Steam’s achievement beta could let “finished” stay finished.

There is a particular kind of petty heartbreak in finishing a game completely, then watching it become unfinished because an expansion arrived. You did not lose a boss fight. The finish line moved while you were away.

Valve's Achievement Sets beta, announced October 15, gives developers a way to organize achievements into separate groups with their own progress and completion markers. It is available to try in the Steam Client beta on supported games, not an automatic makeover for your entire library.

That qualification matters. So does the idea underneath it: a player should be able to understand what, exactly, they have finished.

The base game gets some breathing room

The announcement separates base-game and DLC sets, with DLC kept out of overall progress until the player has access. Valve lists early examples including DREDGE, Portal 2, Left 4 Dead 2, PowerWash Simulator and Forza Horizon 5.

It also describes a redesigned achievement page, filters and comparisons with up to three friends. Useful enough, but the organization is the bigger point. A collection of accomplishments is easier to enjoy when the page explains the boundaries.

Imagine finishing a campaign and all its optional challenges, then deciding you are done. An expansion can be an invitation to return. It should not need to masquerade as work you somehow failed to do the first time.

What “stays finished” actually means

Steamworks’ developer documentation says a completed set retains its completion if achievements are added later. DLC sets do not count toward completing the base-game set or other sets.

That is more precise than promising your entire game will display 100% forever. Developers configure the groups, and moving existing achievements between sets can affect progress. Where developers do not configure separate sets, achievements remain in the base-game group.

An expired event is not a challenge

The same documentation gives developers an archive option for achievements that can no longer be earned. People who earned one keep it visible. People who missed it are no longer blocked from completing the set.

An expired event cannot reward persistence; it mostly records that a player arrived at the wrong time.

Our hope is that studios use the archive tool rather than treating that obstacle as part of the game's mystique. Keeping an earned badge and removing an impossible requirement can coexist.

You can wait for the finished version, too

If you want to try it, Steam’s instructions put beta participation under Settings, Interface, Client Beta Participation, then Steam Beta Update. A restart follows. Joining is optional; beta software is still being worked on.

There is no need to turn completion into another obligation to test a client update. The satisfying part is the possibility of opening an old favorite and finding that the work you finished still counts.

For current console choices, our October PS Plus guide separates the catalog from the Monthly Games.

Checked October 23, 2026. This explains Valve’s announcement and documentation; it is not a hands-on beta review.