Three years ago you finished every achievement in a game. Then a DLC arrived with five new achievements, and your perfect completion slipped to 94% without you doing anything. Anyone who hunts achievements on Steam knows how that feels, and Valve has finally decided to fix it.
Valve’s answer is a feature called Achievement Sets. It is the largest change to Steam’s achievement system in years, and you can try it now in the Steam Client beta.
Once you hit 100%, it stays there
Achievement Sets let developers sort a game’s achievements into separate groups. One set could cover the base game and another the DLC, or a studio could split single-player from multiplayer.
Every set has its own progress bar. If you unlock every achievement in a set, you earn a “Set Complete” trophy that appears on your Steam profile. Most importantly, that completion is permanent, even if the developer adds more achievements to the set later.
This fixes two problems players have complained about for years. The first is when an update or DLC suddenly drops you below 100%. The second is worse: some achievements were tied to limited-time events or online modes that have since been shut down, so certain games could no longer be fully completed at all.
Blue means base game, purple means DLC
Valve is also adding color coding. Achievements from the base game appear in blue, and DLC achievements appear in purple.
One small but welcome change: achievements from DLC you don’t own no longer count toward the game’s overall completion percentage. You won’t be penalized for content you never bought.
Developers also get a new option to archive achievements. They can retire achievements that can no longer be earned, and players who already unlocked them get to keep them. You keep your bragging rights, and nobody is stuck chasing an achievement that can’t be earned anymore.
A new achievements page and a renamed tab
Steam’s achievements page has also been redesigned. It has better search, filters for locked and unlocked achievements, more detailed progress tracking, and a way to compare your progress with up to three friends. (Choose those three carefully.)
Profiles are changing too. The Perfect Games tab has been renamed Completed, and it now lists both fully finished games and completed Achievement Sets.
Games that already support it
A few games already support the feature: Portal 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, DREDGE, Forza Horizon 5, Crusader Kings III and Euro Truck Simulator 2.
There is a catch. For now, you have to opt into the Steam Client Beta to use any of these features, and it’s up to each game’s developers whether they add support. Valve has not announced a date for the stable release.
Still, if you keep a spreadsheet of games you haven’t finished, this is a change you’ve likely wanted for a long time. Somewhere, a Euro Truck Simulator 2 completionist just got their trophy back.