Steam Adds Achievement Grouping, So DLC Won't Wreck Your 100% Completion Rate

That precious completion percentage players care so much about will no longer get thrown off by later DLC drops. Steam has rolled out a new feature called "Achievement Sets" in the Client beta, splitting achievements into two separately-tracked categories — "base game" and "DLC" — so no matter how many more achievements a developer tacks on down the line, your existing 100% record stays untouched.

The feature requires developers to update their games to support it, and according to Steam, a fair number of titles have already adopted it. Developers can customize achievement groups based on their needs — for example, separating single-player and multiplayer achievements, or building a seasonal set like Halloween-exclusive achievements.

On the achievements page of a user's profile, each collection now gets its own progress bar, and completing a full set unlocks a "set complete" trophy that shows up on the profile. Even if a developer later adds new achievements to the same set, progress that's already hit 100% will stay at 100%.

On the interface side, base game achievements and their progress bars are shown in blue, while DLC achievements and progress bars appear in purple. DLC achievement sets don't factor into a game's overall progress unless the player actually owns the corresponding DLC, preventing players who haven't bought the add-on from having their progress unfairly dragged down.

Steam has also redesigned the achievements page to more clearly display these groupings and progress. The new page also supports comparing progress with up to three friends at once, including rare achievement unlocks and which achievement sets each person has completed.

The feature is currently still in Steam Client beta, and Valve has yet to announce an official rollout date or a full list of supported games.