Steam Achievement Sets beta splits achievements into groups

Valve has started a beta of Steam Achievement Sets, the biggest change to Steam’s achievement system in years. The feature was announced in a Steam News post on 15 October and is available now in the Steam Client beta and in a first batch of supporting games.

What changes for players

Until now, a game’s achievements on Steam have been one long list. With sets, developers can split that list into named groups that suit the game. Valve’s examples include single-player and multiplayer sets, or eight sets for eight character classes.

• Each set has its own progress bar, so you can see what is left in, say, the story campaign without wading through online achievements.
• Finishing a set adds a completion badge to your profile, VGC reports, and that badge is preserved even if more achievements are added to the set later.
• DLC no longer ruins a perfect game. In Valve’s words, new sets for added content “make it easy for returning players to see what new things they can unlock, while also preserving their prior completion status until they play again.”

A redesigned achievements page, reached from the game list in your Steam Library, shows overall progress, progress per set and details for each achievement.

Archiving: seasonal achievements become possible

Developers can also archive single achievements or entire sets. Archived achievements don’t appear on the profiles of players who missed them, and they don’t block completion of a set or game. Valve says “anytime an achievement can no longer be unlocked by users, it should be archived”. That would cover, for example, multiplayer achievements after a game’s servers shut down. It also suggests using archiving for season-based or time-limited holiday achievements.

What developers need to do

According to the Steamworks announcement, no game patch or SDK update is needed. Existing achievements and unlock calls keep working, and sets are configured in a rebuilt Achievements editor in Steamworks, which also supports a developer-only mode for testing new achievements before players see them.

Games already using sets

The first 17 titles include Portal 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, Forza Horizon 5, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, Euro Truck Simulator 2, Crusader Kings III, DREDGE and PowerWash Simulator 2, with more to follow. To try it, opt into the Steam Client beta in Steam’s settings.

Upgrading your setup while you hunt achievements? Read our gaming monitor guide and how to choose a gaming headset. For another PC store update, see Epic’s AI features in its launcher.