Escape from Tarkov Tour story chapter walkthrough: step-by-step objectives and every map unlock from Streets and Interchange to Reserve and the Lab.
Tour Escape From Tarkov: the First Story Chapter Walkthrough and Map Unlocks
Tour is the first story chapter in Escape from Tarkov 1.0 — the guided progression that walks you through the traders and unlocks direct access to most of the maps after the Ground Zero tutorial. It is the quest that decides whether you can pick Streets, Interchange, Customs, Factory, Woods, Shoreline, Reserve, Lighthouse and the Lab from the location screen, and it costs real money along the way (250,000 Roubles for Streets, 20,000 USD for Lighthouse). This guide walks through every step in order, lists what each step unlocks, covers the Black Division story context, and answers the related quest questions that players hit at the same time.
Official resources: IGN — Tour Walkthrough · Official wiki — Story chapters · Official wiki — Delivery From the Past · Steam store page
What the Tour Story Chapter Is
Tour is the opening of the 1.0 story system — a series of ten story chapters (Tour, Falling Skies, The Ticket and more) that replaced the old "just spawn in and figure it out" onboarding. After the Ground Zero tutorial, Tour picks you up and walks you through the first traders — Therapist, Ragman, Skier, Mechanic, Prapor — while unlocking the maps one by one (IGN's Tour walkthrough, Destructoid's Tour guide).
Why it matters beyond the tutorial: before Tour, several maps are greyed out or reachable only via transit — which is exactly the situation the Woods map guide describes for direct access. Completing Tour unlocks direct map selection, and the follow-up chapters continue the story (the final chapter, The Ticket, culminates in the Terminal raid where you can actually escape).
Per the official Escape from Tarkov Wiki — Story chapters, Tour is the first story chapter, and progressing through the story is how players unlock direct access to maps and the game's endings.
Tour Step-by-Step Walkthrough
The chapter is a sequence of trader introductions and survive-and-extract objectives (IGN step guide, with objective specifics cross-checked against community walkthroughs):
Step 1 — Therapist: unlock Streets of Tarkov. After the tutorial, talk to Therapist and pay 250,000 Roubles to unlock Streets. If you are short, run Ground Zero again and sell unneeded supplies.
Step 2 — Ragman: survive Interchange. Ragman asks you to scout Interchange — load in, loot, and extract alive (Railway or Emcom are the free exits; the car extract at the power station costs 20,000 Roubles). No specific item needed.
Step 3 — Skier: survive Customs and hand over 5 building materials. Extract from Customs and deliver 5 building materials found in raid (check the item category with Inspect; Ground Zero and Customs are both good sources).
Step 4 — Mechanic: survive Factory and hand over 2 weapons. Survive Factory (the game's most PvP-dense map) and deliver 2 weapons found in raid. Your starting weapon counts as one — Scav runs are the easy way to find the second.
Step 5 — Woods: 3 kills + extract. Kill three targets (PMCs or Scavs) on Woods and extract. The kills and the extract do not have to happen in the same raid. This is the step that also unlocks Shoreline — the Woods map guide has the early quest locations.
Step 6 — Shoreline: contact the soldiers, unlock Reserve. Head to the Port Terminal area on the east side of Shoreline (by the road to Customs), find the intercom, contact the soldiers, and extract. Then hand 5 dog tags to Prapor (they do not need to be found in raid) to unlock Reserve.
Step 7 — Mechanic: pay to unlock Lighthouse. Hand over 20,000 USD to Mechanic (buy USD from Peacekeeper or sell valuables from Reserve safes and file cabinets).
Step 8 — Access the Secret TerraGroup Facility (The Lab). Obtain a The Lab access card, then take the transit to Labs — from Streets (via the Expo checkpoint, near the Kamchatska Arch) or from Factory (via the sewer). Once inside, scout the three locations (the sewer conduit area, the server room, and the administration office). You do not need to survive this raid — just visit the spots and the objective completes.
The 250K Roubles fee is the first wallet check in 1.0. Ground Zero re-runs plus selling quest-redundant loot covers it in an hour — selling your starting gear to hit the fee is how players end up broke in Customs with no kit. The same financial planning drives the early-season playbook.
What Tour Unlocks: The Map Access Table
| Step | Unlock |
|---|---|
| Start (post-tutorial) | Ground Zero, Factory, Customs transit access |
| Step 1 (Therapist, 250K₽) | Streets of Tarkov direct access |
| Step 2 (Ragman) | Interchange |
| Step 3 (Skier) | Customs direct access |
| Step 4 (Mechanic) | Factory direct access |
| Step 5 (Woods kills) | Woods direct access + Shoreline |
| Step 6 (Port Terminal + dog tags) | Reserve |
| Step 7 (20,000 USD) | Lighthouse |
| Step 8 (Lab card + scouting) | The Lab |
Black Division and the 1.0 Story
Tour sits inside the bigger 1.0 story framework, which introduces the Black Division — the shadowy faction that dominates the post-1.0 narrative and the Kord Breach season. Black Division operatives appear as story enemies, in the season's battle-pass content (Black Division cosmetics and weapons), and in the seasonal storyline (Insider Gaming's 1.1.0 patch coverage). If you are new, Tour is where the faction is first name-dropped; the chapters after it (Falling Skies, The Ticket) build the actual story, and the Kord Breach season adds its own Black Division questline — see the patch notes guide for what 1.1.0.0 added.
Related Quest Questions Players Hit at the Same Time
Delivery from the Past (Prapor, level 5) — a classic early quest that pairs naturally with Tour's Customs step: find the secure folder in the Tarcone Director's office at the Customs terminal warehouse (requires the Tarcone Director's office key), extract from Customs, then stash the package in the break room on the 2nd floor near Gate 3 on Factory. You do not need to survive the Factory stage — the objective completes on placement. Rewards: +4,000 EXP, Prapor rep +0.03, 20,000 Roubles, and a Saiga-12K (official wiki — Delivery From the Past, AltChar's walkthrough).
"Can't turn in the quest with the Factory cellars key" — this is a known reward-display bug tied to the Gunsmith Part 4 reward, where a "Factory Cellars Key" appears as the reward (Mechanic listing 9999 of them in the message) but the key is a placeholder that cannot be collected — it happens when a quest reward bugs out, often in PvE where a Ref barter doesn't exist. The quest itself completes; the key slot is simply broken. Verify your quest state after a restart and check your messages tab — community reports confirm the key is not required for any turn-in (Reddit — Factory Cellars Key bug, Reddit — placeholder explanation).
Skier's task to kill Partizan — a Skier side task added in the post-1.0 task pool asks you to eliminate Partizan, the trapper boss who roams Customs, Woods, Shoreline and Lighthouse and hunts low-karma PMCs. Tips: low karma makes him come to you, he sets tripwires and ambushes rather than pushing, and in solo PvE you are his only target so he will find you — bring a suppressed weapon and watch for the traps (Epiccarry's Partizan guide). Shoreline players can combine this with the Shoreline map guide's routes.
The Lab access card is the bottleneck — it drops randomly on Streets and other maps, and the flea price is steep. Do not force it: run your normal Streets/Customs tasks and the card appears; the scouting raid itself is safe because you do not need to survive it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Tour quest in Escape from Tarkov?
Tour is the first story chapter in 1.0 — a guided progression through the traders that unlocks direct access to Streets, Interchange, Customs, Factory, Woods, Shoreline, Reserve, Lighthouse and the Lab after the Ground Zero tutorial.
How do I unlock maps in Escape from Tarkov 1.0?
Progress through the Tour story chapter: pay Therapist 250,000 Roubles (Streets), survive Interchange for Ragman, survive Customs + 5 building materials for Skier, survive Factory + 2 weapons for Mechanic, 3 Woods kills, contact the Shoreline soldiers + 5 dog tags for Reserve, pay 20,000 USD for Lighthouse, and scout the Lab with an access card.
How much does it cost to unlock Streets of Tarkov?
250,000 Roubles, paid to Therapist during the first Tour step. The Lighthouse unlock later costs 20,000 USD.
How do I complete Delivery from the Past?
Take the secure folder from the Tarcone Director's office on Customs (key required), extract, then stash it in the Factory break room on the 2nd floor near Gate 3. The Factory stage does not require surviving.
Why can't I turn in the Factory cellars key quest?
That is a known reward bug on Gunsmith Part 4 where the "Factory Cellars Key" shows as an uncollectable placeholder reward (it appears when a quest reward barter bugs out). The quest completes; the key is not needed for any turn-in.
Related Guides
- Escape From Tarkov Wipe — what wipes, what carries over, and Season 1
- Escape From Tarkov Shoreline Map — extracts, keys, loot and Sanitar
- Escape From Tarkov Woods Map — extracts, keys, loot and Shturman
- Escape From Tarkov Patch Notes — how to follow every update
Last updated: August 13, 2026.
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