James Bond has always been known for using the latest tech, driving the coolest cars, and wearing the most stylish tux, but thanks to 007 First Light giving us a bit more freedom to explore his world in depth, we now know what gaming chair he's kicking back in at his desk.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, James Bond sits in one of the most stylish, highly-coveted, and pricey chairs that actually exists in our world, the Herman Miller Embody. You can see the chair in the spy's bedroom during the game's opening hours, when he first moves into the Bayswater apartment with fellow agents Cressida and Monroe.
In fairness, it's not really clear whether or not Bond would have actually picked this seat for himself, or if it just came with the flat provided to him by MI6. If it's the latter, maybe this is a special edition Herman Miller Embody that's been modified inside Q-Lab to have even more futuristic spy features? An ejector seat function, perhaps? It's unclear - maybe the chair features again later in the game, but since I'm still early on in the story, I'll need to keep playing to find out.
In all honesty, as a gaming chair reviewer, the Embody immediately caught my eye during this scene, but I was surprised to see it rendered in such detail. Every tiny bit of the backrest is recreated faithfully - I wonder if one of the environment artists at IO Interactive sits on one themselves. Or maybe Herman Miller paid to be featured - what brand wouldn't want to be known as James Bond's chair of choice? Alternatively, it could be the developers making comment on the gaming chair market - it certainly made me laugh that Bond would sit in such a luxurious chair that costs well over $1,000 since he's known for driving expensive cars from Aston Martin.
That might be sad news if you were hoping to sit in James Bond's desk chair in real life, but the Embody has been haunting the entire desk chair market for years thanks to its alluring design, overwhelmingly positive reviews, and high price.
We originally reviewed the Herman Miller Embody back in 2022, and we were very pleased with its ergonomics, comfort level, generous warranty, and sleek design. Since then, it's sat on our best gaming chair buying guide, but has always been the most expensive option we'd recommend.
Back in our original review, my good friend Rob Dwiar said, "For me, the Embody has taught me that investing in ergonomics is a seriously worthwhile endeavour if you can do it, and it has made me rethink my entire gaming setup. It could just be all the gaming chair that you'll ever, ever need." On the other hand, he rightfully had lots of reservations about its price, and how, for the same money, you could buy multiple Secretlab chairs, which is even truer today with the arrival of the Secretlab Atlas, which I'm currently testing.
Shockingly, for its price, the Embody doesn't come with a headrest as standard, but the brand has made one available for purchase as an add-on. Ongoing support has been good for the Embody, as the company has also made new colorways available, and discounts do arrive every so often to make it a bit more approachable.
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