Steam Achievement Sets: DLC No Longer Ruins Your 100 Percent Record

By Indie Kings | October 16, 2026

Updated October 16, 2026: Steam's October 15 client beta introduces Achievement Sets, a system that lets developers split a game's trophies into separate collections, each with its own progress bar and a "set complete" trophy. Base game achievements and DLC achievements now track separately, so buying or adding content no longer breaks a 100 percent record.

For over a decade, a perfect Steam completion percentage lived one DLC purchase or one seasonal event away from ruin, and achievements tied to delisted content or dead multiplayer servers could lock it away for good. The October 15 Steam Client Beta ends that: your 100 percent record now survives added content, because achievements finally move into developer-created sets that track separately.

Valve explains the core mechanic in its announcement, quoted verbatim by GamingOnLinux: "This beta enables developers to group their game's related achievements together in collections we are calling Achievement Sets. Devs can specify the number of sets and the purpose of each to match their game's specific needs. You can imagine one game grouping its achievements into single-player and multiplayer sets, or another into 8 class-based sets."

How Achievement Sets work in the beta

The unlock loop stays the same. "In games that support sets, you still unlock achievements by playing the game as usual," per Valve's announcement, "but when you browse what you have unlocked afterward, Steam will break the long list of game achievements into the developer-created sets, making it easier to see what you have completed and to find other related achievements you can unlock next."

Each set gets its own progress bar. "Once you have unlocked every achievement in a set, Steam will commemorate the moment and add a 'set complete' trophy to your profile," the announcement continues. "If new achievements are later added to the set, your completion is preserved."

The system reaches beyond DLC as well. GamingOnLinux notes developers can run special seasonal sets, like a limited Halloween event, and Valve adds that new sets built for added content make it easy for returning players to see what is new "while also preserving their prior completion status until they play again."

What changes on your achievements page

The old flat list could not separate what you earned in the base game from what new content added later, so one extra achievement quietly dropped your percentage. Engadget's take on the beta describes the split directly: "Steam can now group together different categories of achievements, and separates ones for base games and ones for DLCs, so that developers' new additions won't affect your completion percentage."

Engadget details the color coding the redesign introduces: base game trophies and their progress bars appear blue on the achievements page, while DLC achievements and their bars are purple. DLC sets stay out of your overall game progress until you have access to the content they connect to.

The archiving rule is the completionist fix for content that has died. Per the Steamworks announcement, retired or broken achievements tied to delisted or seasonal content remain on the profiles of players who unlocked them, but they stop blocking new players from reaching full completion. A score locked behind a seasonal event or a delisted expansion stops punishing everyone who missed the window.

The developer side: a rebuilt editor and archiving

Sets only exist where developers build them, and the beta ships tooling for that. Per the Steamworks announcement, the updated system includes a rebuilt editor with bulk import and export of achievement definitions, icons, localization and set assignments. It also generates automatic grayscale icons for locked states, flags achievements with missing localization, offers developer-only test sets, and supports archiving.

That last pair matters in practice. Missing-localization flags catch untranslated achievements before release, and archiving gives developers a sanctioned way to retire achievements that content removal has broken, rather than leaving a permanent hole in a game's completion math.

Early adopters, from Portal 2 to Team Fortress 2

Valve says a growing number of games already support sets in the beta, per Engadget. GamingOnLinux shows Portal 2 as a live example, with its achievements split neatly between single-player and co-op.

Image: Team Fortress 2 header art. Credit: Valve, via Steam.

That image is Team Fortress 2's store header art, the flagship multi-set example named in Windows Central's reporting on the feature, not a screenshot of the new achievements page. Per Windows Central, the shooter's large achievement count is being organized into many sets, making it the showcase case for the system. Windows Central's reporting also names early adopters across genres: Portal 2, PowerWash Simulator, DREDGE, Against the Storm, and Age of Wonders 4.

The smallest reorganization effort on record comes from Arcen Games. Per Windows Central, citing Reddit, the studio's founder reported categorizing 100 achievements into a DLC set in under 10 minutes.

The same beta ships a 64-bit Linux client

Achievement Sets are not the only structural change in the October 15 beta. Per GamingOnLinux, the Steam client on Linux is now a 64-bit application and runs inside a Steam Runtime container, the same technology used by Steam games. The release notes say this should help the client deliver a more consistent experience across multiple distributions. GamingOnLinux adds that Steam Deck and Steam Machine carry the same fixes and improvements.

This is the first 64-bit Linux Steam client, a change Linux distro maintainers have pushed toward for years, since it reduces the weight of 32-bit dependencies the desktop client previously pulled in.

FAQ

Do I have to replay games I already finished to keep my 100 percent?
No. Per Valve's announcement, if new achievements are later added to a set you completed, your completion is preserved. New sets built for added content also preserve your prior completion status until you return to play.

Do DLC achievements count against my completion percentage?
Per Engadget, DLC sets do not appear in your overall game progress until you have access to the DLC they connect to. Buying or ignoring content no longer moves your percentage.

How do I tell base game sets from DLC sets?
By color. Engadget reports base game trophies and progress bars display in blue on the redesigned achievements page, while DLC achievements and bars display in purple.

Is the feature live for everyone?
Not yet. Achievement Sets went live in the Steam Client Beta on October 15, and developers must update their games to create sets before any grouping appears, per Engadget.

What happens to achievements from delisted or seasonal content?
Per the Steamworks announcement, archiving lets developers retire them without erasing them. Players who unlocked them keep the achievements on their profiles, while the retired items stop blocking new players from full completion.

Which games support Achievement Sets already?
Valve says a growing number support the feature, per Engadget. GamingOnLinux shows Portal 2 split into single-player and co-op sets, and Windows Central's reporting names Team Fortress 2, PowerWash Simulator, DREDGE, Against the Storm, and Age of Wonders 4 as adopters.

Our take

We think the archiving rule is the quieter revolution here. Grouped sets and colored progress bars are nice, but letting broken achievements tied to dead servers and delisted content stop gating completion fixes a decade-old wound without rewriting anyone's history. If Valve extends the same principle to achievements that are simply unobtainable for gameplay reasons, the perfect completion profile becomes achievable in more games than it has been since the platform started tracking it.

Bottom Line

Steam's October 15 client beta changes what "complete" means on the platform: achievements now live in developer-created sets with their own progress bars and trophies, DLC content stays out of your overall percentage until you own it, and retired achievements stop blocking full completion. Developers get a rebuilt editor with bulk import, automatic locked-state icons, and test sets. The same beta ships the first 64-bit Linux Steam client inside a Steam Runtime container. Games need developer updates before sets appear, so the shift starts with early adopters like Portal 2, Team Fortress 2, and PowerWash Simulator.

Sources

• GamingOnLinux: Steam Beta for October 15 brings a 64bit Linux client, Achievement Sets and more (quotes Valve's announcement verbatim)
• Valve: Steamworks announcement on Achievement Sets (primary announcement; page is JavaScript rendered)
• Engadget: Steam Achievement Sets will stop DLCs from ruining your 100 percent record