If you've ever 100-percented a game, felt good about it, then watched a season pass quietly drop five new achievements and knock you back to 95 percent, Valve has heard you. The latest Steam Client Beta, pushed on October 15, adds Achievement Sets, a way to group a game's achievements into chunks instead of one ever-growing list.
How it actually works
Developers can split achievements into named sets with their own purpose, say single-player and multiplayer, or a set per class. Each set gets its own progress bar, and once you clear every achievement in a set, Steam stamps a "set complete" trophy on your profile. The important part: that trophy sticks even if the developer later adds more achievements to the set. Finishing something stays finished.
There's structure to it, too. Base Game sets show in blue and count for everyone; DLC sets show in purple and stay out of your overall progress until you actually own the content, so you're not haunted by achievements for stuff you never bought. Developers can also archive sets, which is aimed squarely at seasonal or time-limited events.
Valve's reasoning is sensible and a bit overdue: games now get years of DLC, expansions and seasons, new achievements are easy to miss, and bolting them onto one flat list makes a game you cleared look unfinished. It's live in the client beta now, so if you want it early, opt in via Steam's settings; otherwise it'll roll out properly once it's baked. Not flashy. Genuinely nice.
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