Steam Achievement Sets Beta Explained

Valve is beta testing Steam Achievement Sets, a new way for developers to group achievements and help players keep track of completed progress as games add content. The feature addresses a familiar completionist headache: achievements introduced after launch can accidentally disrupt the completion status of players who have already finished a game.

Eurogamer reported on the beta on 17 October 2026. For players chasing every last unlock, clearer progress tracking should make it easier to see what’s done and what remains; achievement hunters can also find a different sort of challenge in Halo: Campaign Evolved’s achievements.

How Steam Achievement Sets work

Developers can choose how many sets a game needs and what each one covers. Valve’s examples include splitting single-player and multiplayer achievements, or creating eight sets based on a game’s classes.

Players still unlock achievements as usual, while Steam sorts them into the sets created by the developer. Each set gets its own progress bar, and completing one adds a “set complete” trophy to the player’s profile. If a developer later adds achievements to a set, Valve says its completion is preserved; developers can also add new sets as a game grows.

There are two set types. “Base Game” sets cover achievements available to everyone playing the game, with progress and trophies displayed in blue; “DLC” sets cover achievements that require extra content and appear in purple. DLC achievements don’t count towards overall game progress until a player has access to that content, allowing add-on progress to be tracked separately.

More tools, supported games and archived achievements

Valve explained that games “live longer than ever, continuing to receive updates through new DLC, expansions, and seasons”. It said achievements added with new content can be difficult to find and may accidentally break the completion status of players who had already finished the game.

The beta is available to players and developers. The updated achievements page can be opened from the web Games List or a game in the Steam Library, with search filters for sets and locked or unlocked achievements. Players can also compare progress with up to three friends, including rare achievements, completed sets and DLC-set progress.

Steam has renamed its “Perfect Games” tab “Completed”; it now covers fully completed games and games with completed achievement sets. Games played through Family Sharing appear in the Games List, and friends who played a game that way can be included in comparisons. Store and Library pages will also identify games that support sets.

The launch group includes Against the Storm, Age of Wonders 4, American Truck Simulator, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, Crusader Kings 3, 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.

A small fishing boat on the water near a red and white striped lighthouse at sunset in Dredge. — Gameplay from the fishing adventure game Dredge. – Image: DREDGE / Steam

Developers can also archive individual achievements or whole sets, which Valve says could suit seasonal games and limited-time holiday content. Players who earned archived achievements will still see them on their profiles, while achievements they missed won’t appear on their profiles or block progress towards completing a set or game.

The beta will keep evolving

Valve says it will continue improving Achievement Sets during the beta, with changes appearing in games as developers adopt the tools. The company hasn’t provided a date for a full release.