The Can Em All vacuum upgrade comes down to two nodes, and both cost $50: Bigger Bag takes your carry capacity from 20 to 40, and Long Shot takes your suction range from 3 metres to 4 metres. The vacuum itself is the bigger upgrade than either of them, because buying it early is what makes the shift timer stop mattering.
Can Em All vacuum upgrade: two nodes that matter
| Upgrade | Effect | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Bigger Bag | Increase vacuum storage capacity, 20 to 40 | $50 |
| Long Shot | Increase vacuum suction range, 3m to 4m | $50 |
There is nothing else in the vacuum branch to spend on. Buy both, in either order, as soon as you have $100 spare.
Bigger Bag and Long Shot, side by side
Bigger Bag doubles how much you can hold before you have to make a trip. Capacity goes from 20 to 40. Later in a run the limit shown on the panel is much larger, and the official screenshots show 1000 as the cap — so the early 20 and 40 are just the starting numbers, not the ceiling.
Long Shot adds one metre of suction range, from 3m to 4m. That extra metre is worth more than it sounds, because it decides whether you can pull a creature across the room or have to walk to it.
If you can only afford one, buy the bag. Trips to the crusher and the tube are what actually cost you time, and the range only saves you a step or two.
Why the vacuum is the first thing to buy
Unlocking the vacuum early is the single biggest time saver in the game. It saves so much time that the shift timer stops being the thing you are racing.
- Buy the vacuum before any weapon past the knife.
- Buy Bigger Bag and Long Shot as soon as $100 is spare.
- Only then look at the machine tree.
With the vacuum running and a straight belt carrying cans away, you can let the line work without babysitting it, which is the whole point. The rest of the early priorities are in the early game tips guide.
Reading the vacuum counters
The panel on the right of the screen shows what the vacuum is holding, with a separate count for bodies and a separate count for cans, plus the capacity limit — for example 448 / 1000.
That last number is the reason the upgrade matters: once you hit the limit, the vacuum simply stops collecting until you empty it. If the bodies counter is full and the cans counter is not, you are wasting trips. Which counter is even active depends on a mode switch, and the vacuum controls guide explains how the scroll wheel works and why the wrong mode looks like a broken vacuum.
What to buy after the bag and the range
Once the vacuum is upgraded, the next purchases in order are:
- The crusher pit, so what you collect has somewhere to go.
- The conveyor belt, so finished cans leave the floor without you carrying them.
- The machines that automate feeding.
Each of those unlocks the next, and the full chain is in the machine unlock order guide.