Every completionist knows the pain: you 100% a game, then a DLC drops with new achievements and your perfect record crumbles. Valve’s new Achievement Sets — now in Steam Client beta — fix exactly that, grouping achievements into developer-made sets so DLC can never again break your base-game completion.
How it works
Developers can now group a game’s achievements into named sets, each with its own progress bar. Finish every achievement in a set and Steam adds a “set complete” trophy to your profile — and if the developer later adds achievements to that set, your completion is preserved. Valve’s examples: splitting a game into single-player and multiplayer sets, or one set per character class.
Base game in blue, DLC in purple
Sets come in two flavors: Base Game sets (blue on the achievements page) hold everything any player can earn, while DLC sets (purple) stay out of your overall progress until you own that DLC. Seasonal content works the same way — Valve’s example is a “Halloween Event Achievements” set that never touches your base-game stats. Developers can also archive achievements that are no longer obtainable, so dead online achievements can’t permanently block completion either.
What else changed
The achievements page got a full redesign: overall and per-set progress on one screen, better search and filters, and friend comparisons with up to three friends at once — including rare achievements and completed sets. PlayStation players will recognize the DLC-separation idea; Steam just made it official.
Who has it now
It’s beta on both sides: players need the Steam Client beta to see any of it, and developers have to add sets manually through Steamworks. 17 games already have sets, including Portal 2, Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead 2, DREDGE, and Against the Storm — expect that list to grow as devs adopt it.
KongMNG’s take
This is one of those rare platform changes that’s pure upside for players. Completion percentages finally mean what they say, and devs can keep supporting games for years without punishing the people who finished them. Now Valve just needs to get every developer on board.