Aisles Of The Locust Co-Op Guide: Shared Progression, Group Exits and Squad Tactics

In Aisles Of The Locust multiplayer, two rules shape everything a group does: grocery list pickups are shared — any item any player grabs counts for the whole team — and the exit is a group gate, so the day does not end until every surviving player is inside the entrance safe zone together. Plan around those two facts and co-op becomes a different game from a solo trip: you split the list instead of racing it, and you never sprint for the door while a teammate is still deep in the store.

How co-op works

Group runs are formed with other players in public lobbies. Squads in recorded play range from a duo to a four-man crew, and the run opens with a difficulty choice — one squad queued straight into "violent difficulty." Finding a full group takes patience: players describe lobbies where people leave before anything starts, and some players refuse to launch with just one partner, waiting until a lobby already holds several people.

A run is a multi-day loop:

1. Survive the shopping day and collect everything on that day's list.
2. Bring everyone back to the entrance safe zone — the Locust cannot take players inside it.
3. Cash out at the checkout to end the day, then have every player click ready for the next day. In one squad's run, the game auto-readied the group after about 20 seconds.

The time between days is for individual prep. Players spend their own money before readying up ("I'm upgrading my speed. I'm ready for the next day."), so agree as a group who is saving for what.

The list grows as the days pass. One squad's first day asked for eight items, day two demanded 12 in two separate runs, and a later day reached 16. Don't plan around a memorized count — check the list fresh each day (players pull it up by pressing M) and treat every cash-out as one step in a longer run. As one four-man squad put it right after surviving day one: "that's only day one. This is not the type of thing where we finish this and we get out."

Shared versus individual progression

Revives sit between the two columns. A downed player can be picked back up by teammates ("Damn, you can even revive friends! That's so cool."), but don't build your plan around it: squads have twice concluded revive was unavailable mid-run before finding it worked again, and one player spent Robux to bring himself back. Treat any revive as a bonus when it's there, not a guarantee.

Splitting up versus staying together

Splitting up is the default because the store is enormous and the counter is shared — covering more ground beats walking in a pack. Recorded squads divide the work by position and proximity:

• Assign items before you spread: "Yeah, you go for the French fries... I'll go for everything over here."
• Give the far item to whoever is closest: "He's closer. There's no point in me going all the way down there."
• Hand off and go: "I'm at the bananas right now, bro. You get the rest, bro."
• Name the gaps out loud as the counter climbs: "Someone needs to get the cereal."
• Stop duplicating work — turn back early when your teammates already have the rest: "I'm going to start heading back cuz my other teammates probably have the other items."

Where staying together matters is the end of the day. Because the exit is a group gate, a scattered squad just burns time at the door. When the list is done, call everyone in ("Get back to the entrance, everybody"), and if someone lags, go collect them instead of waiting: "Let's go together. Let's get Corell... We can all walk to the exit together."

Handling threats as a group

The Locust punishes noise and punishes isolation, so group survival is mostly communication. The store holds other dangers too — armed shoppers, landmines, and stranger things — covered on the enemies and hazards page.

• Call position and target by name. "The Lucas is pretty close to you two" gives two players time to move before it arrives; "he's coming towards you... that was the warning" is what failing to give one sounds like. Give the all-clear as well: "It's clear. Come."
• Keep team noise down. Gunfire and commotion near teammates who don't know the Locust is coming tend to drag it straight onto them — "Don't shoot it... They're going to bring the enemy straight to me." Hold fire around the squad, and when it's close, stay quiet and low; one squad stayed alive by reminding each other that holding Ctrl makes you whisper. The stealth guide goes deeper on staying unheard.
• Distract on purpose. Buy a noise maker and use it to free pinned friends while the holder draws the Locust: "When the locust goes to me, I can throw a noise maker at you guys cuz you're stuck... We can hold it while they go shop for us." Plain noise works as bait too — "Guys, go go go make some noise... Thanks. Run."
• Lure it onto landmines. The monsters set them off themselves: "The monsters can step on the land mine." Bait it across one while the rest of the squad pushes on — just make sure your bait runner knows where every mine is (landmine details here).
• Use the safe zone as a group shield. Inside the zone the Locust can't take players: "Get in here... Yeah, he can't come get us." Call stragglers in by name, hold the zone until the timer clears — one squad counted about 10 seconds — then cash out together.
• Revive carefully. When revive is available, rescuers work from just outside the safe zone to reach the downed player ("Just out of the safe zone... Then I can try to get to you"), and chased runners get shouted advice — one squad's repeated tip was to cut corners.

Common co-op mistakes

• Roughhousing near the Locust. Players can push, punch, and bump each other with carts, and it's genuinely lethal: one pushed player was snatched and killed by the Locust seconds later, and a player who shoved a teammate over got eaten by it himself. Keep your hands to yourself while the entity is anywhere near.
• Going AFK. An idle teammate stalls the entire group: "Wouldn't be a video if we weren't waiting on Cariel... I think Coral might be AFK. This isn't good."
• Dropping mid-run. When one player's teammate left, the rest faced a solo day they weren't sure they could survive, burning extra lives to get through it.
• Panicking toward your friends. Play-fighting and screaming pull the entity onto people who didn't sign up for it: "Jelly, I will get you killed, bro."
• Treating day one like the whole game. Squads that relaxed after an early cash-out learned the loop keeps going. Spend your between-day money as if the list will grow — because it does.
• Leaving anyone behind at the gate. A lone dash for the door is wasted effort: "we all have to be in the circle... otherwise we're just wasting time."

Take your squad through the full run

Once everyone understands the multiplayer layer — shared pickups, the all-players exit, and who owns lives, purchases, and ready-ups — your group is ready for the route itself. Follow the store day by day with the main Aisles Of The Locust walkthrough, and keep the grocery list handy so no one is arguing about who has the cereal on day three.