The massive success of Spider-Man: Brand New Day is pulling players back to the recent open-world video games, but fans aren't just retracing their steps. Instead, it's become a trend to take on the Marvel games with zero swing assist, and the results are as disastrous as they are spectacular.

Swing assist is a setting in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 that does exactly what it sounds like. As the player catapults through New York City, Insomniac's game quietly regulates the player's speed while guiding them through an optimal path. Turns out, when you're flying at Mach speed on a spiderweb, it's not easy to navigate through moving targets! The setting ranges from 10 (the highest course correction) to 0 (the lowest).

By default, swing assist is turned on. Players returning to the game right now are electing to turn it off, only to discover they aren't nearly as good at the game as they thought. Clips showing the trend are often set to Tame Impala's Loser, the sultry song that plays during Brand New Day's end credits. Some videos are set to Bad Bunny's 'EeO', another song from the soundtrack that plays while Spider-Man learns to use his organic webbing. Most of the uploads have players donning the Brand New Day suit that was patched into the game earlier this year.

The differences are almost immediately obvious. Players new to the setting can't explore seamlessly, as their poor web-slingling constantly forces stops. Even fans who considered themselves zero swing assist veterans are having trouble with it after spending so much time away from the game.

"When you hop back on Spider-Man after watching Brand New Day but your lowkey washed," one TikToker captioned a video with a broken heart emoji. In it, Peter Parker hits a tree and a car within seconds of starting. "POV: you're bad at zero swing assist but you refuse to turn it on because you're Spider-Man," another TikToker said.

The phenomenon is also bringing out the braggarts, who are thrilled to show off their in-game skills. These people are so good at the game, some viewers don't even believe they've got swing assist turned off. The tell? When it's turned off, an expert player can make Spider-Man nearly brush the ground. One Spider-Man 2 video from early August 2026 showing off this feat has already racked up 2.3 million views. Most of the replies are people insisting that the player must've splattered the ground immediately after nailing it — that's how unbelievable it is.

But for every Spider-Man fan impressed by no swing assist, there are grouches who don't see the big deal.

"Half the time playing on 0 swing assist is people with superiority complex," one TikTok commenter wrote on a recent viral web-slinging video.

"Most performative thing some1 can do," another commenter with the username Narcissist replied.

Still, some people maintain that some swing assist is necessary to fulfill the Spider-Man fantasy. In one recent comment, a player with the lowest possible swing assist said they liked to pretend the extra help was like having Spidey-sense.

The comment that captures the phenomenon best said, "We got Spider-Man sweats now."