Capcom had an fascinating exhibiting at Summer Game Fest with three titles that can carry the developer into 2026 and past: Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Resident Evil Requiem, and Pragmata. I received hands-on previews with each Requiem and Pragmata, and a hands-off presentation for Onimusha. Across the three video games, I noticed a mixture of recent concepts with Onimusha, some stale ones with Requiem, and a few bizarre however fascinating selections with Pragmata.
Of the three video games, Pragmata represented the most important rigidity between what I preferred about it and what I didn’t. In the sport, you play as Hugh, an astronaut stranded on the moon who’s aided by a small, child-like robotic named Diana. To be frank, I’m completely exhausted by the trope of a giant, gruff dude defending a small, harmless baby. Enough! It’s 2025, we have now loads of dad video games at residence, Capcom, there must be a extra fascinating approach to do that.
That mentioned, I used to be impressed by Pragmata’s fight. What I assumed was an easy shooter was nonetheless principally that however with a complexity that dramatically modifications the calculus of the way you struggle. Enemies in Pragmata are shielded and take little harm from Hugh’s weapons. To struggle successfully, you should use Diana’s hacking abilities, represented by way of a minigame that’s principally a stripped-down model of the hacking minigame from Bioshock.
What’s most fascinating about that is that all of it should be finished mid-combat. Time doesn’t cease as you’re constructing a circuit to the tip objective so as to stun your enemy. It meant I needed to juggle hacking successfully with dodging enemy assaults in a approach that felt recent and thrilling for what I assumed can be a easy motion shooter. I simply want that they had utilized that innovation to a number of the sport’s narrative parts.
For Onimusha, Capcom revived a long-dormant collection in a giant approach, first with a remaster of Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny and now with this new entry, the primary in nearly 20 years. During the hands-off presentation, all I might suppose was, “This is Capcom’s tackle a soulslike.” Some of that’s within the aesthetics. The world is darkish, overrun by grotesque-looking demons who brutally lower down fleeing peasants earlier than turning their swords on Musashi, the protagonist. In different methods, it’s the fight. Enemies have stagger bars you deplete by means of deflecting and parrying assaults. In boss fights, as you slowly put on down your enemy, you possibly can select which a part of the boss to break to supply a sure impact. I didn’t get to play Onimusha myself, however I’m intrigued to see if any extra soulslike parts are embedded throughout the sport.
Finally, Requiem stole the Summer Game Fest present as Geoff Keighley closed the keynote occasion with a shock reveal of the sport and its February 2026 launch date, after beforehand teasing that we wouldn’t see it for some time. Later throughout Play Days, Summer Game Fest’s in-person media occasion, I used to be handled to a brief gameplay presentation and demo that provided a short glimpse into the harrowing expertise of Grace Ashcroft as she tries to flee an deserted hospital.
During the gameplay presentation, Capcom emphasised that Grace must depend on her wits to outlive slightly than any type of coaching as a soldier or legislation enforcement just like the Leons, Adas, or the Chrises of that T-virus contaminated world. I preferred that method and the way it was mirrored in each the presentation and the demo. Since Grace had no weapons to guard herself, I needed to discover clues within the surroundings that will assist me survive. That meant being attentive to my environment and studying every thing I might discover, touchdown on the one tip that received me by means of my time with the demo.
On the opposite hand, my transient take a look at Requiem felt like Capcom was tapping into outdated routines as a substitute of doing one thing actually modern for the ninth mainline entry within the Resident Evil collection. Yes, the large monster woman was scary, and that scrumptious rigidity was heightened by the truth that I had no weapons to shoot my approach out in case my wits failed me. But there are solely so many instances I could be chased by means of hallways by a slowly plodding monster earlier than it will get to be outdated hat. I’ve seen that not simply in different Resident Evil video games however in horror video games on the whole, and I’m bored by it.
I perceive that I’ve solely seen the tiniest sliver of what the complete sport represents, however I hope when Requiem comes out in February subsequent 12 months that I see extra new concepts than outdated ones.
