Steam Achievement Sets Enter Beta, Separating DLC From Base-Game Completion

Steam Achievement Sets are now in beta, giving games separate progress groups for base-game, DLC, seasonal, and other achievements without automatically undoing a player’s previous completion. The redesigned experience is available for a growing group of supported games through the Steam Client Beta and Steam’s web achievement pages.

Valve introduced the system in its official Steam announcement on October 15. This is specifically an Achievement Sets beta for players and game developers, accompanied by a Steam Client Beta update; it is not yet described as a rollout to every user on the stable Steam client.

How Steam Achievement Sets change completion

Developers can divide a game’s achievements into collections built around DLC, modes, classes, chapters, events, or other useful groupings. Unlocking an achievement still works as before, but Steam now presents supported games as multiple sets, each with its own progress bar and a “set complete” trophy.

Every game has a Base Game set for achievements available to all players. A DLC set can be restricted to players who own the relevant add-on, with its progress shown separately. DLC achievements do not count toward overall game progress until the player has access to that content, so an expansion can add a new set without stripping completion from someone who finished the base game.

Valve says completed sets remain completed even if more achievements are added later. Developers can also archive individual achievements or entire sets when seasonal events end or content can no longer be earned. Players who already unlocked archived content keep it on their profiles, while it no longer blocks completion for everyone else.

The achievements page has been rebuilt

The updated page shows overall progress, separate set progress, and individual achievement details in one place. Global unlock rates are now available through a toggle instead of a separate page, while search can filter by achievement set and by locked or unlocked status.

Friend comparison has also expanded to support up to three friends at once, including rare achievements, completed sets, and DLC-set progress. Because the new total counts achievements a particular player can actually earn, two friends may see different totals based on their owned add-ons and any archived or time-limited content.

Elsewhere on Steam, the Perfect Games tab has been renamed Completed and now includes games with finished achievement sets. Completed sets can appear in the Completionist Showcase, and set progress is surfaced in Recently Played, the Games List, the Library, and supported Store pages. Family Sharing titles now appear in the Games List, and friends with playtime through Family Sharing are eligible for comparison.

What developers need to do

Valve’s updated Steamworks achievements documentation says Achievement Sets are configured entirely through Steamworks. Games continue to unlock achievements with the same API names and calls, so implementing sets does not require a Steamworks SDK update or new game code.

Developers can create up to 40 sets including the base-game set, restrict a set to DLC owners, build developer-only sets for testing, archive retired content, and manage definitions and localization in bulk. Valve recommends creating new sets for new DLC, updates, or modes instead of adding achievements to a previously completed set.

The initial supported list includes Against the Storm, Age of Wonders 4, American Truck Simulator, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, Crusader Kings III, DREDGE, Euro Truck Simulator 2, Forza Horizon 5, Flock Around, He is Coming, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, Left 4 Dead 2, Portal 2, PowerWash Simulator, PowerWash Simulator 2, Team Fortress 2, and Victoria 3.

Steam has not announced when Achievement Sets will leave beta or reach every stable-client user.

Do separate base-game and DLC completion goals make Steam achievements more useful to you?