Steam Is Finally Fixing Achievement Completion: DLC Will No Longer Automatically Ruin Your 100%

Valve Is Addressing an Old Steam Problem

You have finished every mission, discovered every secret and completed the most demanding challenges.

Your game finally displays 100% achievement completion.

Then an expansion arrives with new achievements, and your completion percentage changes even though you finished everything you owned.

Steam Achievement Sets are designed to address exactly that frustration.

Announced October 15, the feature is currently available through the Steam client beta.

It allows developers to organize achievements into distinct collections rather than maintaining one increasingly long list.

Each collection has its own progress and completion status.

Base Games and DLC Become Separate Goals

The new system distinguishes achievements that belong to the base game from those requiring additional content.

Developers can create DLC-specific sets linked to ownership of an expansion.

Those achievements do not count toward a player's overall progress until the player owns the relevant content.

Someone who has completed the original game can therefore retain recognition of that accomplishment without immediately purchasing every expansion.

Once the DLC is acquired, its achievements become a separate collection to complete.

Valve uses blue for base-game progress and purple for DLC progress.

The redesigned interface demonstrates how several achievement groups can be tracked within the same game.

Each Completed Set Earns a Trophy

Achievement Sets also introduce separate recognition for completing individual collections.

When every achievement in a set has been unlocked, Steam awards a completed-set trophy.

That recognition is preserved when additional achievements are introduced later.

The system distinguishes achievements already earned from new goals added after the original completion.

This is particularly useful for games receiving regular expansions, characters or game modes.

Developers Can Organize Achievements by Character or Mode

Achievement Sets are not limited to DLC.

Developers can organize them around individual characters, classes, multiplayer modes or separate campaigns.

A game featuring multiple heroes could offer separate mastery collections for each character.

A title combining single-player and competitive multiplayer could distinguish achievements from those experiences.

Valve is leaving developers considerable freedom to determine the structure that makes sense for their games.

Seasonal Achievements Can Be Archived

Another significant addition is the ability to archive achievements or entire sets.

This can be used for temporary content, such as seasonal events or limited-time activities.

Players who earned an archived achievement keep the recognition on their profiles.

Players who missed the event are no longer prevented from completing the game by an achievement that cannot be earned.

However, this does not mean every unobtainable achievement on Steam will automatically be corrected.

Developers must use the new tools to organize and archive their content appropriately.

A Redesigned Achievements Page

Valve is also updating the interface used to browse achievements.

The new page brings together overall completion, individual sets and achievement details.

Search and filtering options allow players to focus on locked achievements, unlocked achievements or particular collections.

Global unlock rates are available directly from the page.

This should make long achievement lists easier to navigate.

Compare Progress With Three Friends

The update also expands social comparison features.

Players can compare progress with up to three friends at once.

The comparison includes unlocked achievements, completed sets and rare accomplishments.

Available achievement totals may differ between players depending on DLC ownership and archived content.

Steam accounts for those differences rather than assuming everyone has access to identical content.

Valve's example uses PowerWash Simulator 2 to demonstrate progress tracking and friend comparisons.

Several Familiar Games Already Support the Feature

Valve has published an initial list of compatible games.

It includes Portal 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, Forza Horizon 5, Crusader Kings III, DREDGE, Victoria 3 and PowerWash Simulator 2.

These titles represent a wide variety of genres.

However, their inclusion does not mean every game on Steam has already adopted the system.

Developer participation is required, and the updated player interface is currently in beta.

How to Try Achievement Sets

Interested players can opt into the Steam client beta through the application's settings.

The new achievement presentation will then appear for games that already support Achievement Sets.

Players remaining on the stable client will need to wait for broader availability.

Valve has not confirmed a final release date.

A Welcome Improvement With One Important Limitation

Achievement Sets address a long-standing complaint from players who enjoy completing games without losing recognition whenever new content arrives.

They also give developers more flexibility to extend their games without constantly redefining one overall completion percentage.

However, the benefits depend on adoption.

A developer who leaves every achievement inside the base-game collection will not automatically gain the full advantages of DLC separation.

The improvement is real, but implementation will be gradual.

For Steam completionists, Valve is finally addressing a simple question: why should finishing a game stop counting just because an expansion has been released?