Great Haptics, When It Works

I played it 2 weeks ago cyberpunk 2077 I had my butt on the chair and my headphones on, just like I always do, but everything felt different. I was flying through the crowded streets of Night City on Jackie Well’s old bike, feeling the pitch every time the bike changed gears. I swore I could feel the 90 mph rain pitter-patter on my back. The feedback on the Razer Freyja haptic seat cushion became quieter when I paused the game. I had to breathe.

I turned to my editor and spoke with quiet excitement. “This is probably the coolest thing I’ve ever used.” He looked back at me with an accusatory, unfazed eyebrow raised. “What?” he asked. “What about the headset?”

He couldn’t feel what I was feeling. He couldn’t see what it was because I was sitting on it. There’s something about it that makes you fall in love with it right away. Razer Freyjaa $300 tactile cushion that will make your back and butt feel more in-game than ever. I especially recommend the Haptic Gaming Chair. Perfect for getting audio-based haptics when driving like a maniac in racing games or feeling the kick of a machine gun without the need for bulky wearable gear. Freyja is a near-realization of the prototype I first experienced at CES 10 months ago.

As cool as it is, too many little details take away from its appeal. It needs to be plugged into the wall and requires an extension cord as the cable is too short. It requires too many layers of software to work properly. I think Freyja is well worth a try, but at $300, I can’t buy it right away. Perhaps it might eventually become easier to recommend, especially if Razer adds more supported games and makes certain haptics work in those games.

How is Freyja different from other gaming haptics?

I’ve strapped myself into plenty of other haptic devices, from bHaptics full-body suits and gloves to a weird rotating RotoVR chair for Meta Quest. Haptics in games are often just a gimmick. They either get in the way of play or feel like Nintendo 64 rumble packs strapped to your chest and forearm, giving you little sense of being “in the game.” Razer is close to doing just that with the $300 Freyja. It works by converting in-game sounds into force feedback through 14 pads on your back and buttocks. It’s the most discreet and most immersive haptic I’ve used, and it works with just about every game you can play on your PC.

Razer’s Freyja is $400 Kraken V4 Pro Headsetboasts haptic feedback. The headset’s sound quality is worth a separate review, but let’s also touch on the haptics here. If all you want is full tactile immersion, you don’t need the super expensive Kraken. I used the Freyja in conjunction with SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds and an Alienware Pro Wireless headset, and had just as great a time with it as I did with Razer’s headset. Simply put, a quality sound setup is all you need to get the most out of your $300 cushion.

It’s also a perfunctory device that’s cumbersome to use. You’ll need to download several layers of Razer software just to control the “Sensa” haptic suite. You will also need to connect the cushion to an electrical outlet using a very short cable. Finally, and worst of all, we weren’t able to actually use the promised haptic effects built for some games.

At the time of writing this review, Only five games support Sensa-specific haptics. silent hill 2, Final Fantasy XVIand frostpunk 2. I own these games through the Epic Games Store. But Razer’s Chroma app doesn’t recognize them on my system. We have been trying to work with Razer on this issue for several weeks, but have been unable to resolve the issue.

Eventually, 20 games will support Sensa HD haptics, but for now, this feature has been retired. Sound-based multidirectional haptics are already worth the price of admission, but considering the cushion’s software and cable requirements, I can’t recommend it completely. Still, it’s so good at increasing immersion that I’d tell users to ignore all of these issues and find a way to try it out for themselves.

How does the Razer Freyja feel?

Freyja’s tactility is definitely its most impressive quality. These work best in more immersive games. This is especially effective if you’re sitting in the cockpit of a car or being peppered with bullets in an FPS. What’s great is that it also helps immerse you in the context of other games.

If you are playing a game that has heavy bass in its atmosphere, such as a city building game. frostpunk 2you’ll begin to interpret the rumbling in your back as the wind blowing. in Baldur’s Gate IIIyou don’t really feel it until you cast a spell or land a big attack and a rumbling sound goes down your spine.

Razer Chroma allows you to set haptic gain for both Freyja and Kraken. The three basic modes sound haptics at different frequencies. You’ll always get a tactile feel of sub-bass, but if you want it to vibrate every minute while you play, you can set it to rumble from mid-bass to mid-treble to treble. You can set presets for games installed in Chroma. It works well, at least in this regard.

What I sometimes find odd about audio-based haptics is that they can even pick up conversations. In a game like ghost of tsushima or cyberpunk 2077in all basic settings of the Chroma, I felt a near-constant vibration from the surrounding environment. Even when I’m talking to some characters, my thighs start shaking at random moments. Goro Takemura may have a deep voice, but it’s not so deep that it feels like a subwoofer. You can cut out the bass to make it quieter, but then you’ll miss out on sound while driving or shooting.

Paired with the Kraken V4 Pro, you get almost too much tactility. The 4D sensation along your back is much more manageable, but also when your head is rolling. Razer’s software is set to low level by default. Basically, this is all I want from haptics in earbuds. It was so minimal that the Kraken almost felt unnecessary.

Razer Freyja is a very interesting piece of gaming technology marred by too many issues

Freyja’s problems begin during setup. Attach to the chair via 3 elastic belts to secure it in place. Depending on the size of your chair, some of the cushions may be sticking out, as was the case with me. Of course, it’s designed to perfectly fit Razer’s high-back gaming chairs like the Iskur V2, but you may want to measure your setup before you click the buy button.

As is typical with Razer, controlling the Sensa haptics requires downloading complex software to your PC. In particular, you should use Razer Chroma. Why are Razer’s haptics locked behind the RGB control app? God knows, but it’s super annoying. Razer Synapse will also recognize that you own the chair, but will not be able to influence its settings. I’m not sure I’ll ever understand why Razer has so many different executables for their hardware, but with these latest products it’s even more perplexing.

At least you can control layers of sound-based haptics to get the best feel, but without game-specific haptics there’s no middle ground. It feels like we’re very close to a true revolution in gaming haptics. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened yet.