Research-based news explainer. Details come from Valve’s announcement and the reports linked below, not from our own testing. No affiliate links.
The short answer
Quick answer
- Valve opened a beta on 15 October 2026 for Steam Achievement Sets. Developers can group a game’s achievements into sets, and each set gets its own progress bar.
- A completed set stays complete when new achievements are added to it, and new content can get its own new set.
- You need the Steam Client beta and a game that supports sets. Seventeen games supported them at the start, including Modern Warfare 4, Portal 2 and Left 4 Dead 2.
- Valve has not confirmed when the feature reaches the stable Steam client (Windows Report).
How achievement sets work
Valve says games now live longer through DLC, expansions and seasons, and achievements added with new content can be hard to find and can accidentally break the completion status of players who already finished the game. Sets are its answer.
- You still unlock achievements by playing as usual. Steam then splits the long list into the sets the developer created. Valve’s examples are single-player and multiplayer sets, or eight class-based sets.
- Each set has its own progress bar. When you unlock every achievement in a set, Steam adds a “set complete” trophy to your profile. If new achievements are later added to that set, your completion is preserved.
- As a game grows, developers can add new sets for the new content. Returning players see what they can unlock, while their earlier completion status stays intact until they play again.
| Set type | What it holds | How Steam shows it |
|---|---|---|
| Base Game set | Achievements every player of the game can earn | Blue progress and trophies |
| DLC set | Achievements that need extra content you have bought | Purple progress and trophies. Not counted in overall progress until you have the content |
Seasonal and archived achievements
Developers can also archive individual achievements or whole sets, which suits season-based games and time-limited holiday achievements. Players who already unlocked an archived achievement still see it on their profile. It does not show up for players who missed it and does not block their progress toward completing a set or a game. Valve says an achievement that can no longer be unlocked should be archived.
The new achievements page and related changes
- A redesigned achievements page shows overall progress, progress per set and details for each achievement. Global stats, the per-achievement completion rates, are now a toggle on the same page, and search has filters for sets and for locked or unlocked achievements.
- You can compare progress with up to three friends, including rare achievements, completed sets and progress in DLC sets. The total is based on what each player can actually earn, so it can differ from friend to friend.
- The Perfect Games tab is now called Completed and covers both completed games and games with completed sets. Completed sets can also go in the Completionist Showcase.
- Games played through Family Sharing now appear in the Games List, and friends with Family Sharing playtime are eligible for comparison.
- Store and Library pages show whether a game has achievement sets.
How to join the beta
- Open Steam and go to Settings, then Interface, then Client Beta Participation, and opt in to the Steam Client beta (GuruGamer). Valve links its own how-to in the announcement.
- Restart Steam when it asks to update.
- Open the achievements page of a supported game from your Library or from your Games List on the web.
Updating the client alone does not sort every game in your library into sets, because developers decide how to group their achievements, as tbreak points out. Beta clients can also have bugs. Valve says it will keep improving the feature during the beta and asks for feedback in the Steam Client Beta discussion group.
Games that supported sets at launch
- Against the Storm
- Age of Wonders 4
- American Truck Simulator
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 (see our Modern Warfare 4 PC guide)
- Crusader Kings III
- DREDGE
- Euro Truck Simulator 2
- Flock Around
- Forza Horizon 5
- He is Coming
- LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight
- Left 4 Dead 2
- Portal 2
- PowerWash Simulator
- PowerWash Simulator 2
- Team Fortress 2
- Victoria 3
Valve says the list is a growing set of games that have already added support.
Confirmed and not confirmed
Status on 28 October 2026
- Confirmed The beta is live in the Steam Client beta for players and developers (Valve).
- Not confirmed A date for the stable Steam client. Valve has not given one (Windows Report).
- Our take Completionists who chase 100 percent benefit most, because DLC stops undoing finished games. If you do not track achievements, nothing changes for you.
Also in the same beta
The 15 October beta also makes the Linux Steam client a 64-bit application and runs it inside a Steam Runtime container, per Valve’s beta notes as summarized by GamingOnLinux and Gaming.net. It is a change to the Steam application itself, not a new SteamOS version. Epic changed its own launcher in the same fortnight, covered in our guide to the Epic Games Launcher Preview.
Last checked 28 October 2026. We update this article when Valve moves Achievement Sets to the stable client or the supported list grows. How we source our guides is explained on the About page.
Sources
- Steam News: Steam Achievement Sets Now in Beta (15 October 2026)
- Windows Report: Steam introduces Achievement Sets with new completion trophies
- tbreak: Steam Achievement Sets beta
- GuruGamer: Steam launches Achievement Sets beta
- GamingOnLinux: Steam Beta for October 15 brings a 64-bit Linux client, Achievement Sets and more
- Gaming.net: Valve adds Steam Achievement Sets in new client beta update
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