There\u2019s been many \u201cdad games\u201d in recent years, namely video games that focus on the experience of fatherhood. Most of them, like The Last of Us<\/em> or the God of War reboots, feature gruff, older men with beards doling out tough love to their kid companions as they learn to embrace their roles as dads. Capcom\u2019s new third-person shooter Pragmata<\/em> goes in the opposite direction. Astronaut Hugh almost immediately bonds with the childlike android Diana when he finds her on an abandoned moon base and gradually becomes her surrogate father over the course of the game. Hugh doesn\u2019t clash with Diana like Kratos and Atreus do, but uplifts and encourages her.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>\n <\/p>\n David Menkin, the voice of Hugh, is all for it. \u201cI’m proud to call myself space dad,\u201d Menkin told Polygon over a video call. \u201cI think that’s an honor.\u201d<\/p>\n Hugh and Diana spend the entire game together, whether they\u2019re destroying robots with Diana on Hugh\u2019s back or playing hide and seek at their shelter. Their relationship is the undisputed emotional core of the game and helps make Pragmata<\/em> a kinder \u201cdad game\u201d than its genre counterparts.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only way that Hugh can relate to Diana is to see the child in her. She is unique, but she is a child and she is learning things,\u201d Menkin said. \u201cEverything that he does is there to support her because she is supporting him. She\u2019s keeping him alive.\u201d<\/p>\n Though he\u2019s not a father himself, Menkin is \u201cthe world’s best uncle.\u201d He calls himself lucky for being part of \u201cquite a few people’s lives from the very beginning to seeing them grow to adults,\u201d and he\u2019s channeled that experience into his role as Hugh. Menkin said he\u2019s had \u201cso many frustrating conversations around a dinner table with kids, with teenagers, and with adults\u201d about the state of the world. \u201cThe interesting thing is that I learn more from the frustrating conversations when I have them with younger people.\u201d<\/p>\n He admires how younger people think, and how creative they can be. \u201cThat’s this amazing thing that kids have brought to my life where they have made me think differently. And that’s something that I brought into [the role],\u201d Menkin said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I will not give any of my nephews credit for any of this. I hope that is clear.\u201d<\/p>\n As much as Pragmata<\/em> is a \u201cdad game,\u201d it\u2019s also an \u201cadoption game.\u201d In a way, Hugh adopts Diana just like how he was adopted himself, something that informed Menkin\u2019s approach to the character. \u201c[Early on] it was made very clear to me that Hugh was an orphan and that some adults who owed him nothing took him in and loved him and let him be exactly who he wanted to be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Knowing that, Menkin had \u201cthe green light\u201d to \u201cmake Hugh realize that he has no choice but to trust this android. […] Part of his survival mechanism is to teach her, trust her, and help her understand the environment around her.”<\/p>\n \u201cBecause he went all in, so did I,\u201d Menkin said.<\/p>\n One moment where Hugh lays his heart bare occurs at an artificial beach, which Menkin called the most emotional to record. Hugh and Diana arrive at an area of the moon base that\u2019s constructed to look like a sandy beach. The sun sets as holographic water laps at their feet, and Hugh tells Diana about his house on the coast. She then decides she wants to go to Earth and see the beach for herself \u2014 the real<\/em> beach.<\/p>\n Menkin said that sometimes, for these hard-hitting moments, he\u2019ll suggest alternate takes or ask to try lines different ways as his personal experience informs his approach. Though the beach scene didn\u2019t take much tinkering. Menkin praised the writers behind Pragmata<\/em> for crafting that emotional moment, and he\u2019s just grateful to have gotten the chance to do those words justice.<\/p>\n \u201c[The narrative team members] haven’t told me anything about their lives. I stand there in front of a microphone and sort of tell them why I’m pulling these things,\u201d he said. \u201cHere are these people that just delivered something beautiful to me, and then I have no idea [how]. I hope that I get to take them for very alcoholic drinks at some point, if they’ll accept, so I can learn more about what made them write this beautiful story.\u201d<\/p>\n ![\"Astronaut](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/pragmata-hugh-and-diana-7.jpeg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2\")
\n <\/picture>Image: Capcom via Polygon<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"Astronaut](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/pragmata-hugh-and-diana-4.jpeg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2\")
\n <\/picture>Image: Capcom via Polygon<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"pragmata](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/pragmata-run.png?q=49&fit=crop&w=140&h=98&dpr=2\"\/)
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