I’ve tried Razer’s new haptic seat cushion, and my butt will never be the same

Razer has long been dabbling in the world of haptic immersion but its developments have been limited to hands and ears. Now that rumble feedback is coming for your rear. Razer Con has kicked off, and with it comes the brand new Razer Freyja cushion. Designed to fit pretty much any gaming chair you can find, the system features six motor actuators set across a seat overlay, held in place with a series of elastic straps. 

I tried the Razer Freyja across a selection of games and music and the result is a particularly immersive experiential boost, with finely tuned haptics reacting to in-game effects with surprising accuracy. That’s because the system runs off more than just audio. The Razer Freyja takes its haptic inputs from the game itself (the initial rollout of supported titles includes Final Fantasy 16, Hogwarts Legacy, Stalker 2, and Silent Hill 2, though can also respond to music and audio cues like traditional haptic technology. That means it’s compatible with every game in your library, but runs in full detail on a smaller selection. 

For example, this sensory feedback can be heavily directional, matching the location of an explosion in the distance while also running at different intensities based on how close you are to the blast zone. It means feeling the difference between a clean track and a quick swerve into the gravel in racing games or the power of a boost attack in Final Fantasy. It’s a slick experience and certainly impressive in its power and precision from the outset, but I don’t think I’ll understand the true quality of this system until I’ve spent some more time in my own roster of titles. Running through some Spotify playlists on the other hand, now that changed the game.