This is very cool

Source - https://x.com/i/status/2073943948410929315

I thought it would be a chore and not fun to start a fresh LUNATIC game, BUT I’m finding it way more enjoyable because I’m just running through without slowly searching everywhere.

It’s actually going by faster than I thought and the enemies just hit harder so i just mod for more life and try not to get hit at all. It’s so rewarding on this difficulty even though I’ve already done it. I highly recommend!

It’s basically a speed run and testing your dodge skills. Loving it!

Just beat the game. Tbh I knew Hugh wasn’t going to make it to earth, but shit that still broke my heart.

God damn it 🥲

I’ve been able to breeze through most of the game but I am really struggling here.

There are 3 stages and i am finding it impossible right now. Movement feels very slow so taking big damage when hit, don’t have enough time to hack before getting hit.

Can anyone give me some tips, did anyone else find this more difficult in relation to everything that came before it.

Thanks

The Art, The Artist and the place of inspiration

I know I´m close to the end, do you recommend me getting some tissues for the end?

Saw this on the bbc news site today and instantly made me think of the ending.

If you have used laptop drive, you can make one by buying transparent hard drive enclosure and then print the artwork like cover and backcover to put inside the enclosure. As for design, I use chatgpt to recreate old PS2 backcover.

Interviewing the man behind Hugh Williams was really fun! He discusses how he envisioned Hugh, brought him to life, and what he thought about the relationship between Hugh and Diana. The full interview from April 2026 is below, and I have added the published URL link in the comment

While Pragmata was first announced in 2020, the game faced quite a few delays. When did you join the project and did the delays impact you?

David: I joined in 2024. I vaguely remember having seen the famous ‘sorry’ trailer, so something made me look back through the history of the game as soon as I knew what we were working on. I got so excited! But the delays didn’t impact me at all; Hugh and Diana’s relationship was always first on our minds during my sessions.

What is your favorite moment playing Hugh in the entire story?

David: I have so many. But there’s this one moment when I knew that the team trusted me: In the New York section, a massive ‘creature’ lands in front of us, and Hugh runs for cover while Diana hacks a keypad to close a door behind them. I said that heroes always run away in a butch, controlled way, while a real person would freak out! So, I asked if I could infuse some panic into my escape…and they said YES. I was SO pleased when the moment made it into one of the trailers!

Were you aware of the game’s ending when you started capturing for Pragmata? What did you think of the ending and Hugh’s fate?

David: SPOILER ALERT! My fate became clear after a few months on the project, and as far as I’m concerned, it made sense - you don’t become space dad without being willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.

You have a storied list of characters that you have voiced in video games over the years. Did you draw inspiration from any of them to bring Hugh to life?

David: I play a lot of villains and loudmouths, so Hugh brought new challenges: how do you make the ‘everyman’ interesting while also letting the player feel like they are ‘him’? So, I pulled from Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling, mainly.

Actually, now that you mention it, Preston Marlowe from Battlefield Bad Company is one of those everyman heroes, but he was the first major games character I ever played. I should go back and listen to him and see if he and Hugh are similar!

Piggybacking on the previous question, where will you rank Hugh among the list of video game characters you have portrayed?

David: Oh, Hugh is up there with Malos, Luke, Barnabas, and Preston! But there’s no way I’m going to rank my babies.

What did you think about Hugh and Diana’s relationship? What would you hope players feel from the bond between the two?

David: In games, it’s almost expected that complicated characters should have complicated relationships, but Hugh and Diana genuinely care about each other, full stop. There’s no front to tear down, nothing hidden beneath the surface…just trust.

Their bond was clear from our first table read, so I hope that comes across to the players. And that it resonates in some way.

In bringing Hugh to life, you had to showcase the anguish of someone who lost his comrades, the frustration of being trapped in the place, and the acceptance of the final sacrifice, while also tempering all of that as Hugh has to communicate with Diana, who is unaware and a child. How was that experience, and how did you prepare for it?

David: I don’t have kids of my own, but I do have a mug with the honour ‘Best Uncle in the World’ in my kitchen cupboard. I have answered practical, difficult, and existential questions around the dinner table for over twenty years, and that certainly informed Hugh’s way of dealing with Diana’s big and small queries.

I’ve also experienced loss in big, small, painful, embarrassing, and educational ways. But, to tell you the truth, my performance is thanks to the narrative team at Capcom, as well as the performance directors Holly Reddaway and Frances Effie Loy. They helped me dig deep and find the truth in every moment.

In addition to being the main protagonist of Pragmata, this is far from your first experience in gaming voice acting. You were also Barnabas Tharmr, one of the primary antagonists for Final Fantasy XVI and Malos from Xenoblade Chronicles 2. As an actor, how does your approach change between being a villain and a hero?

David: Man, I love a villain! Barnabas and Malos were always right, always sure of themselves, always resolute. Hugh..? Not so much. But he has hope! And hope is what keeps a hero going, despite everything that gets thrown their way. Also, villains don’t need to grow, while a hero will die if they don’t evolve.

But at its core, my job as an actor is to make the character feel rounded and real, no matter how fantastical they may be. What makes them tick? What makes them happy, sad, angry, frustrated, etc? Those questions can be posed to any hero, any villain.

What will your advice be to someone who is trying to crack into the voice acting role in the video game industry, especially in the current turbulent times?

David: Don’t worry about getting the best equipment! Start by looking at YouTube videos about setting up a home studio, so you can create a quiet space to record. Look at USB mics that won’t break the bank, something you can use for work and for gaming online with your friends. Borrow someone’s gaming mic for a few days if you don’t have the cash. Practice, practice, practice.

Be brave, be humble, get out of your comfort zone, forget that the word ‘cringe’ exists. Find out what’s expected of voice actors and get used to all the terms we use (barks, emotes, etc.). Do some research and find online groups, so you can learn and practice with like-minded people. And if you really, really like it, you can consider paying a professional for some training. There are a lot of people out there who prey on those who want to learn, so research, research, research, and ask others for their opinions.

If you finally decide to do this for a living, be prepared to hear the word ‘no’ a lot. And sometimes, all you’ll hear is silence. But that won’t matter, because you love it. And when you do your first professional job, please send me a DM so I know I didn’t yell just this into an empty void.

Any light you can shed on what you are working on next?

David: I’m in Hellraiser: Revival and I can’t say much, but know that our sessions in the studio were intense! I’ll be turning up on your TV and cinema screens in a few things soon, including Pawel Pawlikowski’s ‘Fatherland’. Everything else is secret. Exciting, but secret. So, watch this space!

If you are a lover of space exploration, movies, and video games, the past month or so has been one of the most exciting times in recent history for us. Humanity once again reached the moon (even if not setting foot on it this time) with the Artemis II mission. Project Hail Mary showed space, an unlikely friendship, and the many facets of humanity. And, finally, Pragmata put you on the moon, allowed you to strike a beautiful bond with an android, navigate the far reaches of scientific advancement, and be nostalgic about life on Earth.

That two of these are fictional products and only had real-life stakes and goals is not lost on me. And thus, in the article, I will speak more on the similarities and cultural relevancies of the movie and the video, while harking back to certain public segments of the Artemis II mission.

But all three show humanity's deep interest and love towards all things space, alien, and Earth. And, once you pick on these connecting lines, you realise why Project Hail Mary and Pragmata have become such major hits, and why NASA's Artemis II launch video has more than two million views on YouTube.

Project Hail Mary and Pragmata show humanity's deep interest in space and what it possibly means to be human

Before I dive into exploring the themes of the movie and the game, let's do a quick recap. The Artemis II mission was the first crewed lunar mission in over 50 years, taking place between April 1 and April 11, 2026. It flew around the moon and also set the record for the farthest humans have been from Earth.

\"Inside Project Hail Mary\" (Image via NASA/Dan Goods)

The Project Hail Mary movie is based on Andy Weir's book of the same name, where a school teacher/biologist and an alien that he names "Rocky" do science to save their respective planets. Finally, Pragmata pits a dual hacking-and-shooting combat mechanic with the human Hugh doing the shooting part while the child-like android Diana covers the hacking part. All that happens in a Lunar Research Base with no living humans left and a rampaging AI controlling everything.

I acknowledge these are very truncated gists, but they should be enough to start us on this discussion.

Only when you go far do you understand the near

There is a childish poignancy in this sentiment: that you have to go far away from something to start appreciating what it was, with a sense of nostos, or longing for a return, pervading that thought process. For any journey into space, this return is not even guaranteed. A million different things can go wrong. All of it makes this look back from afar more potent.

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Looking at Earth in Pragmata (Image via SK Gaming || Capcom)

One of the most loved pictures from the Artemis II mission is of a crew member looking through a windowpane at Earth, Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot shining in all its might and glory. Sitting on Earth, we only seem to see cities, borders, countries, and every bit of the micro that govern and dictate our everyday life (as we should to survive). But, once in a while, stepping back and looking at it from the macro perspective allows us to see what it all really is: a giant sphere of rock and water amidst other chunks of rock and different matter suspended in a sea of nothingness.

REMs in Pragmata (Image via SK Gaming || Capcom)

Project Hail Mary's projection room (Image via YouTube/Amazon MGM Studios)

The familiarity and longing are created in Project Hail Mary and Pragmata through the means of recorded videos and holographic memories. In the former, this is a spherical projection room where Grace, the teacher/biologist, and Rocky, the spider-like, five-legged, alien from the planet Erid, would sit and watch various videos of Earth. In the latter, you collect Read Earth Memories (REMs) that can be given to Diana and printed in the Shelter, where Diana will interact with those with awe and curiosity.

Both these recorded videos and holo memories focus on Earth's natural wonders and the everyday lives of humans. There is an irony prevalent here: when we create pocket memories of humanity and Earth, we focus on the mundane everyday joy and natural wonders, whereas a large portion of our very short history on this planet has been filled with and driven by greed and violence. Voyager 1's Golden Record is a prime example of the same.

In Project Hail Mary, we are looking at the beach, the ocean, and the fireworks. In Pragmata's REMs feature everything from a child's perspective: a child's playroom, a child's tent in the forest, and a child's sandcastle at the beach. The game's Lunar Research Station scientists print these holo memories and more to try to satisfy the longing they feel for the familiarity of Earth.

https://preview.redd.it/l3vpoc3u19bh1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=afacfe92e522d64b28e900b9bc830468dc115bd0

Hugh and Diana (Image via SK Gaming || Capcom)

The distance from Earth has evoked within both Grace and the humans of Pragmata the lack in their surroundings of what made Earth feel home. And both try to recreate it in their space to the best of their abilities. In Pragmata, one of the scientists created a 1:1 copy of how they remember their father's study room to be, kept it hidden from others, and stayed in their reminiscing about what their relationship was like.

While all these are designed to satisfy the needs of the in-media characters, we all know that they are meant to evoke feelings within the viewer and the consumer. But the clever trick here is the lens through which you are meant to watch this. In Project Hail Mary, you see it through Grace's longing for home and Rocky's curiosity about what humans are like. In Pragmata, you see it through scientists that misses home and Diana, who is completely unaware of what human habits and Earth are like.

This lens allows you to create enough separation between the product and the viewers to ensure that the message does not come off as merely preachy. The developers can bring out the same kind of curiosity you had upon seeing the sea for the first time or feeling the sands underneath your feet through Diana and Rocky: the phenomenology of experiencing.

You are neither told nor forced to remember. Instead, you relate to these two as they figure out those scenarios, as you have done earlier in your life.

Diana and Rocky: Is curiosity always childish?

Diana is an android created for the sole purpose of experimentation. She is modelled to like the creator's, Dr. Higgins's, child, Daisy, who was dying. Dr. Higgins wished to experiment with various compounds on Diana to figure out a cure for Daisy. Once the android did not serve her purpose, he chose to wipe her memory and shelve her.

Diana in Pragmata (Image via SK Gaming || Capcom)

ocky, an Eridian (Image via YouTube/Amazon MGM Studios)

Rocky is an Eridian that Grace meets as he approaches the Tau Ceti star. Both Grace and Rocky's solar systems are infected by an organism called the Astrophage, which is slowly eating these systems' stars. Rocky and Grace were tasked by their respective planets to hopefully find a cure and get back in time to save them.

By the time Grace meets Rocky, the latter has been stranded alone in the Tau Cenati system for 46 years, having watched his fellow crew members die inexplicably. They decide to cooperate to find something to kill Astrophage so that they can go back and save their planets.

When Hugh meets Diana, the latter is busy saving the former after a severe lunarquake had left Hugh badly damaged. Diana then proceeds to help Hugh take down an aggressive robot by hacking and exposings it weak points. From thereon, she spends most of the in-game time on Hugh's back, helping him hack robots, doors, and the like.

Diana and Rocky are both seen as child-like characters, although the explicit reasons are different in each case. One looks and acts like a human child, while the other is significantly older than the human he is in contact with, but acts in certain cases just as a human child would. Furthermore, both are given names by their human counterparts, even though they do have their own names.

Rocky and Grace in the latter's ship (Image via YouTube/Amazon MGM Studios)

In the endearing scene where Rocky moves into Grace's ship and decides to set up shop there. Rocky is able to see through walls, has super hearing, and no sense of boundaries. As Grace remarks, personal space is at a "premium". The scene shows Grace stopping Rocky and talking about the need for boundaries. The latter pauses for a second before barrelling off to find the bedroom.

Hugh and Diana (Image via SK Gaming || Capcom)

Diana is in a state of ever-awe as she finds out about what humans do in their everyday lives and the natural beauty of the flora and fauna of Earth. In one of these moments, Hugh tells Diana of the habit of sitting together and eating. Diana remarks that humans must have terrible energy management if they need to sit and eat so many times during the day. Hugh tells her to look not only at the act of consuming food but also at the communal habit of sitting together and telling each other stories over food.

Project Hail Mary and Pragmata’s depiction of curiosity through Diana and Rocky also makes me wonder whether curiosity (and the excitement that comes through figuring out something you are curious about) is always inherently child-like. When I was in China in January 2026 for work, I visited a bookstore in Hangzhou, where I was excitedly stamping postcards I bought with unique art stamps. One of my colleagues there noticed me doing that and remarked how excited and happy I looked at this simple, almost mundane act: a childish wonder. For me, it was searching for and finding these souvenirs that I could create with my own hands.

Curiosity is probably always on the side of being child-like because of what we, as adults, have defined child-like to be. If you keep asking why, if you keep tinkering with things, if you push back against the decorum and etiquette of a system that you do not understand, and if you are gleefully happy when you come across something new, even though wonderfully mundane, the adult world is quick to point at the childishness pulsating in your nature. Yet, evolution in any discipline would not happen without the petulant, refusing-to-accpet-a-non-answer-to-why, badgering curiosity.

Diana's paintings (Image via SK Gaming || Capcom)

A gift from Grace to Rocky (Image via YouTube/Amazon MGM Studios)

Now, we know that such a curiosity cannot be sustained or nurtured once you cross into the adult world. You are no longer a child and thus cannot be afforded the same semblance of patience anymore. And, thus, when we see characters like Diana and Rocky in the media we consume, we live through them the potentials of child-like curiosity, discovery, and wonder that we once had and have now stifled (like a glorious campfire snuffed out the next morning).

Diana and Rocky are aliens. One is an android made to look like a human child. The other is a creature from another planet. Seeing a human adult act in this exact way would not have had the same impact. But while the distance in the lens is necessary, you need to relate to it, too. Pragmata and Project Hail Mary anthropomorphise them to make them relatable, but they do so in a way that brings out a motley mixture of feelings in the viewers.

The beach

Pragmata's beach (Image via SK Gaming || Capcom)

The beach and the sea play an important role in both Project Hail Mary and Pragmata. In the movie, Grace showed Rocky a video of the beach and the sea, asking Rocky to imagine the waves on its feet. At the end, Rocky and the Eridians built Grace a simulated Earth setting on their planet: a beach, a sea, and a house. Rocky would come visit Grace every day, with one of the scenes in the movie being of them sitting at the beach and looking at the sea. Rocky mentioned that Eridians were ready to stock Grace’s ship for his journey back to Earth. Grace replied that he would like to think about it for some time. Grace asked him to think for a long time.

Diana (Image via SK Gaming || Capcom)

In Pragmata, Diana and Hugh came across the beach and the sea against the setting sun in the Terra Dome. Hugh told Diana about his experiences at the beach back on Earth and his house that had a view of the sea. Diana finally claimed that she wished to go back to Earth with him. The final words Hugh told Diana before the latter left for Earth were to “go find the sea”. The post-credits scene showed Diana walking on the beach against a setting sun on Earth alone. But why the beach?

Hugh's last words to Diana (Image via SK Gaming || Capcom)

A beach is probably the only time humans can see the horizon unimpeded by any structure. It is a place of chaos and leisure, where the static land meets the ever-moving sea, where you get to see the day end and begin. It is cyclical in its approach: one wave comes, and then it goes, and then another comes, and then it goes. The cycle continues, never to stop nor to end.

The beach as a liminal space is not only a reflection of human knowledge and its experiences but also that of outer space (as I had cheekily called it earlier, “sea of nothingness). The static beach is all we know: resolute and firm. The sea is what we do not know, what we cannot contain, what we wish to master, and forever struggle to fully do so. The unknown repeatedly pervades the known, and we sit at this border to make sense of it, often, knowingly, in vain.

But leaving the philosophy aside (if such a travesty was ever really possible), consider what the beach means in a familial setting: people going and having a beach day, building sandcastles, bathing in the sea, basking in the sun, and listening to the waves roar and crash. The beach allows you a taste of the untameable immenseness of the sea in a format that you can approach and enjoy. The sea embodies the terrifying, imposing facets of nature itself, just like space.

And this is where both Project Hail Mary and Pragmata choose to return, and decidedly so. The beach is the familial setting for the meeting between the human and the alien character. One where they potentially feel the sand beneath their feet and the waves crashing against their skin, and watch the sun set or rise.

Humanity, memory, and sacrifice

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One of the most poignant moments of the Artemis II mission was when those aboard the ship decided to name a newly discovered lunar crater after mission Commander Reid Wiseman's late wife. After the message, the crew is seen to be hugging each other (if you have not yet watched the video, I do implore you to do so). One of the many Instagram posts that appeared afterwards wrote:

>"Today, four humans traveled farther from Earth than ever before in history... And the first thing they did was cry over a woman they loved."

You can almost hear Brand's philosophically-laden proclamation of love being the one thing that humans are capable of perceiving "that transcends dimensions of time and space" from Interstellar (2014) (I could not really talk so much about space and human bonds without having at least one mention of this movie). My monologue is not focused on love, per se, but rather that the farther we seem to go, one of the only things that ring true are the bonds that living beings share with each other.

Pragmata focuses on the relationship between Hugh and Diana (Image via SK Gaming || Capcom)

\"Fist my bump\" (Image via YouTube/Amazon MGM Studios)

Grace and Rocky's and Hugh and Diana's bonds are the cynosure of their respective media products. Neither Project Hail Mary nor Pragmata would be what they are if the creators had not put together these relationships filled to the brim with love, care, pathos, and all sorts of other messy nuances that make human relationships what they are.

Rocky chose to sacrifice six years so that Grace could go back to Earth, when the latter had no fuel for the return trip and would have died after they discovered how to defeat the Astrophage. Grace sacrificed his return to Earth to go back and save Rocky, who he knew would be alone, stranded, and dying a slow, painful death.

Diana chose to sacrifice herself, coming in between a Dead Lunafilament spike hurled at Hugh, and almost died for it. Hugh sacrificed himself and his chance to return to Earth as he was already infected by Dead Lunafilament and, instead, ensured that Diana got to go back and experience the moments they talked about.

Rocky and Grace championed the notion of friendship. One would sacrifice for the other without any thought or worry. Hugh and Diana embodied the relationship of a father and a daughter. The parent would do anything to ensure the child survives ("Once you're a parent, you're the ghost of your children's future," as Cooper aptly puts it in Interstellar).

At a time when the whole world seems to be in one major turmoil or another, it takes humanity to put humans out into space far from Earth to remind us what we have on this planet and with each other (be it with what we saw in the Artemis II mission or the fictional stories of Project Hail Mary and Pragmata). Both the movie and the game pit humans in front of great knowledge and scientific advancements, but also show them carefully, painstakingly weaving the memories they have of Earth and longing for their companionship.

Hugh at the end in Pragmata (Image via SK Gaming || Capcom)

Project Hail Mary (Image via YouTube/Amazon MGM Studios)

It is important to take note when these stories come to be, of what they tell, where they tell, and how they tell. Be it fictional in books, movies, and video games or through actual struggles and perseverance of humans in real life, the mundane, the emotions, and the feelings must not be overlooked or brushed off. In the immortal words of Mr. Keating:

>"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for." - Dead Poets Society (1989).

To sum up this over 3000-word-long monologue, do watch Project Hail Mary and play Pragmata as soon as you possibly can, especially if you love space and human relationships.

A) I can't get the timing down, but I understand that's on me. Git gud and all.

B) How much damage should I be doing with it? Do I need to use it for the killing blow to generate surplus lim? Or does it generate surplus lim anytime I get a fully charged perfect hit? If I'm going into a boss fight, what is a recommended amount of lim for me to have?

I'm at the second boss on Lunatic and it wasn't at all fun getting there and it's not at all fun dying over and over on him. I'm about at the point where I quit but I keep seeing people say the lim cannon trivializes bosses, so it seems like my last hope at a platinum. I never give up completely but I might with this one.

I got attached to the characters and had a blast playing Pragmata, finishing it during my annual leave. After wrapping up the secret mission, I was hoping for a real ending, but I was still left heartbroken when Diana departed away and Hugh drifted away. Fingers crossed for an amazing sequel down the line.

Hopefully I have time to do Lunatic Mode to complete entire game. 🔥

I love this game so much and I have 200+ hours on it. Despite its sad ending, I’m addicted to its beauty. I don’t mean to sound like those demanding gamers that immediately expect a sequel, but I have been imagining what the story would be like.

1: Each chapter would alternate between Hugh and Diana’s perspective, with Hugh trying to heal himself and find contact with Diana, while Diana’s chapters would be about trying to sustain herself on earth while trying to contact Hugh.

2: Mostly Diana centered, where she searches for the factory that originally came up with PRAGMATA to find out if there are any others like her. Perhaps during her time in the vault, Earth had created prototypes of more advanced PRAGMATA that she would have to face.

3: Mostly Hugh centered, originally starting out on the moon where he has to make his way through the ruins to heal himself, and then make his way to Earth in a hidden emergency ship. On Earth, he tries to find Diana while hiding from very powerful officials that want to keep what happened on the moon under wraps.

4: A prequel about Daisy and the original creation of PRAGMATA. (Not sure what enemies would be here, maybe prototypes of other bots?)

Let me know what you think of these and comment any ideas you have

I have completed the rite of passage to join this fandom, now I can join online discussions about the game without the fear of getting spoiled. Also, can anyone tell me if playing through Unknown Signal is worth doing? I’m worried it would be too difficult for me since I can’t even beat training levels 23, 28, 29, and 30.

As I got near the end of the game, I was a little annoyed. It was made clear after the first hostile encounter with Eight, that Hugh wasn't going to Earth with Diana, not just the death part, but he was also a walking biohazard (which by the way, I still can't figure out how Diana couldn't extract the dead filament, sure it did damage, but it could have stopped the spread).

That said, despite knowing the ending, how the hell did this game make me almost cry? Right at the start of the credits, and even more right at the end of them, I almost broke out in tears.

Even more, I am stumped, because I kept feeling small moments of emotional joy an connection sure, but that was broken up by multiple days of play, events of frustrating during training sims, my logical brain trying to guess the ending and annoyed with some of the story line, etc.

Yet some how, almost subconsciously, it all came rushing back, and I have no clue how. This is going to sound deep, but ... is this an emotion I haven't gotten to experience much? For over 30 years?