The Cradle, a massive lunar base that serves as the setting for third-person hacking shooter Pragmata, is a dangerous place to be. It’s crawling with killer robots, often popping up with little warning as you explore its many facilities and passageways. Luckily, there’s the Shelter, a tucked-away location that provides a place where you can build your arsenal, restock, heal up, and take a break.
The Shelter is more than just a place to prepare, though — it’s also where you can build the relationship that develops between protagonist Hugh and Diana, an android in the form of a young girl he discovers in the Cradle. Their bond is Pragmata’s heart, both in its hacking-and-shooting gameplay and in its narrative.
Expanding the Shelter, powering up its facilities, and making it a little homier is a big part of Pragmata’s gameplay. Here’s everything you’ll want to know about your home on the moon.
Upgrade Hugh and Diana at the Firmware Updater
At the center of the Shelter are its two main stations: the Firmware Updater and the Unit Printer. The Firmware Updater is where you can enhance Hugh’s suit and primary weapon, increasing his HP and the damage of his gun. You can also enhance Diana’s hacking abilities so that enemy armor stays open longer on a successful hack. The Firmware Updater makes you stronger overall, so visit it early and often.
Expand and enhance your arsenal at the Unit Printer
The Shelter’s other main station is the Unit Printer, where you can spend all the blue Lunafilament you find as you explore the Cradle. Each time you find a new weapon unit or hacking node, you can then spend Lunafilament to unlock it permanently in the Shelter, which allows you to add it to your loadout whenever you visit. Unlocking weapons and hacking nodes early means if you run up against a tough challenge or boss, you can double back to the Shelter and change your loadout to better fit what you’re facing.
Travel around the Cradle fast
You’ll find and open entrances to the tramway that lead back to the Shelter all over the Cradle. These locations serve as checkpoints where you can heal up and rearm, as well as a means of fast travel — when you open a new entrance, you can use the Tram in the Shelter to return to that spot, or any other that you’ve unlocked. As you gain new abilities that can open up new portions of areas you previously explored, the Tram system becomes invaluable.
Meet Cabin, get bingos
Once you get far enough exploring the Cradle, you’ll gain licenses that expand the Shelter’s capabilities and summon Cabin, a robotic assistant who controls some of those systems. The friendly bot introduces you to the Cabin Stamp Club, where you can trade in Cabin Coins you find around the Cradle to stamp Cabin’s bingo cards. As you fill in the cards and rack up bingos, you’ll unlock new features in the Shelter, upgrades and outfits for Hugh and Diana, and more.
Beat Simulations to earn Cabin Coins
One of the first things you’ll unlock with Cabin is the Simulation Pod, where you can play through simulated challenge levels to earn more Cabin Coins. Each simulation has three challenges, so it’s possible to earn three coins in each one. The Stamp Club hides some significant upgrades, as well as hacking nodes and weapons, so you’ll want to fight through those levels and unlock some big boosts. You can also unlock rare upgrade resources by completed challenges, so don’t miss out.
Unlock more story in the Data Library
Among the rewards you’ll earn from the Stamp Club are secret data files that fill out the hidden side of the Cradle’s story. You can start reading them at the Data Library kiosk that Cabin unlocks after you’ve earned your first file.
Learn about your adversaries in the Bot Database
If you’re looking for more information on the bot enemies you’re facing in the Cradle, you’ll want to check out the Bot Database. You can unlock files on each bot type through the Stamp Club.
Flex your fashion sense at Outfit Storage
The more bingos you rack up on a Stamp Club sheet, the better the rewards. Stamp enough squares on a single sheet and you can unlock new cosmetic outfits for Diana and spacesuits for Hugh. You can change up their looks at the Outfit Storage kiosk.
Spruce up the place with Mini-Cabin collectibles
Hidden throughout the Cradle are miniature statues of Cabin, each with a different, fun look and pose. Shoot them when you find them and you’ll collect them for display in the Shelter. Listen for the Mini-Cabin to call out when you’re near it, and look for them in hard-to-reach, hidden spots.
Build Hugh and Diana’s relationship
While upgrading your gear is important, maybe the most engaging thing you can do in the Shelter is interact with Diana. You can talk to her any time, and she and Hugh will usually chat about recent events they’ve experienced or what their next move is. As you find collectible Read Earth Memories, or REMs, across the Cradle, you can install them in the Shelter to give Diana different toys to play with and to create whole new rooms and scenes for her.
Diana will also sometimes have a question mark or exclamation mark icon over her head, which means she has something new to talk about, and after a while, you can even play hide-and-seek with her. If you engage with Diana enough and on different topics, you’ll make her happy, enhancing her bond with Hugh. As Diana and Hugh’s relationship deepens through their conversations, she’ll even make drawings for Hugh about their different adventures. Spending a little time in the Shelter with Diana does a lot to expand on and deepen the emotional core of Pragmata, and it’s always worth the investment.
Pragmata launches on PS5 April 17.
