Locusts in Unharvest serve as your primary active field-clearing skill, unlocked through the upgrade tree once you collect 10,000 harvested souls. Triggered with right-click, a swarm launches across the wheat in a wide forward path, consuming crops and channeling harvested currency back into your total. Investing into swarm upgrades transforms manual single-stalk clicking into rapid, automated field destruction.
How to Unlock and Unleash Locust Swarms
In the Unharvest demo developed by SkorpionDev, the locust ability sits in the main upgrade menu accessed by pressing Tab.
- Gather wheat stalks using manual wither clicks or passive spore infections until your skull currency reaches 10,000.
- Open the upgrade tree with Tab and purchase the Unlock locusts node.
- Aim toward dense sections of unharvested wheat and press the right mouse button (RMB) to release the swarm.
When launched, a visible swarm of insects travels outward across the terrain, eating through wheat stalks in a destructive path. According to official developer responses on the Steam forums, players can disable the circular ground aiming guide by navigating to Settings → Unleash Aim Preview.
| Upgrade Node | Unlock Cost / Progression | In-Game Effect | Demo Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unlock locusts | 10,000 skulls | Grants the active ability to release swarms with RMB | Available |
| Swarm Cooldown | Scaled costs (e.g., 2,000, 8,000, 35,000) | Reduces active recharge timer from 60 seconds downward | Available |
| Swarm Duration | Scaled tiers (e.g., 8s to 12s, 15s, 18s) | Extends active devouring time per cast | Available |
| Swarm Speed | Tiered upgrades | Increases travel speed of the moving insect cloud | Available |
| Swarm Radius | Tiered costs (e.g., 2,500 to 12m, 20m) | Widens the destruction trail carved through crops | Available |
| Swarm Count | Locked node | Increases the number of active swarms dispatched | Full game only |
| Unlock Rats | Locked node | Additional secondary swarm plague mechanism | Full game only |
Best Locust Upgrade Order and Synergies
Locust swarms cost a high baseline of 10,000 skulls, but their return on investment accelerates your economy rapidly. Player playthroughs demonstrate that swarms routinely harvest between 2,000 and 10,000 souls per release depending on wheat density and radius upgrades.
Prioritize Duration and Radius Over Base Manual Clicks
Once unlocked, early locust swarms suffer from narrow strike paths and brief runtimes. Focus early currency on:
- Swarm Radius: Widening the radius from early narrow paths up to 12 and 20 meters ensures the swarm hits dense pockets rather than carving thin, single-line strips.
- Swarm Duration: Extending duration from 6 to 12 and 18 seconds keeps the swarm active long enough to reach far borders near the barn and windmill.
- Swarm Cooldown: Lowering cooldown timers lets you launch bugs repeatedly across unfinished sections while you handle cleanup.
Pairing Swarms with Passive Spore Upgrades
Locusts function best when paired with the Spores upgrade branch (100 base skulls) and Hold to Wither (1,000 skulls). While your swarms chew through distant corners of the map, holding left-click with upgraded spread chance (up to 40%–50%) and spread radius (up to 15m) lets you decimate adjacent rows manually without downtime. Critical wither chance upgrades also apply additional bonus returns to crops harvested while swarms run in parallel.
Atmosphere and Environmental Story Notes
Clearing fields with locusts triggers progressive environmental and audio transformations across the map:
- As crop completion percentages pass 50% and climb toward 80%, the sunny sky dims into overcast twilight.
- Background bird songs fade as flocks fly away, leaving the farm in near-total silence.
- Reaching milestone clearing stages triggers eerie status messages, including "The sky is getting quiet" and "The mill stopped. Nobody came to fix it."
- Players can locate hidden interactable lore notes scattered in the fields, such as Prayer, Warning, Feast (depicting locusts), Omen (depicting the Four Horsemen), Count, and Visitor.
Once the field reaches 100% completion, the demo concludes with the prompt "Nothing left," confirming that the full release planned for December 7, 2026, will feature additional plagues like rats and blight alongside environments beyond wheat fields.
Frequently Asked Questions
What button releases the locust swarm in Unharvest?
Pressing the right mouse button (RMB) unleashes the locust swarm in the direction your reticle points. You can toggle the target indicator on or off in the game settings under Unleash Aim Preview.
Why are some locust upgrades locked in the menu?
Nodes such as Swarm Count, Unlock Rats, and Unlock Blight display a "Full game" restriction in the upgrade tree. These features cannot be unlocked within the free Steam demo.
Can locusts clear 100% of the field on their own?
Swarm paths travel autonomously across the terrain, but they frequently leave behind isolated wheat stalks along fence lines and field edges. Players generally need to combine swarms with manual walking or auto-wither to eliminate remaining stragglers for complete 100% clearance.
