Factorio's new spider robot has mesmerizing telescoping legs

Factorio launched out of early access with a thunderous 1.0 patch yesterday, bringing four years of development on one of the most impressive games there is to a close. As a treat, the developers added a giant mechanical spider robot for endgame players to build and control, and it is beautifully animated. The Spidertron seems to dynamically use its eight legs to traverse obstacles and step over gaps—gaps like bodies of water. Skip to the bottom of the post if you do not like spiders, because there's a mod for that.

You might first want to watch how it normally moves in this video. But the gap-crossing movements are next level. Reddit user Kano96 put together a nice showcase of the animations in action.

Spidertron water traversal test from r/factorio

I am mesmerized. There are deeper mysteries to Spidertron though. Its crafting recipe takes a fish to make. Is the fish the pilot? An organic computer? I am not sure. No-one is sure. We do know that the fish is intact when the Spidertron is destroyed, per this image of the wreckage.

Factorio is a sprawling game where you build a massive logistics and factory network, and it's one of our top 100 games to play on PC right now.

In the event you hate spiders, there's a mod for that. Enjoy your flying death saucer!

Dance baby, dance! from r/factorio

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.