Pragmata and Romeo Is a Dead Man Receive Korean Ratings and Tease 2026 Launch

South Korea’s Game Rating and Administration Committee (GRAC) has quietly delivered one of the clearest signals yet that the long wait for two ambitious sci-fi games is nearly over.

Fresh Korean age ratings have appeared for Capcom’s elusive Pragmata and Grasshopper Manufacture’s new title Romeo Is a Dead Man, transforming years of rumours and delays into something far more concrete: these projects are alive, reviewed by regulators, and clearly moving toward release.

The new classifications were first noticed by Japanese outlet Gematsu after they surfaced on social media, and at first glance they might look like routine paperwork. In practice, though, a GRAC rating is often the final checkpoint before a game can be commercially released in South Korea. Publishers usually only submit once their launch plans are firming up, marketing beats are scheduled, and content is locked. For fans who had started to joke that Pragmata was destined to become vaporware, the move is a welcome course correction.

Pragmata has had a particularly winding road. Capcom originally unveiled the game back in June 2020 as part of the early showcase for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, promising a strange and beautiful science-fiction adventure set against the backdrop of a ruined Earth and a mysterious lunar city. The game was initially pencilled in for 2022, but as the scope grew and the team refined its vision, the project was delayed more than once and gradually disappeared from the spotlight, leaving only a haunting teaser trailer and unanswered questions.

That changed this June when Pragmata resurfaced with a much more substantial gameplay reveal. The new trailer highlighted deliberate third-person combat, surreal environmental storytelling and a stronger focus on the relationship between the protagonist Hugh and the young android Diana. A fresh 2026 launch window was announced, and later in the year press were invited to see a longer hands-off demo at Gamescom 2025. There, Capcom showed off battles against rogue machines in zero-gravity arenas, quiet exploration aboard derelict orbital facilities, and a tone that leaned more melancholic and reflective than bombastic.

The publisher also finally addressed one of the stranger fan theories that had clung to the game since its reveal. Some players had convinced themselves Pragmata might secretly be connected to the Mega Man universe due to a few visual similarities and the blue-white colour palette. Capcom used its Gamescom presentations to shut that down outright, stressing that Pragmata is a brand-new intellectual property with its own lore, continuity and thematic focus, separate from any existing series.

GRAC’s rating for Pragmata sets the game at 12 and up, which may surprise observers expecting a more explicitly grim experience. According to the board’s description, the story centres on Hugh and Diana as they join forces to battle hostile AI systems and robotic enemies while trying to find a way back to Earth. Players use firearms and other weapons, but the violence is characterised as moderate and largely directed at mechanical foes rather than human targets. The emphasis, it seems, is on tension, atmosphere and spectacle rather than graphic gore.

Romeo Is a Dead Man sits at the opposite end of the tonal spectrum. Developed by Grasshopper under the creative leadership of Goichi Suda, better known as "Suda51", the game leans into the director’s trademark love of stylised ultraviolence, abrasive humour and unapologetically strange concepts. At Gamescom 2025, Suda described the project as a wild, time-hopping action adventure that fuses crime thriller, grindhouse cinema and science fiction into one loud, deliberately shocking package.

GRAC’s report backs that description up in no uncertain terms. Romeo Is a Dead Man has been deemed unsuitable for minors, citing frequent, intense violence, large amounts of blood, unsettling creature designs and dialogue packed with coarse language. Players step into the role of Romeo Stargazer, an FBI space-time special agent classified as a Deadman, whose job is to hunt dangerous criminals exploiting time paradoxes to jump between eras. Chases through warped versions of historical periods, confrontations with twisted monsters and a constantly shifting visual style are all highlighted as sources of fear, disgust and excitement.

For long-time fans of Suda51’s work on games like Killer7 and the No More Heroes series, that combination of over-the-top brutality, dark comedy and meta-commentary will feel immediately familiar. Romeo Is a Dead Man looks poised to join those titles as another cult-oriented experience that some players will adore and others will find completely baffling, which is very much in line with the studio’s philosophy.

What really turns these ratings into news, however, is their timing. GRAC tends to review high-profile games relatively close to release. Earlier this year, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach received its Korean rating only a few months before launch, and Beyond Good and Evil Anniversary Edition followed a similar pattern back in 2024. Taken together, those precedents strongly suggest that Pragmata and Romeo Is a Dead Man are now entering the final stretch of their development and marketing cycles.

All signs point to the first half of 2026 as the likely landing zone. Slotting Pragmata there would allow Capcom to spread its big releases across the year. Resident Evil Requiem is already dated for 27 February 2026, giving horror fans a major early-year release. Pragmata could occupy a mid-year window as the publisher’s prestige sci-fi adventure, while Onimusha: Way of the Sword is widely expected to arrive later in 2026 to satisfy players hungry for stylish samurai action. It is an unusually crowded calendar that underscores how aggressively Capcom plans to compete for attention.

Romeo Is a Dead Man, meanwhile, brings a very different flavour to the broader 2026 landscape. Where Pragmata appears introspective and melancholic, Grasshopper’s title looks loud, bloody and theatrical, the kind of game that feels more like an interactive midnight movie than a safe blockbuster. Its adult-only rating and unapologetically weird premise almost guarantee it will not be for everyone, but for players who crave something offbeat and experimental, it could become one of the year’s most talked-about releases.

The next obvious milestone on the horizon is The Game Awards, which has increasingly become the preferred stage for major release-date reveals and extended gameplay trailers. With Korean ratings now locked in and publisher schedules beginning to crystallise, the show is an ideal venue for Capcom and Grasshopper to finally announce exact launch dates and share deeper looks at both titles. Even without those confirmations, though, one thing is clear: after years of delays, rumours and speculation, Pragmata and Romeo Is a Dead Man are no longer distant dreams but tangible releases now firmly on the 2026 radar.