The runaway success of Marvel's Spider-Man 2: Brand New Day has drawn players back into Insomniac's open-world games, sparking a fresh trend of tackling web-swinging with the "swing assist" feature switched off entirely. The setting normally smooths out traversal by regulating speed and steering players along an optimal path, so disabling it exposes how difficult precise, high-speed swinging through New York actually is. Many returning fans, even those who once considered themselves skilled at zero-assist swinging, are finding themselves rusty and crashing into scenery, while the trend has generated a wave of comedic and impressive social media clips.

Swing assist ranges from 10 (maximum course correction) down to 0 (none), and is switched on by default. Clips of the challenge, often soundtracked by songs from the game such as Tame Impala's "Loser" and Bad Bunny's "EeO," typically feature players wearing the newly added Brand New Day suit, with skilled swingers able to skim Spider-Man just above the ground without help. One such video from early August 2026 has drawn 2.3 million views, though the trend has also attracted critics who dismiss it as showy rather than genuinely impressive.