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 thought is, with haptic suggestions vibrating down your again and bottom, you will be extra engrossed in your sport.
It is actually an concept—one which a number of haptic firms 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 connected (it is held on with a few adjustable straps and may work with most chairs) I sit again sufficient to get the total power of the machine. I watch our long-standing Razer PR sadistically flip up the vibration power to most rumble within the new Razer Synapse 4 app and cargo up Closing Fantasy XVI.
Closing Fantasy is likely one of the video games that helps the haptic cushion natively, which means the builders have particularly coded help into the sport and tied to sure actions. Hogwarts Legacy was additionally talked about as having help baked into the sport, as will Silent Hill and Snowrunner. I am advised help for future video games might be made straightforward by a Unreal Engine 5 plugin. Although that is nonetheless counting on builders to help the factor, even when it is as straightforward as ticking a field in UE5.
If particular help for Freya would not occur for a specific sport you play numerous, the haptics will also be set to reply to in-game sounds as an alternative.
However again to my rump-shaking expertise. With Closing Fantasy loaded up, I used to be able to kick butt and get my butt kicked in return. Tapping furiously on the supplied keyboard and mercilessly murdering massive lobster-looking creatures with one fell swoop of my magic fingers (I do not play Closing Fantasy, are you able to inform) I used to be getting correctly rumbled.
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Completely 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 assessment, you’d suppose I would be throughout this type of haptic suggestions off the monitor. And but I am actually solely fascinated by methods it could possibly be integrated right into a sim racing setup. Connect this right into a Playseat or comparable, crank up the power suggestions on the wheel, and also you’re a extra immersive simulator expertise with out spending the tens of hundreds of {dollars} often required for a full-motion rig (a few of which provide some type of seat-based suggestions, by the way in which).
I am not saying it is near a mega sim-racing rig with all of the actuators, but it surely’s greater than a stiff-seat degree of immersion.
But past the sim racing setup, I am not so positive. Possibly I would want longer with it than a fleeting Closing Fantasy expertise to know the total attraction—possibly a horror sport could be enjoyable—or I am simply not the audience. However I did not stroll away feeling like I would wish to pay the $300 price to really feel the feeling once more.
Even set to music mode and when listening to Chase & Standing and Stormzy’s bass-pumping monitor Spine, it did not hit the best spots for me. I even had Razer’s new haptic headset on, the Razer Kraken V4 Professional, but it surely felt like being a bit too near the speaker on an evening out. And I am often a little bit of a bass-head. Removed from a foul expertise, I am simply not offered on the worth proposition, particularly when the headset alone prices $400.
Should you’re extra frivolous or that sim racing setup does sound like one thing you would be fascinated with, the Razer Freya is out there straight away from the Razer retailer.
