Steam Achievement Beta: DLC & Completed Sets

Yes, Steam’s Achievement Set Beta (the “Achievements” beta client feature) separates DLC achievements from the base game’s achievements and protects the completion status of your base-game set. When you opt into this beta, you get a new “Achievement Sets” interface that groups achievements by their parent app (base game vs. DLC), and your base game’s completion percentage is calculated and displayed separately from any DLC content.

Background: Why Steam Introduced Achievement Sets

For years, Steam players complained that a game’s achievement list became a cluttered mess when DLC was released. New achievements from an expansion would be tacked onto the same list, dropping your completion percentage from, say, 100% to 60% overnight. This felt punishing, especially for players who had 100% a game before any DLC arrived. The Achievement Set Beta is Valve’s attempt to fix that by treating each DLC as its own “set” of achievements, separate from the base game.

The beta was first introduced in late 2024 and has been refined over several releases. It’s a client-side feature, meaning it doesn’t change how developers upload achievements—it changes how you, the player, view and track them. The core idea is that your progress is now organized by logical groups: the base game, each DLC, and sometimes mods or other add-ons, each with its own percentage.

How the Beta Separates DLC Progress

When you enable the beta, the achievements page for a game shows a dropdown or a set of tabs at the top. You’ll see something like:

• Base Game – all achievements that shipped with the original release.
• DLC Name 1 – achievements added by that specific expansion.
• DLC Name 2 – achievements from another expansion, and so on.

Each set displays its own progress bar and completion percentage. The overall game page still shows a combined percentage, but the key change is that the base game’s percentage is no longer dragged down by unearned DLC achievements. If you have 100% on the base game and 0% on a new DLC, the base game set shows 100%, and the DLC set shows 0%. The overall number might be lower, but your base-game completion is preserved.

This separation is automatic for games that properly tag their achievements with DLC metadata. Developers have always been able to mark an achievement as belonging to a specific DLC, and the beta finally makes that distinction visible to players in a meaningful way.

What “Protects” Completed Sets Actually Means

Before the beta, if you had 100% on a game and the developer released a free DLC with 10 new achievements, your profile would suddenly show 80% (or whatever the math worked out to). Many players found this discouraging and felt their hard-earned 100% was being taken away. The beta fixes this by keeping the base game’s set intact—your 100% stays 100% on that set. The DLC achievements appear as a separate set, and you can choose to pursue them or ignore them without affecting your base-game completion.

It’s important to note that this is a display change, not a change to the underlying achievement data. If a game doesn’t properly tag its DLC achievements, the beta can’t magically separate them. In that case, you’ll still see a single combined list. But for well-behaved games, the separation is clean and automatic.

How to Enable the Achievement Set Beta

Enabling the beta is straightforward, but it’s a client beta, not a game beta. Here’s how to do it:

1. Open Steam and go to Settings (Steam menu on Mac, or the Steam dropdown on Windows).
2. Navigate to Interface.
3. Look for a dropdown labeled Client Beta Participation.
4. Select Steam Beta Update from the list.
5. Restart Steam when prompted.

Once you’re on the beta client, the Achievement Sets interface should appear automatically. You don’t need to enable anything per-game—it’s a global client feature. If you don’t see it, try restarting Steam again or checking for a client update.

Note that the beta client may have occasional bugs or instability, but for most users it’s perfectly fine. You can opt out at any time by repeating the steps and selecting None from the dropdown.

Common Problems and Misconceptions

One common misconception is that the beta changes your actual achievement unlock status. It doesn’t—if you’ve unlocked an achievement, it stays unlocked. The beta only changes how they’re grouped and displayed.

Another issue: some games don’t tag their achievements with DLC info. In that case, the beta can’t separate them, and you’ll see everything in one set. This is a developer-side issue, not a client bug. If you encounter this, you can check the game’s community hub or forums to see if the developer has acknowledged it.

There have also been reports of the beta showing incorrect percentages for some games, especially those with a very large number of achievements or unusual DLC structures. If you see a discrepancy, try verifying the game’s achievement data by visiting its store page or community hub. In most cases, the numbers are correct, but a rare bug may cause a temporary glitch.

Comparison: Before vs. After the Beta

To understand the impact, consider a concrete example. Civilization VI has a base game with dozens of achievements, plus several expansions that each added their own. Before the beta, your achievement page showed one long list with a single percentage. If you had all base-game achievements but none from the Gathering Storm expansion, your overall percentage might be 70%. With the beta, you’d see three separate sets: base game (100%), Rise and Fall (whatever you have), and Gathering Storm (0%). The base game’s 100% is preserved.

This is a huge quality-of-life improvement for completionists. It also makes it easier to see at a glance what you’re missing in each specific DLC, rather than scanning a massive combined list.

Limitations and What to Expect Going Forward

The beta is still evolving. Valve has not announced when it will leave beta, but it’s been stable enough for daily use. Some features, like sorting or filtering within a set, may be added later. There’s also the question of how this interacts with Steam’s “perfect game” showcase on your profile—currently, that showcase still uses the overall percentage, not the base-game percentage. It’s possible Valve will update that in the future, but as of now, it still reflects the combined number.

If you’re a developer, it’s worth ensuring your achievements are properly tagged with DLC metadata so players get the full benefit of this feature. Valve provides documentation on how to do this in the Steamworks SDK.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the beta affect my achievement unlock status?

No. The beta only changes how achievements are displayed and grouped. Your unlocked achievements remain unlocked, and locked ones remain locked. It’s purely a client-side view change.

What if a game’s DLC achievements aren’t separated?

That means the developer didn’t tag the achievements with DLC metadata. The beta can’t separate them automatically. You can still see the combined list, and there’s nothing you can do to force separation. Contact the developer or check forums to see if they plan to fix it.

Can I opt out of the beta without losing my progress?

Yes. Opting out just reverts the client interface to the old style. Your achievements and progress are stored on Steam’s servers, so nothing is lost. You can switch back and forth freely.

Will my profile’s “Perfect Game” showcase show 100% for the base game only?

As of now, no. The showcase still uses the overall game percentage, which includes DLC. Valve may change this in the future, but it hasn’t happened yet. If you want to show off a perfect base game, you may need to complete the DLC or use a different showcase.

Is the beta client stable enough for everyday use?

For most people, yes. The beta has been running for several months and is generally reliable. There are occasional bugs, but they’re usually minor. If you encounter a serious issue, you can opt out at any time.

Does this work for all games on Steam?

It works for any game that has achievements, but the separation into sets only works if the developer has properly tagged DLC achievements. For games without DLC, you’ll just see a single set. For older games that don’t use the DLC tagging system, the beta won’t be able to separate anything.

Related

• Check a Commercial Appliance’s Electrical and Plumbing Compliance
• Horse Club Ride West Settings for Better Performance
• UPS vs Voltage Stabilizer: Which Protection Do You Need?