Steam Achievement Sets Explained: The New Feature That Could Save Your 100% Completion

Steam is changing how players track achievements, and the update could be especially valuable for gamers who spend hours trying to complete every challenge in a game.

Valve has started testing Steam Achievement Sets in the Steam Client Beta. The feature lets developers divide achievements into separate groups, making it easier to track progress across a base game, DLC, multiplayer modes, or other categories.

But the most interesting part is not the new layout. It is how the system could make 100% completion less frustrating when games continue receiving updates long after launch.

What Are Steam Achievement Sets?

Until now, achievements added through expansions and other updates could make a game's completion target harder to understand. In some cases, players who had already completed a game could find that newly added achievements affected their overall completion status.

Achievement Sets give developers more control over how these challenges are organized. A game could separate its main campaign achievements from multiplayer challenges, DLC achievements, or even achievements for individual character classes.

Each supported set can have its own progress indicator and completion status. That means players can see what they have finished without treating every challenge added over the game's lifetime as one enormous checklist.

The feature is being introduced gradually, so the exact categories depend on what each game's developers choose to support.

The Biggest Change: Missed Seasonal Achievements

Here is the detail completionists should pay attention to.

Some games offer achievements tied to seasonal events or limited-time activities. If a player misses one, that achievement can become impossible to unlock later, potentially leaving the player with an unfinished checklist.

Steam's new system allows developers to archive achievements or entire sets that are no longer available. When an achievement is archived, players who already unlocked it can still see it on their profiles. Players who missed it will not have it displayed as an obtainable achievement, and it will not block their progress toward completing the relevant set or game.

This does not mean every old achievement will disappear automatically. Developers must decide what to archive, and the feature depends on games adopting the new system.

For completionists, that distinction matters: a permanently unavailable seasonal challenge should not necessarily keep a completed game looking unfinished forever.

DLC Achievements Could Become Easier to Track

Another useful change is the separation of achievements into different sets.

Imagine you finish a game's main campaign and unlock every base-game achievement. Months later, the developer launches an expansion with a new area, bosses, and achievements.

With separate sets, the original game's progress can be distinguished from the expansion's progress. Instead of wondering which part of the game is keeping you from completion, you can focus on the set you have not finished.

There is one important limitation: Achievement Sets do not make paid DLC free, unlock content you do not own, or automatically award achievements you have not earned. Their purpose is to organize progress more clearly.

Compare Your Progress With Friends

The redesigned achievement experience also adds comparison tools. Players can compare progress with up to three friends, including completed sets and rare achievements.

Steam is also updating how it presents completion on profiles. The existing Perfect Games tab is being renamed Completed, and supported completed achievement sets can appear in the Completionist Showcase.

Another useful detail is that the total number of achievements a player can earn may differ from a friend's total. The new system accounts for factors such as owned add-ons and achievements that have been archived or are time-limited.

So two players might not always have identical achievement totals for the same game, and that does not automatically mean one has missed a normal, currently obtainable achievement.

How to Try Steam Achievement Sets

The feature is currently in beta rather than a universal update for every Steam player.

To try it, open the Steam client, go to Settings, and look for the client beta participation option. Select an available Steam Client Beta and restart the client if prompted. The wording and location of the option can vary as Steam updates its interface.

After joining the beta, remember that the feature only appears in games that have added support. Joining the beta does not instantly reorganize every game in your library.

What This Means for Gamers

Steam Achievement Sets may sound like a small interface change, but they address a real frustration for players who care about completion percentages, rare achievements, and long-term game progress.

The biggest benefit is the combination of separate progress sets and archived achievements. If developers use these tools well, players could spend less time dealing with confusing checklists and more time finishing challenges they can actually complete.

There is still a catch: the system is in beta, and its usefulness will depend on how broadly developers adopt it. For now, completionists should treat it as a promising change rather than a guarantee that every game will handle achievements differently.

Would you use separate achievement sets for base games, DLC, and seasonal challenges—or do you prefer Steam's old system?