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Freedom251 › Blog › Achievement Sets

Steam Achievement Sets overhaul: separate DLC and seasonal progress, plus friend comparisons

By Freedom251 Team · · 4 min read

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Steam is testing Achievement Sets, a developer-controlled system that divides a game’s achievements into meaningful groups such as the base campaign, multiplayer, character classes, downloadable content and seasonal events. Each set has its own progress bar and completion trophy, so later additions or limited-time content no longer have to erase a player’s sense of completion. The redesign is currently in the Steam Client beta, with broader release timing still unconfirmed.

What Achievement Sets change

Until now, a game’s achievement list generally behaved as one growing checklist. When a developer added DLC or event achievements, those additions could make an apparently complete game look incomplete. Achievement Sets let developers define separate collections and assign achievements to them.

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  • A base-game or campaign set can track the original experience.
  • Separate sets can cover multiplayer, character classes or other major modes.
  • DLC can receive its own set rather than being mixed into the base game.
  • Seasonal and holiday content can be placed in a temporary set and later archived.

Every set has an independent progress display and completion trophy. If a developer adds achievements later, a set that you already completed remains completed rather than being reopened by the new entries.

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How DLC affects 100% completion

DLC achievements can be isolated from the base game. Valve says they do not enter a player’s overall game progress until that player has access to the relevant content. After the DLC is acquired, its achievements appear as separate progress and trophies.

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This means a player without an expansion can retain a complete base-game status, while an owner of the expansion can pursue the additional DLC set. Steam’s totals can therefore differ between two players without either profile being wrong: ownership determines which achievements are actually available to count.

What happens to seasonal and retired achievements

Achievement Sets adds archiving for individual achievements and entire sets. Archived items remain visible to players who unlocked them, preserving those accomplishments on their profiles. Players who missed a retired event do not see those archived achievements as available requirements, and they no longer block completion.

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Valve specifically cites seasonal and holiday events as use cases. The approach preserves historical records without requiring someone to wait for a discontinued event or accept a permanently incomplete checklist.

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The redesigned achievements page

The new page combines overall progress, set-level progress and individual achievement details. Filters let you view a particular set or show only locked or unlocked achievements. Global completion statistics are optional through a toggle rather than being permanently displayed.

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Comparing with friends

You can compare your progress with up to three friends at once. The comparison includes rare achievements, completed sets and DLC-set progress. Steam calculates each player’s total against the content that person can actually earn, taking account of owned DLC, archived content and other availability differences. As a result, two players may show different percentages even when they have unlocked the same number of currently relevant achievements.

Which games support Achievement Sets?

The feature is opt-in: a developer must organize a title’s achievements, so most Steam games do not have sets yet. Valve’s initial supported list is:

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Age of Wonders 4 Listed by Valve as supported
American Truck Simulator Listed by Valve as supported
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Listed by Valve as supported
Crusader Kings III Listed by Valve as supported
DREDGE Listed by Valve as supported
Euro Truck Simulator 2 Listed by Valve as supported
Forza Horizon 5 Listed by Valve as supported
Flock Around Listed by Valve as supported
He is Coming Listed by Valve as supported
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight Listed by Valve as supported
Left 4 Dead 2 Listed by Valve as supported
Portal 2 Listed by Valve as supported
PowerWash Simulator Listed by Valve as supported
PowerWash Simulator 2 Listed by Valve as supported
Team Fortress 2 Listed by Valve as supported
Victoria 3 Listed by Valve as supported

The list is an initial rollout, not a guarantee that every title will adopt the system. Valve has not published an authoritative adoption rate or player-count statistic.

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How to try the beta

  1. Open the Steam client and enter its settings.
  2. Choose the interface or account area that controls Steam Client beta participation.
  3. Join the Steam Client beta, then restart Steam when prompted.
  4. Open a supported game’s achievements page and look for set filters, set progress and the comparison controls.

Labels and placement can change while the feature is in testing. A game must also have developer-created sets enabled; joining the client beta alone will not add sets to unsupported games.

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What developers need to change

Steamworks’ rebuilt editor supports bulk import and export of achievement definitions, icons, localization and set assignments. Developers can move many achievements at once, generate grayscale locked-state icons automatically, receive localization warnings, archive content and create developer-only test sets.

Existing achievement API names and unlock calls continue to work. Steamworks Development said on October 15, 2026, that developers do not need to update their game or the Steamworks SDK to start using Achievement Sets. The work is therefore primarily an organizational migration in the Steamworks tools rather than a required change to a game’s achievement-unlock code.

When will Achievement Sets leave beta?

Valve has made the player and developer updates available in beta and is asking users to join the Steam Client beta to try them. A report published by PC Gamer on October 15, 2026, said a wider release was likely in about a month, but Valve has not guaranteed a public-release date. Supported-game coverage, interface behavior and rollout timing may change before launch.

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