dear reader, not only is Pragmata one of the most refreshingly anti-AI games I’ve played, it’s also very pro-human in ways I didn’t expect.
Yes, Pragmata does retread some very familiar story beats. You play as Hugh, a somewhat jaded older guy, who gets stuck with Diana, a young girl who’s actually an android, and you enter into a pseudo father-daughter relationship where Hugh teaches her about Earth, humanity, and balloons. It’s not quite as heavy as The Last of Us or The Walking Dead, but it’s all material that will feel very familiar to anyone who hasn’t been living under a media rock for the past decade.
It doesn’t take long for Hugh to warm up to Diana, and it’s easy to see why. Looking past the fact that she’s literally a robot designed to help and serve, Diana displays a childlike curiosity for everything around her, and it’s very endearing, even when she’s literally putting herself in danger to chase a cat.
Outside of Hugh’s relationship with Diana, Pragmata takes the time to explore the implications of AI “going too far”. We’re talking 3D printers for anything you can think of, digitized flora and fauna on a moon colony meant to simulate the natural beauty of our Earth, and of course, an AI mainframe that gets so powerful it starts killing the humans that we’re forced to create a whole other model of robot to take down what we’ve created.
Pragmata‘s setup might come off as appealing, shiny, and clean, but Capcom doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to illustrating the dichotomy between the clinical sterility of machines and the flawed messiness of human beings. And the game makes it abundantly clear whose side it’s on. Hint: it’s not the robots.
The point is that, despite my distrust for all things AI and android, Diana’s genuine adoration for the little imperfections of humanity reaffirms my personal belief that there is beauty in those same imperfections. Diana struggles to understand why humans can be so strange and inefficient at times, but Hugh teaches her that there’s a point to that inefficiency and emotional messiness. Having to eat three meals a day might not be very nutrient or energy-efficient, but food isn’t always the point. It’s about connecting with friends and family over those meals. Hugh might be able to fix Diana up if she breaks, but it would hurt him emotionally to see her harmed.
There is culture here that we’ve built up over millennia to be appreciated. There are moments of human ingenuity that we must embrace. There is the grandeur of nature that can be intimidating and even terrifying, yet we must never forget that it is a reminder of where we started.
Staying close to the ocean might wreck the paint job on your house, but man, that ocean breeze sure does make all of the hassle worth it.
