I'm terrified of Teardown's unrelenting robots
They're not in the game yet. But oh god, they're coming.
Teardown is a smashing good time, a shockingly smart heist game framed by some proper impressive voxel destruction tech. But for all the hours I've put into planning capers and tearing down its brittle maps, I've never once thought the experience could be improved via relentless pursuit from a tireless, fearless, unstoppable Terminator.
Sadly, developer Dennis Gustafsson does. And from the looks of recent tweets, it seems I'll never be able to play Teardown again.
I know a lot of you liked the dynamic pathfinding I tinkered with a couple of years ago. Well, I'm back working on it for part 2. Prepare for robots! Sorry about the programmer art... pic.twitter.com/MQWFakLiGqJune 21, 2021
Teardown has had pursuers before, mind. The game's heist missions often pit you against a heavily armed attack helicopter, chasing down your every move with spotlights, miniguns and rockets. But these predatory birds can be evaded and distracted, thrown off course.
What's terrifying about this robot is the way it simply will not stop. You can destroy floors, barricade walls and collapse catwalks, and it'll still keep coming—its spotlight CRT head casting a sickening light across the map.
Thank god it's not armed. Yet.
How to get rid of an annoying stalker pic.twitter.com/B2f6eG3LohJune 24, 2021
Granted, this robot is only slightly less horrifying than the giant spiders Gustafsson used in early development videos. Initially developed for a prototype, players figured out how to access them in the live game last year, turning Teardown into an arachnophobe's worst nightmare before the developer promptly removed them.
Gustaffson hasn't properly announced when or how these 'bots will arrive in Teardown. But they will be fully exposed to lua scripting, ideally letting you reprogram for any purpose you see fit. With Teardown already fostering a healthy mod scene, I'm quietly excited (and very scared) by the possibilities afforded by these mechanical pursuers.
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20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.