Razer’s new haptic gaming cushion is, nicely, attention-grabbing. It is referred to as the Razer Freya and it is a fairly self-explanatory machine: you load it onto your chair, plug it in, and the six padded areas, every with a motor embedded inside it, begin a-rumblin’ in time with in-game actions, sounds, or music. The concept is, with haptic suggestions vibrating down your again and bottom, you will be extra engrossed in your recreation.
It is definitely an thought—one which just a few haptic corporations have been pushing for some time now. There are haptic vests, haptic chairs (together with one from Razer), haptic chair equipment, however by no means, as Razer tells me forward of Freya’s launch, a cushion.
I attempted the haptic gaming cushion out forward of its announcement over at Razercon simply now. Loaded right into a Razer gaming chair with the cushion hooked up (it is held on with a few adjustable straps and may work with most chairs) I sit again sufficient to get the total pressure of the machine. I watch our long-standing Razer PR sadistically flip up the vibration pressure to most rumble within the new Razer Synapse 4 app and cargo up Last Fantasy XVI.
Last Fantasy is without doubt one of the video games that helps the haptic cushion natively, which means the builders have particularly coded assist into the sport and tied to sure actions. Hogwarts Legacy was additionally talked about as having assist baked into the sport, as will Silent Hill and Snowrunner. I am instructed assist for future video games can be made straightforward by a Unreal Engine 5 plugin. Although that is nonetheless counting on builders to assist the factor, even when it is as straightforward as ticking a field in UE5.
If particular assist for Freya would not occur for a specific recreation you play a variety of, the haptics may also be set to reply to in-game sounds as a substitute.
However again to my rump-shaking expertise. With Last Fantasy loaded up, I used to be able to kick butt and get my butt kicked in return. Tapping furiously on the offered keyboard and mercilessly murdering giant lobster-looking creatures with one fell swoop of my magic fingers (I do not play Last Fantasy, are you able to inform) I used to be getting correctly rumbled.
Totally different actions trigger completely different pads to shake. Flinging your sword into the air will see the pads have interaction close to the highest of the cushion, and as you come slicing down the decrease pads have interaction. There was no discernable lag from my actions in-game into the cushion as I attempted it out, although after some time of ferocious button mashing I grew to become barely numbed to the intricate haptic particulars.
As a eager enjoyer of sim racing, and as somebody who’s tried most of the finest racing wheels for PC personally for evaluation, you’d assume I might be throughout this form of haptic suggestions off the observe. And but I am actually solely excited about methods it might be integrated right into a sim racing setup. Connect this right into a Playseat or comparable, crank up the pressure suggestions on the wheel, and also you’re a extra immersive simulator expertise with out spending the tens of hundreds of {dollars} normally required for a full-motion rig (a few of which supply some form of seat-based suggestions, by the best way).
I am not saying it is near a mega sim-racing rig with all of the actuators, however it’s greater than a stiff-seat degree of immersion.
But past the sim racing setup, I am not so positive. Possibly I might want longer with it than a fleeting Last Fantasy expertise to grasp the total attraction—possibly a horror recreation could be enjoyable—or I am simply not the audience. However I did not stroll away feeling like I might need to pay the $300 payment to really feel the feeling once more.
Even set to music mode and when listening to Chase & Standing and Stormzy’s bass-pumping observe Spine, it did not hit the precise spots for me. I even had Razer’s new haptic headset on, the Razer Kraken V4 Professional, however it felt like being a bit too near the speaker on an evening out. And I am normally a little bit of a bass-head. Removed from a nasty expertise, I am simply not offered on the worth proposition, particularly when the headset alone prices $400.
If you happen to’re extra frivolous or that sim racing setup does sound like one thing you would be fascinated with, the Razer Freya is accessible immediately from the Razer retailer.