Dam Battlegrounds is open from your first raid, and every other ARC Raiders map opens once you've played enough rounds. Embark has never published the numbers, so the counts below are the ones players have tracked. There's also a faster way in: join a party with someone who has the map.
That shortcut is in Embark's own patch notes, and it's how a new player can reach Pendola Pass today. Below is every map's requirement and what each map is good for, checked on 9 October against Embark's patch notes and news posts.
Since February's 1.17.0 patch, a party's map list shows every map unlocked by its member with the most rounds played. Squad up with a veteran and you can queue their maps, even on a new account. Embark confirmed it works for Pendola Pass too.
When Stella Montis arrived in November 2025, players opened it together through Breaking New Ground, a community project that collected materials to restore the tunnels north. Anyone with five rounds played could chip in. New players since are reported to reach it through a rounds gate.
ARC Raiders is free on Steam, Xbox and PlayStation until 12 October at 08:00 UTC. Every map is in the free build, but expect the usual rounds gates. Embark says all progress carries over if you buy the game, so this weekend's rounds still count.
We'll update this guide when any of these are confirmed.
