Leaf It Alone Walkthrough: Hometown, Castle & Sakura Guide

Leaf it Alone starts with you picking up leaves one at a time for twenty cents a bag. Before long you're blasting leaves into vents with a maxed leaf blower. The yard is split into small areas, and finishing each one gives you a reward such as a new ability, a leaf value boost, bonus cash or access to a new area, so the order you clean in matters. This Leaf it Alone walkthrough covers the full Hometown map in play order, the upgrades worth buying first, every missable item, and the routes through the Castle and Sakura maps added in version 1.1.

Eternity released the game on Steam on Oct 30, 2025. The free 1.1 update arrived on Oct 30, 2026. It added the Castle and Sakura maps, raised the total to 500K leaves across all three maps, and expanded the achievement list to 54, with 18 per map. Story Mode plays the maps in sequence. Custom Mode lets you set your own starting money, the tools you begin with, and even start with all upgrades unlocked. Since Patch v1.1.7, achievements can be earned in Custom Mode without Ranked Mode, as long as the default parameters are applied. You can find the game on its Steam store page.

How Hometown Progression Works

Hometown is divided into separate areas, each with its own reward. Press TAB to open the Journal and hover over sections of its map to see collected and total leaves. Leaves count toward the area they started in, wherever they end up, so a leaf blown out of the Entrance still counts for the Entrance.

Area	Reward
Porch (100%)	Bag tying
Entrance (100%)	+25% leaf value
Front Yard (100%)	Move speed bonus
Driveway (100%)	Move speed bonus
Court (100%)	Sprint
Garage (100%)	$7.50 shekleaves bonus
Swings (100%)	Crouch
Basement (50% / 100%)	Leaf value bonus / Shed area access
Shed (100%)	Grill area access
Pool (50% / 100%)	+0.25x leaf value / Greenhouse access
Grill (100%)	$15 shekleaves bonus
Maze (100%)	Upgrade strength +10% on all purchased upgrades
Greenhouse (100%)	Secret Room key

Leaf inlets are the vents around the yard. They suck in nearby leaves and pay you instantly, but most of them cost money to repair first.

Inlet	Repair cost
Porch, right side	$0
Pool	$15
Path to the Greenhouse	$25

Front of the House: Porch, Entrance, Front Yard and Driveway

Image: Steam / Eternity

1. As soon as you spawn, repair the free inlet on the right side of the Porch. It costs nothing and gives you quick early cash.
2. Spend your first coins on hand upgrades. Greedy Grasp raises how many leaves you grab at once. Dexterity shortens the pickup interval. Fluid Picker lets you hold the button instead of clicking for every leaf.
3. Buy the Medium Leaf Bag ($0.75, 200 leaves) in the Shed. That purchase unlocks Novice Investor. The Large Leaf Bag ($3.49, 500 leaves) comes next.
4. Clear the Porch to unlock bag tying. Once a bag is full, tie it, then throw it at a trash bin.
5. Clear the Entrance before you start cashing in large amounts, since it raises your leaf value by 25%.
6. Save up for the Rake ($7.49). Its upgrades are Handle Length, Sweep Radius and Leaf Stickiness. Rake leaves into one tight pile, then hand-pick from a single spot.
7. Clear the Front Yard and Driveway for two move speed bonuses.

Photos here:

• Photo 1: Shed, on the pinboard on the left wall
• Photo 2: Porch fence facing the trash can, near the corner

The Court and Getting Into the Garage

Image: Steam / Eternity

1. Clear the Court to unlock sprint. Photo 3 is on the back side of the basketball hoop.
2. Go to the Shed and hold the garage button until the door is fully open. It starts closing slowly as soon as you let go.
3. Sprint and jump toward the garage. Once you're inside, I am speed unlocks.
4. If you can't make it in time, finish the Front Yard and Driveway for extra speed. Speedrunners skip the Court entirely: they stand in the Shed doorway with only one speed bonus, spam the button a few times after it fully opens, and bunny hop over.
5. Clear the Garage for its $7.50 bonus. Photo 4 is also in the Garage.

Back of the House: Swings, Basement and Shed Roof

Image: Steam / Eternity

1. From the Garage, head into the Swings area. Photo 5 is on the electrical box on the side of the house, to your left as you leave the garage.
2. The cellar hatch on the right is already open. Head down into the Basement. Photo 6 sits on the shelves, next to a big wine bottle.
3. Clean the Basement to 50% before you sell any bags from it to get its leaf value bonus. Clean it to 100% to unlock the Shed area (Shed Happens).
4. Clean the Shed to 100% for the Grill key, then enter the Grill area for Vacationist.
5. Clear the Swings to unlock crouch. You need crouch to finish the game, so don't skip this area.

Buy the Leaf Blower ($49.99) around this point. Its upgrades are Power, Air Spread and Airstream Width. The blower handles corners badly, so rake leaves off walls and furniture first, then blow the pile into an inlet.

Grill, Pool, Maze and Greenhouse

1. Photo 7 is in the Grill area, to the right of the door into the house.
2. Repair the $15 Pool inlet and blow everything down into the pool basin. Remember to clean the pool interior, the border and the loungers. Clearing 50% of the Pool gives +0.25x leaf value, and 100% gives you the key to the big wooden gate in the Grill area (King of the Jungle).
3. The Grill's tables and benches trap leaves. Rake them out from underneath, or pick the stragglers up by hand.
4. Clean the Maze early. Its +10% upgrade strength boosts every upgrade you've already bought.
5. Pay $25 for the Greenhouse path inlet. Pile leaves into a corner of the Greenhouse before you blow them out. Photo 8 is tucked inside the scarecrow's coat, and it's easiest to spot when you enter from the Maze side.
6. Clearing the Greenhouse to 100% gives you the Secret Room key.

The Secret Room and Missable Achievements

The vent on the Basement's rear wall leads to the ending, and you need crouch to crawl through it. You can keep playing after the ending, but money stops counting once you reach it. Finish all of the following first:

• Trashketball: tie a bag and dump it in a trash bin from at least 15 m away. Sprint, jump and throw mid-jump for extra distance.
• Dunk like you're drunk: throw the basketball, the beach ball and a tied leaf bag through the hoop. Keep one or two bags of leaves in reserve for this.
• Leaf of Faith: gather at least 1,000 leaves into one pile and jump into it.
• Seal the Deal: tie 5,000 leaves into bags. With maxed 500-leaf bags, that's 10 bags.
• Work smart, not hard: earn $700 in one run. Clear the Porch, then tie bags but don't sell any. Get the Entrance at 100%, the Basement at 50% and the Pool at 50% first, then dump every bag at once. Buying upgrades doesn't lower the total.
• Craftsman: reach the Secret Room without repairing a single inlet. Hovering over an inlet is fine; just don't click it.
• Need for Sweep: finish under 40 minutes. One route that works: Porch for bag tying, Driveway for a speed bonus, the garage door trick, then Basement, Shed and Pool. Keep $15 for the Pool inlet and $25 for the Greenhouse inlet, and rely on the rake. Pausing the game also pauses the timer, and the built-in game timer can be turned on in settings.

Castle Map Route

You start the new map with some upgrades already unlocked.

1. The shop is beneath the Dinette, and Card 1 is under the bottom shelf of a cabinet inside it.
2. Pass the crossbow test with 70 points for Bullseye. Score exactly 67 points at the shooting range for The 67 Club.
3. Clear the Hallway to unlock petal sorting. You can hover over a petal and press a number key instead of dragging it.
4. Clear the Fresco to unlock the Dinette. Card 2 is behind the shield next to the squirrel at the Fresco, and Card 3 is near the exit of the Dining Room, just before the Stairs.
5. In the Library tower, shelve all the scattered books (Librarian).
6. Ring My Bell: climb the Library bookshelf and drop a bag onto the bell. The bell has to ring for the achievement to trigger. You can also shoot the Armory tower bell with the crossbow about four times, firing at the peak of each forward swing.
7. To sell a leaf bag for $10, max Bag Capacity, collect the leaf value bonuses from the Terrace, Fresco and Shooting Range, and buy the Large Leaf Bag ($7.49) and then the Giant Leaf Bag ($14.99, 800 capacity). Fill one up and dump it in a trash bin.

Card 4 sits on the castle battlements in the Ruins area, and you can also spot it from the Dining Room.

Sakura Map Route

1. Unlock the temple area for Indiana Brooms.
2. Unlock Suction Mode for the blower. It turns the blower into a vacuum that sends leaves into your bag, and sucking up 10,000 leaves earns Herbivore.
3. Temple → Lanterns and Shrines. Light every hanging lantern for Bright Idea.
4. Buy the mini tractor in the park (They see me rollin'), then fully upgrade it for Pimp My Tractor.
5. Dispose of the leaf bags spread across the park for Bag to Basics.
6. Grab the nut by the Ancient Tree to finish Story Mode.

Two battle cards are easy to miss: one is tucked on a tree in the Lanterns area, and another is stuck on a lamp in the Recreation area.

FAQ

I'm stuck at 99.9% in an area. Where's the last leaf?

Check under grill tables, around benches, in sunflower pots, along the edge of the Shed roof, under ivy, on top of hedges and inside fire pits. Switching leaf visibility makes strays easier to spot, and reloading the save sometimes makes a missing leaf appear.

Can I miss achievements by finishing Hometown?

Yes. Entering the Basement vent ends the run, and money stops counting after that. Finish everything, including the throwing challenges, before you crawl in.