Pendola Pass is the summit observatory map in ARC Raiders, and it does not appear on your destination list from the start. It stays locked until you have put in enough runs, and it carries the steepest requirement of any map. Every locked destination works the same way, so once you understand the counter, you know exactly how far off you are.
Quick answer: Pendola Pass unlocks after you have played 25 rounds. Maps are gated by total rounds played, not by your level.
Rounds played needed for every map
Three destinations are open the moment you start. The rest climb from 12 rounds up to 25, with Pendola Pass sitting at the very top. Each round you play counts toward unlocking maps.
| Map | Difficulty (of 5) | Rounds played |
|---|---|---|
 Dam Battlegrounds | 2 | Open from start |
 Buried City | 3 | Open from start |
 Practice Range | — | Open from start |
 Spaceport | 3 | 12 |
 The Blue Gate | 4 | 18 |
 Riven Tides | 5 | 20 |
 Stella Montis | 4 | 24 |
 Pendola Pass | 3 | 25 |
Pendola Pass is rated 3 of 5 for difficulty, the same as Spaceport and Buried City, so the high round requirement is not a signal that the map itself is harder than the 4s and 5s on the list. It is simply the last one the game hands you.
How to check your progress toward Pendola Pass
You never have to guess how many rounds you have left. The destination screen prints the exact count on every locked map, so you can read your Pendola Pass progress at any time before queuing.
You can also open the LOCATION LIST at the bottom left of the screen. It names all eight destinations, and any you have not unlocked carry a padlock beside them.
Studying Pendola Pass while it is still locked
Access is locked for drop-ins, not for map viewing. Before earning entry, you can use INSPECT to study the full layout, including named points of interest, loot-category icons, and the four return points used for extraction.
At this scale, the map marks Deep-Space Telescope, plus Cielo Sereno Observatory; Railroad Junction and Almatera Station; Commissary Supermarket, the Fallen Emperor, Old Town, the Railyard, and Loading Platforms. The legend organizes loot by category: ARC, then Mechanical, then Electrical, then Commercial, then Medical, then Industrial, then Residential, then Old World, then Exodus, then Nature, and finally Technological.
Return to Speranza here runs through four Gondola Transceivers rather than the usual lifts and hatches. They sit at the Northern Transceiver north of Railroad Junction, the Supermarket Transceiver at the Commissary Supermarket, the Reckless Transceiver between the Fallen Emperor and the supermarket, and the Glacial Transceiver in the south between the Railyard and Loading Platforms.
How to confirm Pendola Pass is unlocked
While the map is still locked, the SELECT DESTINATION button stays greyed out even when you are looking at the full inspect view. That button is your confirmation. Once your total reaches 25 rounds played, the padlock clears from the Pendola Pass card and SELECT DESTINATION becomes active, letting you queue into the map directly.
If the counter still reads a number below 25, the button will remain locked no matter how many times you open the card. Play another round and check again.
The quest ‘Picking up the Pieces’ cannot be completed on Pendola Pass. Its map requirement covers Dam Battlegrounds, The Blue Gate, Spaceport, Riven Tides, Stella Montis, and Buried City instead.
Level gates are a separate system
The two progression tracks are easy to confuse: rounds played determine when maps become available, while your level opens several other features. Until level 18, the Outpost tab displays “UNLOCKS AT LEVEL 18”; reaching level 25 grants the sixth trader stall. Trader offers become available at levels 7, 12, and 20.
None of these level thresholds affect your map access, and reaching them early will not bring Pendola Pass forward. The only thing that opens the summit map is putting in those 25 rounds, so the fastest route is simply to keep playing until the counter ticks over.
