Steam Beta Introduces Achievement Sets to Separate DLC Progress and Enable Archiving

Key points

• Steam's new 'Achievement Sets' feature allows developers to categorize achievements into distinct groups, such as base game, DLC, or seasonal events, each with its own progress bar.
• Completing a set awards a 'set complete' trophy visible on the user's profile, while DLC sets do not affect overall game completion percentages unless the user owns the specific DLC.
• The system includes an archiving mechanism for 'Seasonal Achievements,' allowing developers to hide obsolete or time-limited achievements from new players while preserving them for those who already unlocked them.
• The updated achievements page displays base game sets in blue and DLC sets in purple, and allows users to compare progress with up to three friends.
• The feature is currently in beta, with titles like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 and Forza Horizon 5 already supporting the new structure.

Background

This development follows recent industry shifts in achievement tracking, including Xbox's introduction of 'Mythic' achievements and support for legacy titles. In September 2026, a Steam API error briefly exposed achievement data for unreleased games like Persona 6 and Kingdom Hearts 4, highlighting the platform's ongoing focus on achievement data management and transparency.

How outlets are covering it

TrueAchievements argues that Steam's new system offers a superior model for Xbox to emulate, particularly regarding the separation of DLC achievements and the ability to archive obsolete goals. The Verge focuses on the technical implementation, noting that Valve is breaking long achievement lists into developer-created sets to improve user navigation. Engadget emphasizes the user benefit, highlighting how the feature prevents DLCs from ruining a player's 100% completion record. Phoronix, while covering the same beta release, focuses exclusively on the Linux client becoming a 64-bit application, ignoring the achievement changes entirely.

Why it matters

The new system resolves a long-standing frustration for completionists by decoupling DLC progress from base game statistics. It also provides a solution for games with lapsed multiplayer servers or seasonal events, allowing developers to maintain accurate completion rates without penalizing players for unobtainable content.

What to watch

Valve will likely expand support for Achievement Sets across more titles as the beta progresses. Developers may begin using the archiving feature to clean up obsolete achievements in existing games, potentially leading to a wave of updated completion statistics for older titles.