Steam tests Achievement Sets with separate base-game and DLC progress
Valve's beta groups achievements into their own completion tracks, preserves completed sets and gives DLC a separate place on the achievements page.
Steam Achievement Sets are available in the Steam Client Beta. Valve’s October 15 announcement introduces separate progress tracks inside a game’s achievement list, giving players a clearer view of what they have finished and what remains.
Completion has a place to stay
Developers can organize achievements around a game’s modes, characters or chapters. Each set tracks completion independently, so a cooperative campaign can have its own milestones alongside the single-player story.
Valve’s Steamworks documentation explains that players keep a set’s completed status when more achievements are added to it. Players still working through that set will need the newly added achievements too. Developers can instead put new content in a fresh set.
DLC and retired achievements
Base-game sets use blue progress bars, while DLC sets appear in purple. Achievements tied to DLC count toward a player’s overall progress once they have access to that content.
Developers can also archive achievements or entire sets when their content is retired. Earned achievements stay visible to the players who unlocked them; unearned archived achievements stop holding back completion.
Try it on supported games
The beta also updates the achievements page with set filters and comparisons against up to three friends. Valve’s initial supported games include Portal 2, DREDGE, Forza Horizon 5 and PowerWash Simulator 2.
On desktop, open Steam → Settings → Interface → Client Beta Participation, choose Steam Beta Update, then restart Steam when prompted. In Big Picture, the equivalent option is under Settings → System → Beta Participation.
Sets depend on each developer’s setup. A game whose achievements have not been divided into additional sets keeps them together in its base-game set.
Sources and images
- Valve: Steam Achievement Sets beta announcement
- Steamworks: set completion, DLC and archiving
- Steam Support: joining the client beta
Images: Valve, from the official announcement.