Insomniac has toned down Wolverine's infamous "fart gas" visual effect after weeks of mockery

Insomniac has pushed out a new hotfix for Marvel's Wolverine, specifically addressing one of the most memed features from the game's launch: the glowing scent trail effect that quickly earned the nickname "fart gas."

A nickname that stuck

The nickname traces back to Washington Post journalist Gene Park, who used the term in a post on X that racked up millions of views. The trail itself is a visual representation of Logan's heightened sense of smell, most commonly seen following Jean Grey through missions to guide players toward objectives, and unlike most of the game's other navigation aids, it couldn't be switched off through the accessibility menu.

Insomniac's new hotfix, version 1.001.005, addresses the issue directly and includes general stability fixes for crashes affecting a small percentage of players. According to the studio's own patch notes, the update adjusts the presentation of the Scent Trails and Audio Sense indicators, including "reduced opacity to make these visuals less intense." Insomniac says it will keep evaluating ways to improve the Senses system throughout the game, including the possibility of adding toggleable options in a future update, which would let players disable the effect entirely rather than just dimming it.

Not the only issue with Wolverine

The scent trail wasn't the only guidance system players pushed back on. Reviewer SkillUp's critique of the game pointed to as many as four separate layers of signposting stacked on top of each other in some areas, and clips have circulated of Wolverine automatically completing sections of the game and QTEs, including a full sequence of Logan riding a motorcycle to a checkpoint without the player touching the controller. Some players have compared the mechanic to The Witcher 3's Witcher Sense, which serves a similar tracking function but only activates when a player presses a button, rather than lingering onscreen constantly.

PlayStation's own user review aggregate has reportedly scored the game as high as 97 out of 100 (via Insider Gaming), but despite that, Marvel's Wolverine has landed as Insomniac's lowest-rated original release in years, sitting around 77 to 78 on Metacritic and trailing every one of the studio's Spider-Man games. Commercially, the game appears to be performing better than its review scores suggest, with reports putting sales at well over a million copies in its opening stretch. Whether the upcoming toggle option arrives before or after that momentum fades could potentially shape how the game's reputation settles once the initial wave of memes dies down.