Valve is rolling out a new Steam feature called "achievement sets" that lets developers separate achievements for a base game from those tied to its DLC expansions, rather than lumping everything into one long list.
"In games that support sets, you still unlock achievements by playing the game as usual," Valve said, as reported by The Verge. "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, and players who finish one earn a "set complete" trophy that shows up on their Steam profile. Valve is also enabling seasonal achievement sets that developers can archive once they end, a feature aimed at time-limited content. "We think there are a lot of fun ways games can take advantage of the temporary nature this can add, such as adding achievements to season-based games or enabling time-limited holiday achievements," the company said.
The change addresses a long-standing quirk of Steam's achievement system: games with multiple expansions have often accumulated achievement lists numbering in the hundreds, making it difficult for players to track progress within any one chapter of a game. Breaking those lists into discrete sets is meant to make large, expansion-heavy titles easier to navigate for players chasing full completion.
Alongside the new system, Valve is refreshing the Steam Achievements page on player profiles to show an overall progress summary, set-by-set breakdowns and details on individual achievements. A handful of titles already support achievement sets, including Crusader Kings III, Portal 2, Team Fortress 2, Forza Horizon 5 and Euro Truck Simulator 2, with more developers expected to add support over time.
The feature is currently available through the latest Steam client beta, Valve said, ahead of a wider rollout to all users.