Secretlab is practically synonymous with luxury collaborations—the company's bread-and-butter TITAN Evo line of gaming chairs puts away the age-old belief that gaming thrones are pricey and uncomfortable, by offering seats that feel like a perfect blend of the comfort of an office chair, and the style of gaming hardware.
Unsurprisingly, in our Secretlab TITAN Evo 2022 review, we praise the line up of chairs, saying that "If you can stump up the asking price, it’s going to be one of the best purchases you make all year", and giving it the equivalent of a 9/10. It's hard not to love one of the best office chairs released in the past five years, but the collaboration chairs are equally splendid, if you're willing to part with your money.
That brings me to today, where I've been testing out (see: relaxing and working) on the Secretlab's upcoming collaboration—the Monster Hunter Fatalis TITAN Evo 2022 model. It marks the second Monster Hunter piece that Secretlab has sold, and the latest chair feels just as powerful as the dragon that it proudly displays. And, we also interviewed Gabriel Lim, Lead Licensed Product Designer at Secretlab, about the new Fatalis throne.
We're not going to go into depth on the major details that Secretlab TITAN Evo chairs offers, since we covered that in our review. The main appeal of Secretlab is the fact that the chairs ooze comfort and style, bringing a range of features to help your posture and give you support during the remote work renaissance, while still providing great design that doesn't make your chair stand out like a sore thumb (unless you bought the incredible Cyberpunk 2077 chair).
This time, I'm putting the spotlight on the specific details of the Secretlab Monster Hunter Fatalis chair. This model, limited to Regular and XL sizes, feels as easy to build as any other TITAN Evo model. The huge instructions board is designed with beautiful artwork of the fearsome Fatalis, appearing as soon as you open the heavy box.
Pieces slot together with relative ease, and despite the suggestion that this is a two-person job, I built the chair within 30 minutes by myself. Just as the regular models, the build quality is absolutely superb, and every tool and screw is included within the contents—no extras necessary.
The Fatalis chair uses Secretlab's popular NEO Hybrid Leatherette. My previous chair offered the SoftWeave Plus Fabric, which was more comfortable but didn't look nearly as cool as the bold-yet-suave design of the Fatalis model. Despite the Leatherette material being somewhat worse than the SoftWeave, it's still extremely comfortable and isn't bad by any means.
Of course, the main feature of the Fatalis TITAN Evo is the fair amount of design elements inspired by the dangerous monster that has plagued our hunts since the very start of the long-running franchise. The beautiful iconography of the Fatalis can be found on the front of the chair, while the beloved and iconic map icon of the dragon can be found boldly placed on the back.
"We wanted to do something really special for Monster Hunter fans for the game’s 20th anniversary." Lim says about the second monster from the series joining the lineup of TITAN Evo models, "Fatalis is such an iconic character — beyond being one of the most satisfying boss fights in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, our team was impressed by all the rich lore surrounding the black dragon"
The Fatalis' scary and deadly claws can be found next to the dragon's icon and at the front of the seat, while purple wings spread out to the sides of the chair. However, the major selling point of this limited-edition gaming chair isn't the design markings, but the scales that can be found on the edge of the chair.
These dark-as-night scales reside out of way, so as not to ruin your comfort with the TITAN Evo, but Secretlab implies that they feel like the actual resource you gain from hunting the powerful dragon. Lim says this is a "custom
leatherette that resembled the scales from the black dragon", adding that "this was done using a patterned plate to imbue “scales” into the leatherette, which feel surprisingly realistic when you run your hands past it."
While it keeps the softness of the chair, it certainly feels like dragon scales in my experience (or at least, what I'd expect them to feel like). I certainly wouldn't wear it as armor as my character proudly does in the series, but it's a nice feature that adds to the design of the Fatalis chair.
The Fatalis' beauty resides in the simplicity of the design. It's not blaring in its details, but it offers enough that Monster Hunter fans will feel at home with the Secretlab TITAN Evo chair inspired by the dragon, but I have one nitpick—I wish the head pillow had the Secretlab logo and title in the same shade of purple as the one on the chair, rather than a boring and basic gray.
In any case, the latest Secretlab Monster Hunter TITAN Evo chair, inspired by the powerful Fatalis, feels like a worthy investment for any fans of the series looking to upgrade or purchase a new gaming chair. It keeps the luxury that the brand is known for, but offers some incredible design elements that feel perfect for Monster Hunter fans looking to chase their next hunt, especially ahead of the Monster Hunter Wilds release date.
The purple gradients on the wings, the iconography, and the scales all feel and look remarkable on the TITAN Evo, and it's easily one of the best chairs I've used. Secretlab offers plenty of different gaming-inspired editions on its website, but if you're a Monster Hunter fan, you'll be hard-pressed to find anything as great as this.
If you're looking for the best gaming desk too, we'd recommend taking a look at our Secretlab MAGNUS Pro review and seeing why that desk is equally as impressive as the TITAN Evo chairs.