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Map Routing and Corrupted Zones

By ScotPublished Updated Sources checked

Tactical Quick Answer

Roboquest has 17 stages across four chapters, and your route decides which challenges and secrets you meet. Every run starts in the Canyons, whose break area branches to the Oasis by default, the Ruins with the Ruins Key, or the Quarry with the Quarry Key. Harmony Square, the alternate Act 3 stage added in v1.3, opens only if you finish Haven City with the run timer under 22:00.

Roboquest is not a strictly linear game. There are 17 stages across four chapters, and your route determines the challenges you face and the secrets you can uncover.

Canyons Structure​

Every run begins in the Canyons. This starting area teaches you the structure of a stage. It divides roughly into five parts, though these are descriptive labels and not names the game shows you:

  1. Entry area: The initial landing zone.
  2. First-half main combat: The first major fight.
  3. Corrupted challenge area: An optional, harder section offering better rewards.
  4. Break area: A safe zone containing deployable bots and Papy Pawn, where the map splits three ways.
  5. Second-half main combat: The run to the exit.

The Canyons has no boss. To clear it you just have to reach the ending, with no boss fight and no checks to pass. Your first boss of a run comes at the end of whichever Chapter 1 stage you pick next.

Branching Paths​

At the break area in the Canyons, you choose your next destination. Two of the three doors are locked at first, and the keys are permanent. Once you find one it stays unlocked on every future run, so the chain below spans several runs without being unfollowable.

  • Oasis: Open from the beginning. This is the standard route for early runs.
  • Ruins: Needs the Ruins Key, which sits in the Oasis break area. So running the Oasis is what opens the Ruins.
  • Quarry: Needs the Quarry Key, which is in the Fields Tech Room. That room is itself locked behind the separate Tech Room Key, found in the Ruins Old Sewers. Two different keys, and collapsing them into one is why this step confuses people.

A common roadblock is the elevated door inside the Excavation Site, the Quarry's secret area. It leads to The Pit, the corrupted Quarry, which holds a red Power Crystal and the boss El'Moustiko.

Before any of that, the Excavation Site needs a 3-digit code, written on a metal plate to the left of the Quarry door back in the Canyons break area. The code differs between save files, so you have to read your own.

The door itself sits higher than a double jump reaches. Two things get you up there:

  • Pogo Stick: the gadget's charged mega-jump clears roughly 12 meters against a double jump's 5, and trivializes the problem entirely.
  • The Rocket Jump alt-fire: a weapon affix that triggers an explosion propelling you into the air, on a 6-second cooldown. It is a property of the gun, not of any class, so anyone can use it with the right roll.

Rocket-jumping with the Commando's Rocket does not work, and neither does firing a heavy weapon straight down at the apex of a jump. The Beluga Cannon in particular is a cryo energy weapon and not an explosive one, having started life as the Ice Cannon.

Harmony Square (the Act 3 alternate)​

Harmony Square is a stage added in the Super Update (v1.3), built using the Haven City biome. It is an alternate to District XIII, so it replaces Chapter 3's second stage instead of offering a different way through Haven City itself. Both routes lead on to The Moon.

Reaching Harmony Square is required to unlock the Superbot class, because it holds the Battery Bowtie.

The gate is a speed check and it is tighter than it sounds. You must complete Haven City's objective, which means killing all four Goliaths, and reach the Harmony Square door with your total run timer still under 22:00. The clock covers the whole run, so the pressure is on every stage before Haven City and not on Haven City alone. Canyons into Quarry into Aqua Station into Waste Station is the route people use for it.

Frequently Asked Questions​

Where can you go after the Canyons in Roboquest?

The Oasis, the Ruins, or the Quarry. The Oasis is open from the start. The Ruins needs the Ruins Key from the Oasis break area. The Quarry needs the Quarry Key from the Fields Tech Room, which itself needs the Tech Room Key from the Ruins Old Sewers. Keys stay unlocked permanently once found.

How do you reach the high door in the Quarry?

Use the Pogo Stick gadget's charged mega-jump, or a weapon that rolled the Rocket Jump alt-fire. Those are the two methods. The Commando's Rocket does not self-boost, and the Beluga Cannon is a cryo energy weapon and not an explosive one.

How do you get to Harmony Square in Roboquest?

Complete Haven City's objective, meaning all four Goliaths, and reach the Harmony Square door with your total run timer still under 22:00. The clock covers the whole run, so every earlier stage counts. Reaching it is required to unlock Superbot.

Does the Canyons have a boss in Roboquest?

No. You just have to reach the ending, with no boss fight and no checks to pass. Your first boss comes at the end of the Chapter 1 stage you pick next, whether that is the Ruins, Oasis, or Quarry.

Is the corrupted challenge area worth doing?

It is optional and harder than the rest of the stage, and it pays out better rewards for the extra risk.