Steam is about to stop taking away your 100% when a game adds new achievements. On the evening of 15 October Valve released a client beta with Achievement Sets: developers can group a game's achievements, and DLC achievements no longer drag down overall progress for players who don't own the DLC. The same update makes the Linux Steam client a 64-bit application that runs inside the Steam Runtime container, the same one Steam games have used for years.
How Achievement Sets work
You still unlock achievements just by playing. What changes is how Steam shows them. The long list gets split into sets defined by the developer, such as single-player and multiplayer, or one set per character class. Each set has its own progress bar, and finishing one adds a "set complete" trophy to your profile.
- Base game sets. Anyone who plays can earn them. They show in blue on the achievements page.
- DLC sets. Achievements that need an add-on. They don't count towards the game's overall progress until you own the DLC, and after that they show in purple.
- Completed stays completed. If achievements are later added to a set you've finished, your completion is kept. Developers can also put new content in a new set.
- Seasonal and limited achievements. Developers can archive an achievement or a whole set. Players who unlocked it keep it on their profile, and it stops blocking everyone else from completing the set or the game.
This won't show up in every game at once: sets only appear where developers have configured them, and Valve talks about "a growing set of games". To try it, turn on the client beta in Steam Settings, under Interface, Client Beta Participation.
Steam for Linux goes 64-bit
It's two lines in the changelog, but on Linux they matter more than the achievement sets. The Steam client is now a 64-bit application and runs inside the Steam Runtime container. Valve's reasoning: it gives the client a more consistent experience across distributions, using the same technology Steam games run on.
The old 32-bit client kept distributions on a leash for years, because they had to ship 32-bit libraries just for it. In 2019 Canonical announced Ubuntu would stop building 32-bit packages, Valve replied that it would then drop official Ubuntu support, and Canonical backed down. Valve's notes don't say whether systems still need 32-bit libraries, and older 32-bit games may keep needing them. What's clear is that the client itself is no longer 32-bit.
The rest of the beta is smaller fixes:
- Remote Play: a "Display Style" setting to stretch or zoom the picture when the stream's aspect ratio doesn't match your screen.
- Steam Controller: a controller shut down while docked no longer turns itself back on.
- Linux: fixed a case where the Steam updater window failed to appear for some users.
- General: a reworked notifications settings layout, memory leak fixes in streaming and controller code, and better offline support for the activity feed.
It's a beta, and Valve gives no date for the stable release; beta features usually reach everyone within a few weeks. A week earlier, on 13 October, the stable client already got a screensaver and a Big Art Mode for the Big Picture home screen.
Sources
Steam Client Beta, 15.10.2026: changelog including the 64-bit Linux client and the Steam Runtime container. Valve, "Steam Achievement Sets Now in Beta", 15.10.2026: how sets work, DLC sets, archived achievements. Steam client update of 13.10.2026. Images: Valve's announcement and an official Steam Deck photo.
