"Teardown" is a shockingly smart heist game, framed by voxel destruction technology. But despite hours of planning and breaking fragile maps, I never once thought the experience would be improved by the relentless pursuit from the tireless, fearless, unstoppable Terminator.

Sadly, developer Dennis Gustafson thinks so. Based on his recent tweets, it seems unlikely that I will ever play "Teardown" again.

Teardown has had pursuers before. In the game's heist missions, you are often up against heavily armed attack helicopters that chase you every step of the way with spotlights, miniguns, and rocket-propelled grenades. However, these predatory birds can be evaded, distracted, or thrown off course.

The frightening thing about this robot is that it simply does not stop. It can destroy floors, barricade walls, and collapse catwalks, but it will still come, with its spotlighted cathode-ray tube head glowing sickeningly on the map.

Good thing I'm not armed. Yet.

Granted, this robot is only slightly less terrifying than the giant spiders Gustafson used in his early development videos. Originally developed for prototype use, players discovered last year how to access the giant spider in the main game, turning Teardown into an arachnophobe's worst nightmare.

Gustafsson has not properly announced when or how these "bots" will appear in Teardown. But with lua scripts fully available and, ideally, reprogrammable for any purpose, Teardown is already fostering a healthy mod scene, and I am quietly excited (and very scared) by the possibilities this mechanical tracker will bring.