[Steam] No achievements = No buy

[Evelo]

8 hours ago, Ellilea said:

It's really close-minded to think that people who play the game differently from you need therapy.

Except "Need" and "want" are very different things. I'm only stating the "need" is unhealthy, "wanting" it is totally fine. But that's not what Esquizo posted about.

[Mike23Ua]

From my experience if a game is good and fun, people will play & enjoy it with or without achievements but the OP states that without them being in DSE that they won’t be buying the game. 

This means the OP is so obsessed with achievements that they would pass up on what could have potentially been their favorite game of all time just because they didn’t hear a shiny “Ding” sound and get a boosted Gamer Score number.

And to solidify this point home in a language anyone can understand: People have been waiting 13 years for a new GTA, if GTA6 finally came out and it did not have a single achievement in it, that still wouldn’t stop it from being the most anticipated game of all time.

[Ellilea]

On 6/19/2026 at 7:49 PM, Evelo said:

Except "Need" and "want" are very different things. I'm only stating the "need" is unhealthy, "wanting" it is totally fine. But that's not what Esquizo posted about.

I still contest that 😛 For some people, a game needs to have goals they can go towards and see them accomplished, otherwise they feel no desire to play. Game mechanics are just a tool players interact with to achieve specific emotions - joy, contentment, competitive fulfillment, aesthetic pleasure, being challenged, whatever, everyone has their own reaction. A game can be wonderful, but if someone doesn't get their kick out of it (for instance, by chasing Achievements, or, say, gathering every single item available and storing it in chests, or surviving till day X without Y), then it's not worth their time.

Achievements aren't much different from end-screens, or final cinematics in many other games. Someone may simply enjoy DS for the vibe and their PB day count, another will be satisfied if they kill all the bosses, and someone else yet wants to 100% variety of achievements. It's the same as saying someone who would pass on DS:E because it had no bosses, that they need therapy because they need to "prove something in a boss fight" or whatever. No, it's just what brings them joy in a game.

I passed on Frostpunk 2, despite adoring Frostpunk 1, because it didn't have the building elements that I need to enjoy a game like that. I didn't even buy it once I saw how the system works. I don't need therapy. I just want to lay down the roads and chase perfect city layouts. And some people want to chase Achievements. That's all.

[aidancode]

On 6/19/2026 at 10:48 AM, Capybara007 said:

This is not how achievements work in any game ever

have you played any game ever? I can't think of any game where achievements don't exist to guide the player to a fun way of playing. There's obvious famous examples like Minecraft, but basically every game whose achievements aren't "grid everything" either are markers of doing what you should be doing or markers of doing things that are fun or interesting

[Evelo]

14 hours ago, Ellilea said:

I still contest that 😛 For some people... -snip-

Alright, I'll conceded my point about needing therapy is wrong. My apologies to everyone with that comment. As for Achievements not being different from end-screens, sure. I can see that, though if a game doesn't have cinematics, or victory screens, or anything that doesn't have X, Y, or Z doesn't mean the game needs X, Y, or Z. If the Esquizo needs achievements in order to justify the purchase of DSE, then that is on them and them alone. I think threatening (though threaten is more of a harsh word than what I am aiming for, I just can't think of a more accurate term) to not purchase DSE unless Klei bend to their will and add achievements is morally unjust. That, I cannot be swayed from.

With your opinion of Frostpunk 2 vs Frostpunk 1. I am guessing you did not go onto the forums and state you would not purchase Frostpunk 2 unless it has building elements you need to enjoy that game. Speaking directly to the developers rather than the community. If you did, I think that is unjust, but I am under the assumption you did not.

I frequent the Total War reddit and forums. I have no interest in Total War: 40k because I dislike the setting, I know I won't be buying it. I won't make any threads directed towards the developers stating why I will not purchase their game. I do however post in other people's threads stating something along the lines of, "Not really my kind of game for X, Y, or Z reasons. But hey, I hope it is fun for you all that are excited about it." Why do I do this? Uh... idk really. I am a social human and like engaging with the communities I am part of I guess. I am in therapy for a host of issues, one of which is me spewing my desires/opinions to people that genuinely do not care. It's why I've stepped back from DST forums. I disagree with the direction the game is going. I am in the minority and it is apparent my presence/opinions on it are not wanted.

Maybe it's just the difference between, "I have purchased this already and here is what I want moving forward" vs "This isn't out yet, and here is what I want from it." There isn't much of a difference, and maybe I'm just a hypocrite. Idk. I'm only human, I make mistakes and try to own up to them. Maybe this is one of those times? I initially found this similar to sports betting. Where people care so much about betting they can't even enjoy the sport for what it is anymore. That's how I saw the achievements being forced into DSE was. I'm probably wrong in that perspective, to which I apologize for any misunderstandings, that is just how my initial reaction to the topic was.

[Jussatoon]

48 minutes ago, Evelo said:

I am in therapy for a host of issues, one of which is me spewing my desires/opinions to people that genuinely do not care. It's why I've stepped back from DST forums. I disagree with the direction the game is going. I am in the minority and it is apparent my presence/opinions on it are not wanted.

Just a heads up: I care, and I in fact see where you come from when it comes to what you think would be best for the game's direction. 

The main two opinions I see you share the most is:

- Survival obstacles should be more environment-based than boss-based.

- The primary aspects of a character's skill tree should be base-kit, while the skill tree itself simply enhances them.

While DST is too far into its current direction to do the former anytime soon, and is therefore one of the reasons you and I anticipate DSE even more, WX-78 is proof that the latter is possible, at least partially. I know you especially don't like Willow's skilltree due to embers feeling too mandatory to offer any diverse skilltree builds, so when Klei inevitably revisits her, do you think making the ember system base-kit would be a good start?

[gaymime]

On 6/19/2026 at 6:48 PM, Capybara007 said:

This is not how achievements work in any game ever

i've found it to be about a 60/40 split. plenty of games have them to guide and encourage play outside of the most streamlined and simple fashion while plenty have them to pad out time replaying parts that otherwise would not be in the player's interest to go over again. it really depends on the sorts of games you play. types of 'chievos really do trend specific ways based on genre and a developer's style

[Evelo]

3 hours ago, Jussatoon said:

so when Klei inevitably revisits her, do you think making the ember system base-kit would be a good start?

For DST, yes. I 100% do. Even though I along with many others think it is weird for her to be a magical fire user rather than a practical fire user (ie an Aerosol can with a lighter to make a makeshift flamethrower), that isn't a functional issue I have with her, only an aesthetic one which is whatever to me. For DSE, I really have no idea what klei plans to do. I would like if there are no skill trees and certain aspects of skill trees (because there are some really cool stuff in them!) would be introduced baseline. But it really depends on what type of feedback Klei is looking for. I mostly want design philosophy to be open to their players because even if I disagree with a design philosophy, I much more respect the decisions of a developer if they acknowledge their goals. It also makes giving feedback significantly more targeted. Simply asking someone, "How do I make this better?" doesn't really help if we don't know what they feel is lacking.

[Jussatoon]

10 minutes ago, Evelo said:

For DST, yes. I 100% do. Even though I along with many others think it is weird for her to be a magical fire user rather than a practical fire user (ie an Aerosol can with a lighter to make a makeshift flamethrower), that isn't a functional issue I have with her, only an aesthetic one which is whatever to me. For DSE, I really have no idea what klei plans to do. I would like if there are no skill trees and certain aspects of skill trees (because there are some really cool stuff in them!) would be introduced baseline. But it really depends on what type of feedback Klei is looking for. I mostly want design philosophy to be open to their players because even if I disagree with a design philosophy, I much more respect the decisions of a developer if they acknowledge their goals. It also makes giving feedback significantly more targeted. Simply asking someone, "How do I make this better?" doesn't really help if we don't know what they feel is lacking.

In the trailer, Willow does a Torch Toss in the caves instead of Wilson; I personally take that as a sign of skilltrees not existing, or at least Klei having a more foundational understanding of what they want skilltrees to be. 

[Just Ragnar]

I think steam achievements would really hurt my own experience. I find the lack of "yayy you did it!!!" effects really helps me focus on what I want to do. It makes the game feel more self-contained. In a lot of games, my immersion can be hurt by a sudden steam popup like "You got "Apprentice Logger"!" while I'm minding my own business chopping trees. I don't want to complete a list of tasks, I don't want such a list presented to me at all. I want to be able to do everything entirely of my own volition. If there was an achievement for surviving 1000 days on the same world, the novelty of deciding to do so is lost, as it is just another task on a list, and not a fun project you decide to do on your own. Same with fighting bosses, or making certain builds or using certain strategies. Where would the "wait, I can get the pigs to kill hounds for me!" moment for a new player come from if it's an achievement?

tl;dr I personally don't want achievements as I feel they would hurt my experience with the game by taking away my agency to discover and do stuff myself without a task list telling me about it.

Edited June 22 by Just Ragnar

[Capybara007]

On 6/21/2026 at 7:33 PM, aidancode said:

have you played any game ever? I can't think of any game where achievements don't exist to guide the player to a fun way of playing. There's obvious famous examples like Minecraft, but basically every game whose achievements aren't "grid everything" either are markers of doing what you should be doing or markers of doing things that are fun or interesting

You said that achievements are "the OPPOSITE of playing how you want" and i dont think that is true

Im sure most people dont care for achievements most of the time, what im trying to say is that most people ive seen that play this game blind survive a year or 2, maybe go to the caves and do ruins, maybe go to the ocean and do lunar island, but thats it, no fuelweaver, no pearl quest, no celestial champion, no post rift content which klei has been working for 3 years. Im not saying achievements will fix this problem, its of course klei´s decision to make all of this content so convoluted to experience, but it could help letting players know that there is still more to the game than just surviving 4 seasons

Everytime somebody says achievements could be good its inmediately turned down because in 2012 they said this:
https://support.klei.com/hc/en-us/articles/360035456011-Intrinsic-vs-Extrinsic-rewards

This is 14 years ago, i guess the reason why people love defending this so much is because back then it felt like klei was really into game design and it was fun to analize their decisions almost like a scientist, but they dont do that anymore

They have already changed their design philosophy or whatever like 20 times, i dont think 10 years ago anyone wouldve predicted that "dont starve but multiplayer" would have skill trees, scrapbook and terraria like progression and gear

I disagree with op "no achievements no buy" but i dont think achievements should be a heresy either

[aidancode]

16 hours ago, Capybara007 said:

You said that achievements are "the OPPOSITE of playing how you want" and i dont think that is true

Im sure most people dont care for achievements most of the time, what im trying to say is that most people ive seen that play this game blind survive a year or 2, maybe go to the caves and do ruins, maybe go to the ocean and do lunar island, but thats it, no fuelweaver, no pearl quest, no celestial champion, no post rift content which klei has been working for 3 years. Im not saying achievements will fix this problem, its of course klei´s decision to make all of this content so convoluted to experience, but it could help letting players know that there is still more to the game than just surviving 4 seasons

Everytime somebody says achievements could be good its inmediately turned down because in 2012 they said this:
https://support.klei.com/hc/en-us/articles/360035456011-Intrinsic-vs-Extrinsic-rewards

This is 14 years ago, i guess the reason why people love defending this so much is because back then it felt like klei was really into game design and it was fun to analize their decisions almost like a scientist, but they dont do that anymore

They have already changed their design philosophy or whatever like 20 times, i dont think 10 years ago anyone wouldve predicted that "dont starve but multiplayer" would have skill trees, scrapbook and terraria like progression and gear

I disagree with op "no achievements no buy" but i dont think achievements should be a heresy either

it's very true that the vision has changed. i think a lot of people are hoping with elsewhere that the game is a bit of a return to form, though. it likely will have less progression at ea launch, since as far as we can tell, focus has been put into designing a new survival world. Personally, I'm a big fan of the scrapbook, dislike skill trees, and think the progression was handled somewhat poorly in dst due to being so late game but could work (and is much better than what terraria does imo)

but that is just me, and a ton of people have wildly different views on this

the thing with achievements is that... don't starve has always had goals to achieve! they've just been built more directly into the world. look at adventure mode and character unlocking in the original game, or the bosses in dst. attaching that directly to a steam achievement isn't inherently bad, and could even help some players find motivation to keep playing past the early game, but i feel like it frames the game around boss killing when that's not really what the game as a whole is about

dst is in this weird place where it's not sure if it wants the main challenge to be bosses or survival. maybe a mix of boss-related and survival-related achievements would be nice.

[Esquizo]

On 6/22/2026 at 8:42 AM, Just Ragnar said:

I think steam achievements would really hurt my own experience. I find the lack of "yayy you did it!!!" effects really helps me focus on what I want to do. It makes the game feel more self-contained. In a lot of games, my immersion can be hurt by a sudden steam popup like "You got "Apprentice Logger"!" while I'm minding my own business chopping trees. I don't want to complete a list of tasks, I don't want such a list presented to me at all. I want to be able to do everything entirely of my own volition. If there was an achievement for surviving 1000 days on the same world, the novelty of deciding to do so is lost, as it is just another task on a list, and not a fun project you decide to do on your own. Same with fighting bosses, or making certain builds or using certain strategies. Where would the "wait, I can get the pigs to kill hounds for me!" moment for a new player come from if it's an achievement?

tl;dr I personally don't want achievements as I feel they would hurt my experience with the game by taking away my agency to discover and do stuff myself without a task list telling me about it.

Wow, what a huge problem!   (And pop-ups Steam can be disabled..)

[Mike23Ua]

1 hour ago, Esquizo said:

Wow, what a huge problem!   (And pop-ups Steam can be disabled..)

But what do achievements do for steam exactly? Like as an Xbox player I know that earning Achievements gives me an actual virtual credit which I can then cash out to buy actual games or DLCs with. But are they just for bragging rights on Steam or what? And on the Topic of DSE… why would the game NOT having them prevent you from wanting to buy the game?

[Echsrick]

eh...i think both sides are silly

its silly that you dont want to buy the game because there no achivements

its silly that people complain about there being achivements that do a whole lot of nothing

[Josonic]

On 6/22/2026 at 4:42 AM, Just Ragnar said:

I think steam achievements would really hurt my own experience. I find the lack of "yayy you did it!!!" effects really helps me focus on what I want to do. It makes the game feel more self-contained. In a lot of games, my immersion can be hurt by a sudden steam popup like "You got "Apprentice Logger"!" while I'm minding my own business chopping trees. I don't want to complete a list of tasks, I don't want such a list presented to me at all. I want to be able to do everything entirely of my own volition. If there was an achievement for surviving 1000 days on the same world, the novelty of deciding to do so is lost, as it is just another task on a list, and not a fun project you decide to do on your own. Same with fighting bosses, or making certain builds or using certain strategies. Where would the "wait, I can get the pigs to kill hounds for me!" moment for a new player come from if it's an achievement?

tl;dr I personally don't want achievements as I feel they would hurt my experience with the game by taking away my agency to discover and do stuff myself without a task list telling me about it.

You could simply disable them?

[Evelo]

20 hours ago, Josonic said:

You could simply disable them?

You can disable steam achievements? Please say how, I'd love to know. It's, in part what is stopping me from playing Factorio because my inner achievement hunter clamors at it like a fiend.

[Juny Pear]

1 hour ago, Evelo said:

You can disable steam achievements? Please say how, I'd love to know. It's, in part what is stopping me from playing Factorio because my inner achievement hunter clamors at it like a fiend.

You can't disable achievements themselves really but you can turn off the toast and sound under settings>notifications

Edited June 26 by Juny Pear

[Esquizo]

On 6/24/2026 at 11:05 PM, Echsrick said:

eh...i think both sides are silly

its silly that you dont want to buy the game because there no achivements

its silly that people complain about there being achivements that do a whole lot of nothing

I won't be buying it as a form of protest! 👍

For years, Steam players have been asking for Steam achievements, and they've simply ignored us! Meanwhile, the console and phone versions got achievements, and their other games on Steam also have them.

Achievements are a basic feature in any game on Steam.

I won't buy Elsewhere if they once again choose to ignore Steam players.

[Echsrick]

5 hours ago, Esquizo said:

I won't be buying it as a form of protest! 👍

For years, Steam players have been asking for Steam achievements, and they've simply ignored us! Meanwhile, the console and phone versions got achievements, and their other games on Steam also have them.

Achievements are a basic feature in any game on Steam.

I won't buy Elsewhere if they once again choose to ignore Steam players.

lets be real here, what do you GAIN from achivements even being there?

[Ellilea]

On 6/22/2026 at 3:37 AM, Evelo said:

<snip>

I don't post pretty much anything anywhere because I'm a cave troll ;D But no, I generally do not go out of my way to go anywhere and post anything negative. The only time I'd do it, is if I just cared a lot about whatever it was AND had hope that my feedback might make a difference. 

I think that in the end, whether any random person buys DS:E or not, Klei will fine, I wouldn't worry  Same with all the other negative/demanding feedback. As long as someone doesn't go around the forums throwing insults at the devs, eh, whatever, I'd say. 

*cough*I also think people will buy it anyway if they're involved in the game enough to be in these forums and trying to get things to change/have additions. But don't tell the OP *cough*

Have a good day over there, we're all just humans, we all talk **** sometimes, or get frustrated, or hypocritical. As long as we treat each other with respect, I think we'll be alright.

[Jakepeng99]

On 6/26/2026 at 9:18 AM, Echsrick said:

lets be real here, what do you GAIN from achivements even being there?

They dont matter but in some games its nice. I like how mewgenics has an achievment for every item you unlock by doing a challenge. Its nice to see, and its nice to compare to other people.

Its cooler to compare than just comparing play time.

[ItsPirrrip]

Personally, I would still buy the game even if steam achievements are not included. However, I do support adding them, and I hope they are implemented with restrictions so that achievements can remain meaningful. Achievements should represent personal accomplishments, similar to achievements/trophies earned by consoled players, where they are earned them by completing challenges under strict conditions (no mods). This is how I earned my trophies for DST, and I believe achievements feel more rewarding when they reflect the player's own effort rather than relying on mods or using other players' established worlds to earn them.

One issue I've experienced with PS4 trophies was that some PS4 players focused more on trophy hunting than actually playing the game. Instead of earning certain trophies themselves, they would hop into other players' worlds and rely on others' progress to unlock them. I didn't like this. For example, with the Beefalo taming trophy, I had many players messaging me back then asking to join my world to play, but 99.9% of them would simply sit at my base, use my resources to feed a beefalo. At first, I was puzzled by what they were doing because I already had a tamed beefalo that they could ride if they wanted to, then I figured it out that they were there to get the trophy and kicked them out. Because of experiences like this, I eventually changed my psn message settings so no one could message me.... I would literally get 5 to 10 messages every other day back then from people asking to join my world to "play. I hope that if achievements are added this time, they will only unlock when players earn them in their own worlds.

I understand that multiplayer achievements are difficult to balance, but I hope the achievements in Elsewhere are designed in a way that rewards genuine participation and personal accomplishment.

[Mike23Ua]

16 hours ago, ItsPirrrip said:

Personally, I would still buy the game even if steam achievements are not included. However, I do support adding them, and I hope they are implemented with restrictions so that achievements can remain meaningful. Achievements should represent personal accomplishments, similar to achievements/trophies earned by consoled players, where they are earned them by completing challenges under strict conditions (no mods). This is how I earned my trophies for DST, and I believe achievements feel more rewarding when they reflect the player's own effort rather than relying on mods or using other players' established worlds to earn them.

One issue I've experienced with PS4 trophies was that some PS4 players focused more on trophy hunting than actually playing the game. Instead of earning certain trophies themselves, they would hop into other players' worlds and rely on others' progress to unlock them. I didn't like this. For example, with the Beefalo taming trophy, I had many players messaging me back then asking to join my world to play, but 99.9% of them would simply sit at my base, use my resources to feed a beefalo. At first, I was puzzled by what they were doing because I already had a tamed beefalo that they could ride if they wanted to, then I figured it out that they were there to get the trophy and kicked them out. Because of experiences like this, I eventually changed my psn message settings so no one could message me.... I would literally get 5 to 10 messages every other day back then from people asking to join my world to "play. I hope that if achievements are added this time, they will only unlock when players earn them in their own worlds.

I understand that multiplayer achievements are difficult to balance, but I hope the achievements in Elsewhere are designed in a way that rewards genuine participation and personal accomplishment.

No. Because DST has something Worse than Achievement's, DST has player Affinities that are strictly locked behind killing either Celestial Champion or Ancient FuelWeaver, very very powerful character skills that once unlocked: Can be used in any world from Day One after unlocking.

Klei made an absolutely horrible decision with this, because it throws the games balance way the hell off, now you have a set of players who have never seen CC or AFW, and do not have access to cool useful perks like Willows Lunar Flames, or an Abigail capable of being used for Boss Fights, and THEN You have the players who HAVE killed CC or AFW joining these newbies world with their Godlike powers.

I’m currently in the process of helping a friend unlock Their character affinities, but I’ve done all the work leading up to just killing the boss by myself, I solved all the puzzles, gathered all the required equipment etc.. all they have to do is join my world and just be part of the fight once I start the summoning process.

PC Players can type in Admin commands to spawn these bosses directly in front of them, and then type in an admin command to insta-kill them (not that everyone does this… I’m just explaining why Steam doesn’t have acheivements)

[aidancode]

2 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

No. Because DST has something Worse than Achievement's, DST has player Affinities that are strictly locked behind killing either Celestial Champion or Ancient FuelWeaver, very very powerful character skills that once unlocked: Can be used in any world from Day One after unlocking.

Klei made an absolutely horrible decision with this, because it throws the games balance way the hell off, now you have a set of players who have never seen CC or AFW, and do not have access to cool useful perks like Willows Lunar Flames, or an Abigail capable of being used for Boss Fights, and THEN You have the players who HAVE killed CC or AFW joining these newbies world with their Godlike powers.

I’m currently in the process of helping a friend unlock Their character affinities, but I’ve done all the work leading up to just killing the boss by myself, I solved all the puzzles, gathered all the required equipment etc.. all they have to do is join my world and just be part of the fight once I start the summoning process.

PC Players can type in Admin commands to spawn these bosses directly in front of them, and then type in an admin command to insta-kill them (not that everyone does this… I’m just explaining why Steam doesn’t have acheivements)

As a pc player who has introduced several friends to the game, i usually just have them use the skill tree manager mod that auto unlocks everything. i dont think people tend to enjoy the unlock process, and some characters (particularly willow, woodie, and winona) really rely on those skill trees.