In my 30 years as a gamer (please clap), the thing I’ve learned about haptic technology is that it’s always a gimmick until it’s not. WhenNintendoreleased the N64 Rumble Pak in 1997, everyone thought it was a chunk of plastic that made your controller heavy for not much benefit, and now it feels weird to play games without rumble. The DualSense’s haptic triggers also sounded pretty silly at first, but it’s ended up being one of the PS5’s defining features. Haptics enhance games by making them more immersive, letting usfeelour games. But like any other technology, it has taken some time to get it right.
I’ve always been intrigued by the potential of full-body haptics, and I have all the gimmicky peripherals to prove it. Need receipts? Check out my review ofthe ButtKicker, a subwoofer you attach to your gaming chair to make it shake, from six years ago. Here’s another review I did for theRoto VR, a chair that spins when you turn your head and vibrates to make you feel like you’re actually getting shot. “Who would want to feel like they’re actually getting shot?” you’re wondering? Me. I do.
Razer Tackles Haptics With Sensa HD
As the expert on full-body haptics (at least between the two of us), I will admit that, while entertaining, none of these products really made me feel more immersed. If you’ve ever tried D-Box or 4DX at the movie theater, you’ll know what I mean. The experience is more like riding a rollercoaster than being in a simulation. Bulky hardware filled with loud motors is not the best way to make games feel more real, it turns out.
Leave it to Razer to boldly go where others have gone and failed. Razer Sensa is a haptic technology that’s recently been integrated into quite a few of Razer’s products, including headphones, controllers, and its flagship haptic chair cushion, Razer Freyja. Razer says Sensa HD haptics can deliver “realistic tactile sensations”. I’ve heard similar claims in the past for things that ended up being unrealistic and less than sensational, but credit where credit’s due, Sensa HD really is the big step forward in haptics that Razer says it is.
For the fully immersive experience, Razer sent me a package of three Sensa enabled devices: the Kraken V4 Pro headset, a Wolverine V3 Pro controller, and of course, Razer Freyja itself. Together, these three peripherals represent the most complete Sensa HD experience you’re able to have today, and honestly? It’s pretty damn impressive.
Forget Haptics For A Second, These Are Just Great Devices
Before we get into Sensa itself, I have to start with something these kinds of haptics products rarely consider, but something Razer did very well with the Sensa HD line. Comfort is a key component of immersion, and Razer went to a lot of effort to make all three of these devices incredibly comfortable to use.
It’s most apparent with Freyja, since you have to sit on it. The cushion fits onto any high-backed chair and stays put thanks to a pair of elastic straps. Even though you’re sitting on a bunch of motors, it doesn’t feel like it at all. In fact, adding the Freyja to my secret lab chair has made itmorecomfortable to sit in. It succeeds at being a chair cushion, and that matters a lot.
The Kraken V4 Pro is a great wireless gaming headset that’s very comfortable to wear all day. After four generations of great headsets, that pretty much goes without saying. This is the device I was most skeptical about when it came to the haptics. I’ve had similar headsets and the vibration always tickles my ears and makes my teeth feel weird. With The Kraken, Sensa HD is tuned to a frequency that doesn’t make it feel like you’re just holding a back massager against your skull. It’s a very natural, bassy vibration that works subtly to enhance what the other devices are doing.
As for the Wolverine controller, I’ve reviewed several generations of this device and it’s just a best-in-class pro controller all around. It’s got an ergonomic design that makes it feel great to hold, and all the bells and whistles you expect from a pro controller. Lots of controllers have great haptics, and this is another one.
A Tale Of Two Sensas
So what’s it like to go full Sensa? There are two very different ways to experience Razer’s haptic technology: audio-to-haptics, and game integration. Razer has partnered with publishers to integrate Sensa HD into over 100 games, tuning the haptics for the system just like engineers tune the haptics on a DualSense controller for games. For games that aren’t integrated, Sensa goes the more common audio-to-haptics route. Essentially, it just listens to the game and creates vibrations to match.
In either case, the Sensa experience is fairly enjoyable. I’m impressed by the way the rumble in all three devices works together to create a unified experience that adds some excitement without becoming uncomfortable or overwhelming. You’re not going to fall out of your chair or spill your drink all over yourself (unless you just do that normally), but you are definitely going to feel the game. Whether or not you feel like you’reinthe game is a whole different story.
With audio-to-haptics, Sensa is only able to react to the sound of your game, meaning none of the haptics are purposefully designed. Loud sound make big shake, essentially, which means a lot of what you feel is going to be directed by the soundtrack of whatever you’re playing. It’s a lot like standing close to the speaker at a concert in terms of the quality of the haptics, though it’s not nearly as unpleasant. Frankly, I don’t recommend using audio-to-haptics if you’re looking for immersion. If you just want to feel the beat of the music or the rat-a-tat-tat of a machine gun though, it gets the job done.
The integrated games are where it’s really at. There’s some big games on the list, from Silent Hill 2 to Hitman and even Mortal Kombat. I did my testing with Final Fantasy 16, and if money were no object, I’d insist that everyone I’ve ever known and everyone I’ll ever meet play Final Fantasy 16 like this. It’s an absolute trip.
Ready Player Clive
The experience with an integrated game is night a day from the normal audio-to-haptics experience. Final Fantasy 16 features 123 different Sensa HD effects, programmed to create the most immersion possible from a cushion, controller, and headphones. In FF16, the music isn’t shaping the haptics, the gameplay is. Everything you do has its own haptics response. Getting attacked feels different from attacking, which feels different from healing, which feels different from fighting as Ifrit.
Playing a game that’s actually integrated really shows off the different haptics zones on the Freyja. There are four on the back and two on the butt, and Sensa HD can achieve a lot of different effects by activating different zones, both individually and together.
It’s not a simple on/off either. There’s a lot of little nuances in the different effects each zone can create. The way an impact feels is different from the way healing feels, which feels more like a wave of energy running over your body. Eventually you develop an association between actions and their specific haptics, so even though you can’t actually feel Clive getting stabbed (unfortunately), the experience is still pretty immersive.
While I haven’t tried it myself, I’ve heard Marvel Rivals’ integration is even more impressive. It features over 600 unique effects, customized to each character’s individual abilities and tuned separately for each Sensa HD device. Now that I’ve had my fill of Clive, I’m looking forward to digging into the library to feel all the different techniques Razer uses for each game.
Sensa HD is still new to me, but playing games without it is already giving me that same feeling I get when my controller doesn’t rumble. A little bit of haptic feedback goes a long way, and Razer has really dialed in Sensa HD to deliver the right haptics without going full 4DX. I’m still going to draw the line at getting water sprayed on me, but if Razer wants to keep pushing this tech closer and closer to what it’s like to actually get punched in the face, I’m all for it.
