ARC Raiders: How to Complete Line in the Sand (Riven Tides)

Line in the Sand feels confusing for one reason: the clue text makes it sound like a detective puzzle, but in practice it is a clean west-to-east route through Buried City. If you want to complete Line in the Sand in Arc Raiders fast, go to the derailed train south of Marano Station, then the small tower with the hidden detonator, then the Market Ruins, and finish in the Dune’s End basement by taking a photo of the stacked boxes. There is no major combat requirement, no boss, and only two actions that regularly trip players up: looting the business card from the tower and using the camera in the final basement room.

This ARC Raiders quest walkthrough is based on the Riven Tides version of the quest, and it is best treated as a movement route rather than a scavenger hunt. Some guides refer to the area as Buried City, while others use Barrett City, but they are pointing you to the same map and the same four landmarks. The important part is not the label. It is recognizing the order of the locations so the objective text updates properly.

What to know before you start the route

Line in the Sand is forgiving once you know what counts as progress. Steps one and three are proximity triggers, which means you do not need to search every inch of the area for a button prompt. Step two requires a real item pickup, and step four requires a photo. If you are on PC or console, the exact input label will differ, but the interaction is still your standard loot/interact control and your normal camera/photo action at the end.

• Start on the western side of the route and move east. That keeps the quest chain clean and minimizes backtracking.
• When you loot the Marano Market Business Card in the tower, put it in your safe pocket if possible. It is the one piece of this quest that feels bad to lose.
• Do not waste time trying to “solve” step one or step three. Walking into the correct area is enough.
• Once the basement photo registers, extract instead of stretching the run for extra loot if you want the safest completion. Some guides have warned about players having to retrace steps if they leave the route half-finished.

The fastest Line in the Sand route through Buried City

The cleanest route is this: start at the derailed train near Marano Station, head uphill to the small square tower between the Warehouse and Piazza Roma side of the map, continue northeast past the Library and Hospital area to the Market Ruins, then push east and uphill into Dune’s End for the final basement photo. If you follow that path without getting distracted by side loot, the quest is short. The hard part is only navigation.

Step 1: Investigate the derailed train south of Marano Station

Your first stop is the blue derailed train cars sticking out of the sand south of Marano Station. Think of the location as sitting between the Warehouse and Piazza Roma side of the western-central map. If you are looking at tracks, scrub, and a half-buried train body, you are in the right place. You do not need to open anything, scan anything, or stand in a very specific tiny pixel-perfect spot. Just approach the wreck closely enough for the objective to update.

This is the first place the quest wastes player time, because the wording makes it sound more interactive than it is. If nothing happens, the usual fix is simple: circle the cars once, get right up beside the wreckage, and watch for the quest text to tick over. Searching nearby crates or bushes will not help. The train itself is the trigger.

Step 2: Loot the detonator in the small hilltop tower

From the derailed train, move uphill toward the small square tower overlooking the area between Warehouse and Piazza Roma. It is not a large landmark, which is why players run past it, but it stands out once you stop expecting a full-size structure. You are looking for a compact tower with a railing that you can climb over or up onto.

Inside or on the corner of that tower area, check the southwest side for a bush-hidden interact point. This is the detonator. Loot it to obtain the Marano Market Business Card. Unlike the train and the market ruin step, this one absolutely does require an item pickup. If the quest is not moving forward, nine times out of ten this is the step that was not completed properly.

As soon as you grab the business card, stash it safely if your inventory setup allows it. That is the practical difference between a smooth quest run and an annoying one. You can survive a lot of wandering in Line in the Sand, but losing the required clue item after finding the tower is needless pain.

Step 3: Enter the Market Ruins for the thruster valve clue

After the tower, continue northeast across the map. A good way to orient yourself is to move past the Library and Hospital side of Buried City and keep pushing toward the northeastern ruined structures. This next objective is called the Market Ruins, but the awkward part is that players often expect a clean map label or a big sign spelling out “Marano Market.” Do not wait for that. The right destination is the ruined market-like building in the northeast corner area.

Walk into the ruin and let the quest update. Again, there is no major interaction here. You are confirming the location where the thruster valves were stashed. If you find yourself checking every shelf, doorway, and broken wall for a pickup prompt, you are overthinking it. The ruin itself is the step.

This is also where the quest’s pacing finally makes sense. The train tells you something went wrong, the tower tells you who set it up, and the market ruin tells you where the stolen cargo moved next. If you follow that story chain, the route becomes much easier to remember on repeat runs.

Step 4: Search the merchant’s apartment in Dune’s End

From the Market Ruins, go east and uphill into Dune’s End on the far eastern side of the map. The final area has a more enclosed, vertical feel than the earlier steps, so this is where players sometimes start second-guessing whether they are supposed to search upper rooms first. You are not finishing the quest on the top floor. You need the basement.

Enter the building, follow the route inward, and take the way down into the basement. Depending on how you approach the interior, guides describe this as using a door and then a zipline, or using the building’s downward access into the lower level. The key point is the same in every version: get into the basement room and look for the pile of cardboard boxes.

Once you are in front of the boxes, use the camera/photo action. That photograph is the final confirmation for the quest. If the prompt does not appear immediately, move closer, center the boxes more clearly, and try again. This final step is easy to miss because many games train you to interact with evidence directly, but Line in the Sand ends with documentation, not looting.

Common mistakes that make Line in the Sand feel bugged

• Hunting for an interaction at the train: you only need proximity. Get close to the derailed cars and let the objective tick over.
• Skipping the tower loot: the detonator step is not just a visit. You must pick up the business card.
• Looking for a map-perfect “market” label: the Market Ruins are a location cue, not a clearly signed storefront.
• Stopping in Dune’s End before reaching the basement: the final evidence is below, not in the first room you enter.
• Forgetting the photo: standing near the boxes is not enough. The camera action is what completes the last objective.
• Losing the business card in a bad fight: safe-pocket it as soon as you can if you are carrying valuable quest progress.

Why this route works better than wandering clue to clue

The smartest way to complete Line in the Sand in Arc Raiders is to ignore the temptation to interpret every line of flavor text literally. This is not a mystery you solve by deduction in the field. It is a tightly ordered chain of four landmarks placed across Buried City. Once you recognize that, the quest becomes one of the more efficient exploration runs in Riven Tides.

That is also why the west-to-east route matters. The geography supports it. You begin near the rail evidence, pivot to the sabotage point, continue to the stash location, and then finish at the apartment basement where the investigation pays off. Trying to freestyle the order can still leave you near the right places, but it tends to create the exact confusion the quest is already bad at avoiding.