PRAGMATA drops you into a lunar research base full of heavily armored robots, real-time hacking puzzles, and a combat system unlike anything else in the genre. The combination of shooting and hacking can feel overwhelming in the first few hours, but the fundamentals are simpler than they appear once you understand how the pieces fit together.
These 10 tips cover the most important habits and systems to develop early, so you stop stumbling through fights and start clearing rooms with confidence.
1. Master the Hack-and-Shoot Loop
Hacking a Walker
Every fight in PRAGMATA follows the same core pattern: hack first, then shoot. Diana exposes enemy weak points through hacking, causing them to glow orange, and Hugh unloads into those spots to deal real damage.
Without completing a hack, most of your shots will barely scratch heavily armored robots. Getting this rhythm into your muscle memory as early as possible makes every encounter smoother, especially as enemies grow more aggressive later in the Cradle.
Keep in mind that hacking does not pause the game. Enemies continue moving and attacking while you are inside the grid, so always position yourself at a safe distance before starting a hack.
How the Hacking Grid Works
Hacking Grid
When you aim at an enemy (hold L2/LT on the controller), a grid appears on the right side of the screen. On the controller, use the face buttons to navigate the cursor.
On PC, hold Alt to activate cursor movement, then move your mouse to guide it across the grid. An alternative input is holding the mouse side button, which can be rebindable.
Your goal is to reach the green EXE node (marked by a green power button icon), which completes the hack and leaves the enemy vulnerable. There are three node types you need to learn to get the hacking part of the game right:
- Blue nodes: Passing through these increases hack damage and extends the vulnerability window. Route through as many as possible on your path to the EXE tile.
- Yellow nodes: Picked up as items in the world, these appear on your hacking grid and trigger powerful effects when passed through, such as Confuse (turns the target against other bots) and Multihack (applies the hack to multiple targets at once). Save these for elite enemies.
- Red nodes (Error Nodes): Touching a red triangle immediately boots Diana out of the hack and applies a brief jam penalty to your system. Avoid them entirely.
2. Hacks Can Be Paused Mid-Progress
Successful Hack
One of the least-explained mechanics in PRAGMATA is that you can stop a hack mid-grid without losing your progress. If you spot a charging attack heading your way, simply release the aim button (L2/LT), reposition, then aim at the target again to resume the hack exactly where you left off.
This removes enormous pressure from fights because you are no longer committed to finishing a hack in a single unbroken burst.
Only two conditions will reset your progress entirely:
- Red Error Node: Navigating into a red node boots Diana out of the hack and applies a brief jam to your system.
- Hugh taking damage: Any hit during an active hack resets progress back to zero.
Outside those two conditions, your partial hack remains intact until you return to it.
3. Save Hacking Nodes for Tough Enemies
Multihack Hacking Node
Early in the game, you only have access to one hacking node slot, and the game places environmental nodes right before combat arenas as a hint to use them. Resist the urge to spend them on weak standard bots.
Basic fodder can be dealt with through clean grid navigation alone without burning a Decode or Multihack node. Save the heavy-hitting nodes for larger, armored elites where the crowd control and extra damage genuinely change the outcome of a fight.
As you progress further, you’ll unlock additional node slots and find replacements more frequently inside combat arenas. Until that point, treat every yellow node as a resource with a specific purpose.
4. Experiment with Hacking Modes
Offensive Mode
Hacking Modes change how Diana’s grid functions and layer powerful bonuses on top of a standard hack. Many players overlook these early on, leaving significant damage on the table.
They unlock at the Shelter after defeating the second boss, the Gigantic Bot at the Mass Production Array. Once they appear, spend time in the Shelter testing each mode before committing to a build.
Best Early Hacking Modes
- Offense Mode: Activates dark blue attack nodes on the grid alongside regular blue nodes. Routing through these deals significantly more damage when the hack connects, making it the most reliable damage-focused mode for early and mid-game.
- Strike Mode: Increases weapon damage on your next successful hack. Ideal if your build leans on gun output over hacking damage, and a strong alternative once you have your Primary Unit firmware well upgraded.
5. Level Firmware Evenly Before Specializing
Firmware Updater
At the Firmware Updater inside the Shelter, you can upgrade three base stats. These upgrades cannot be respecced once spent:
- Suit: Increases Hugh’s total health and defense.
- Primary Unit: Raises the permanent gun’s damage output.
- Hacking: Boosts Diana’s hacking damage and speed.
Because Upgrade Components are scarce in the opening hours, many players dump everything into one stat and hit a wall when enemy damage spikes around Sector 3. The safer approach is to bring all three stats to at least level 4 before committing to a specialization.
6. Sprint for Movement, Save Thrusters for Dodges
Thruster traversal
Hugh’s suit thrusters are among his most valuable combat tools, letting him dodge attacks, reposition quickly, and reach elevated platforms. What many players miss early on is that running costs no thruster energy at all.
Using thrusters to cover flat ground drains your charges right when you need a dodge the most. For anything other than a dodge or vertical movement, sprint on foot and keep thruster energy full.
When you spend Lunafilament (Lim) at the Attachments tab of the Unit Printer, keep this priority order in mind:
- Thrusters first: Your highest-priority Attachment purchase. Maxing Thrusters to level 3 gives you four dodge charges, which directly translates into more chances to survive a firefight.
- Sprint everywhere else: Never burn thruster charges on flat ground travel. Reserve them exclusively for dodges and vertical repositioning.
7. Buy Auto-Hacking and Object Scan First
Auto-Hacking
Two early purchases will reshape your playthrough. Buy both as soon as they appear in the shop:
- Auto-Hacking: Lets Diana handle the hacking grid while you focus entirely on dodging and shooting. It draws from her hacking gauge, so avoid spamming it when building toward Overdrive Protocol. Upgrade it when possible, since higher levels make it nearly instant.
- Object Scan: Cheap, has no upgrade path, and highlights nearby Upgrade Components and REMs through walls. It won’t give a precise map route, but it ensures you never walk past a critical resource cache.
8. Use Confuse and Crowd Control Nodes on Packs
Confuse Hacking Node
Being surrounded by multiple bots in PRAGMATA is punishing, especially when one charges a cannon and another swings in close range at the same time.
The Confuse node solves this by turning a targeted bot into a temporary ally that attacks the rest of the group. Pairing it with Multihack lets you apply both effects across multiple targets at once, a combination widely considered one of the strongest early-game combos in the community.
How to Use the Yellow Nodes
- Save for packs: Only spend Confuse or Multihack on groups of three or more bots, or encounters mixing elites with standard bots.
- Use the Bad Blood Training Simulation: This is the ideal proving ground for the Confuse and Multihack combo before attempting it in a live sector.
- Never waste on weak bots: Spending a yellow node on a single standard robot wastes a limited charge on a problem that clean grid navigation already handles.
9. Explore Every Sector and Collect Cabin Stamps
Cabin’s Stamp Club
PRAGMATA rewards thorough players with meaningful upgrades scattered throughout every sector. Many of the best rooms sit behind holographic walls, smooth panels that blend seamlessly into the environment.
Interact with them to reveal hidden rooms containing Safe Boxes, Upgrade Materials, and Read Earth Memories (REMs). Use Diana’s scan regularly to catch nearby collectibles before moving past them, and keep Object Scan active once it unlocks to overlay resource locations directly on your map.
The two most important collectible types to track down are:
- REMs: Glowing blue collectibles representing Earth objects. Gifting them to Diana at the Shelter earns one Cabin Coin per REM, builds her relationship meter, and physically decorates the hub with holographic items.
- Safe Boxes: Scattered throughout hidden rooms and off the critical path. These contain Upgrade Materials, Lunafilament, and equipment worth looting before progressing to the next sector.
Training Simulations inside the Shelter look optional, but are worth completing early. Rewards include Lunafilament, Upgrade Components, Cabin Coins, and Pure Lunum, all of which feed directly into your firmware and attachment upgrades.
The Cabin Stamp Club
The Cabin Stamp Club (run by the NPC Cabin) becomes available after defeating the first boss and is worth pursuing throughout your run. There are five Stamp Boards total, each unlocked by defeating a sector boss. Spend Cabin Coins to fill out stamps and claim board rewards.
- Freeze: The Triple Bingo reward on the Trainee Board (Board 1). You need to complete three rows on the board to unlock it.
- Drain: The Bingo reward (single row completion) on the Specialist Board (Board 3).
Both are strong hacking nodes worth securing before late-game bosses. Be aware of the exact unlock conditions so you spend Cabin Coins strategically rather than filling stamps at random.
10. Use the Shelter and Pick a Difficulty That Works for You
The Shelter
Returning to the Shelter through Escape Hatches fully heals Hugh, restocks Repair Cartridges, and lets you swap your loadout before heading back into a sector. The trade-off is that all enemies respawn and some puzzles reset, but this is almost always worth it when running on empty.
Since dying brings you back to the Shelter with ammo refreshed anyway, there is rarely a reason to push through a sector on fumes.
Difficulty Settings
PRAGMATA launches with two difficulty options selectable from the very start: Casual and Standard. Both are available when starting a new game, and Casual is a fully valid choice from the beginning, not just an emergency fallback.
If Standard starts generating more frustration than progress, the game offers a mid-playthrough switch to Casual from the game over screen.
This switch is permanent for that save file. Once you move to Casual, you cannot return to Standard on that run. After beating the game once on any difficulty, Lunatic difficulty unlocks for a fresh playthrough (not available in New Game+).
