“But for Hugh in Pragmata, that’s not the case at all. It’s something that we had talked about while we were recording—they just made it very clear to me that this is a regular guy who is really good at his job, and he’s there to fix situations when things go bad,” he continued. “He’s a worker and a regular guy who likes to be at home, he has a dog that he misses, and I think that when people started playing it, they likely felt that he seemed quite simple as a character. But I like the fact that he’s just a good guy, that there was no malice there [with his character or his drive]. Like no one has been ‘fridged,’ and he feels terrible about his team being killed off. But he has a goal: to communicate with Earth and get home. But then that evolves once Diana is introduced and becomes his partner in that journey. At that point, he often asks her, ‘What do you want? Ok, you want to go to Earth with me? Sure. Let’s go, and then we’ll deal with the consequences later.’”
In many ways, Menkin’s view of Pragmata‘s optimistic storytelling and the bond between its two leads align with the game’s overall theme: try your best and be responsible with the time you have. It offered an unexpectedly poignant message for a Capcom-style puzzle-combat shooter, but, according to Menkin, the overall theme carried through the game thanks to the dev team.
“I was born in ‘77, so I’m Gen X, but I grew up with the beginnings of CDs and DVDs, then the internet, and stuff like that. My generation was big on making things, and I guess I’m part of the “West Wing” generation, where if you do good things and try to help other people, good things will happen. I understand that people growing up at this moment might not feel the same way, but with this game, I think the team purposely didn’t let me know much about themselves or how much they put into it. I think there were a couple of dads, some moms, some uncles, and some aunts who made this game at Capcom. I have a feeling that it’s a game made by grown-ups.”