Escape From Tarkov “Needle in a Haystack” Quest Guide

Mechanic sends you to six investigation locations across Ground Zero, Interchange, Streets of Tarkov and Shoreline.

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Needle in a Haystack has six investigation objectives spread across four maps. Mark off each location as you visit, including two separate stops on both Interchange and Shoreline.

Requirements and objectives

Mechanic gives the quest, which follows Shady Contractor. No character-level requirement is specified here.

Map	Objective	Location
Ground Zero	Investigate the courtyard park by TerraGroup HQ.	In front of the TerraGroup building.
Interchange	Investigate the kart track.	In front of the shopping mall.
Interchange	Investigate the indoor children’s playground.	Inside the mall, in front of the IDEA store.
Streets of Tarkov	Investigate the children’s playground by Concordia.	In the Concordia building’s courtyard.
Shoreline	Investigate the coast-side construction site.	Along the southern main road.
Shoreline	Investigate the children’s playground by the Health Resort.	Behind the Health Resort’s east wing.

Needed equipment

No quest-specific equipment is listed.

How to complete Needle in a Haystack

Three Needle in a Haystack location maps highlighting the TerraGroup courtyard, Interchange outdoor kart track and first-floor IDEA playground. — Investigate the courtyard outside TerraGroup HQ on Ground Zero, the outdoor kart track at Interchange, and the first-floor IDEA playground.

Three Needle in a Haystack maps marking the Resort east-wing playground, coastal construction site and Concordia playground. — Investigate the playground behind the Resort’s east wing, the Shoreline coastline construction site and the western Concordia courtyard playground on Streets of Tarkov.

Visit and investigate all six locations, using the map and objective names above to distinguish the two targets on Interchange and Shoreline. Ground Zero and Streets of Tarkov each have one objective. Track all six investigations in your objective list.

Rewards

10,000 EXP
1 Ammunition case

Escape from Tarkov is a hardcore and realistic online first-person action RPG/Simulator with MMO features and story-driven walkthrough.

Genre Shooter, Role-playing (RPG), Simulator, Tactical
Platforms PC (Microsoft Windows)
Perspective First person
Modes Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative, Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO)
Release November 15, 2025
Publisher Battlestate Games