Razer brings good vibrations to Razercon by bringing a $300 vibrating cushion

Razer's haptic gaming pillow is...interesting. The Razer Freya is a self-explanatory device. You load it on your chair, plug in the device, and six motorized padded regions start a-rumblin in time with the in-game sounds, music, or actions. The idea is that haptic feedback vibrating along your back and bottom will make you more engaged in your game.

It's a good idea, and one that a few haptic firms have been pushing for some time. There are haptic chairs, haptic vests (including one by Razer), and haptic chair accessories. But, according to Razer, there has never been a cushion.

I tested the haptic cushion before its announcement at Razercon. I sat back in a Razer chair with the cushion attached. It's held in place with two adjustable straps that should work with most chairs. I watch our longtime Razer PR sadistically increase the vibration force in the new Razer Synapse 4 application to maximum rumble and load Final Fantasy XVI.

Final Fantasy is a game that has native support for the haptic cushions. This means the developers have coded the support into the game, and linked it to certain actions. Hogwarts Legacy, Silent Hill, and Snowrunner will also have support baked in. I'm told that support for future games can be easily achieved by an Unreal Engine 5 plug-in. Even if it is as simple as checking a box, the developers still have to support this thing.

If Freya is not supported in a game that you play often, the haptics could be set to respond instead to sounds from the game.

Back to my rump shaking experience. With Final Fantasy loaded, I was ready for a good butt-kicking and a good butt-kicking in return. I was getting rumbled as I tapped furiously on my keyboard and mercilessly killed large lobster-looking monsters with one swoop of the magic hands. (I don't even play Final Fantasy. Can you tell?)

Different actions cause pads to shake. As you slash down, the lower pads will engage. As I tested it, there was no discernible lag between my actions in the game and the cushion. However, after a few minutes of button mashing, I became numb to the finer haptic details.

You'd think that as a sim racer who has tried out many of the best PC racing wheels, I would be all about this type of haptic feedback. I'm only considering how it could be integrated into a sim-racing setup. Attach this to a Playseat, or something similar, and crank up the force-feedback on the wheel. You're looking at an immersive simulator experience without having to spend the tens-of-thousands of dollars required for a full motion rig.

I wouldn't say it's a sim-racing mega-rig with all of the actuators. But it's a level of immersion that's above a stiff-seat.

I'm still not sure about the game beyond the sim racer setup. Maybe I need more time with it than the brief Final Fantasy experience I had to fully understand the appeal. Perhaps a horror game could be fun. Or maybe I'm not the target audience. But I didn't feel like I would pay $300 to experience the sensation again.

I was not satisfied with the sound quality of Backbone by Stormzy and Chase & Status. Even in music mode, it didn't feel right. Even with Razer's new haptic headphone, the Razer Kraken V4 Pro on, it felt like I was too close to the speakers on a night out. I'm a big bass-head. I had a great experience, but I'm not convinced by the value proposition. Especially when the headset costs $400.

Razer Freya, a sim racing set-up that is more frivolous and available immediately from the Razer Store.