Valve split achievements in Steam, and players consider this update one of the best in its history

Achievement hunting runs on a feeling of closure: the final checkmark, the coveted 100%, and the game can be put to rest with a clear conscience. But that fragile harmony shatters at the slightest nudge. All it takes is a new DLC release, and a collection built over years is left with a permanent hole in the middle.

Valve seems to have decided to put an end to that. The Steam beta now features a new achievement system that lets developers split achievements into groups: base game, DLC, multiplayer, and achievements that can no longer be earned. Finishing the base game is marked with a blue ribbon, while DLC sets are colored purple and counted separately.

The change is easiest to see in the Call of Duty launcher, where more than 150 achievements are finally sorted neatly instead of sitting in one endless wall of text.

One Reddit user didn't hold back and called the change the "most goated update ever."

For achievement hunters, this is no cosmetic tweak but a fix for an old and very real problem. Plenty of games can't be completed to 100% because their multiplayer servers were shut down long ago, and online achievements were lumped in with story-related ones.

Some players brought up Dead by Daylight, where a fresh batch of content added another 30 achievements on top of an otherwise perfect record. For many, the biggest hope is Halo: The Master Chief Collection, where around 700 achievements across six games have sat in a single list for years.

There is a catch: studios decide for themselves whether to adopt the groups. So far, only a handful of games have tried the system, including PowerWash Simulator and its sequel, American Truck Simulator and Euro Truck Simulator 2, one of the Forza games, as well as Victoria 3 and Crusader Kings 3.

PlayStation owners, by the way, have long lived by similar rules: DLC trophies get their own separate sets, and the platinum is tied only to the base game.