Playing Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition on PC and I hit one of those classic “Bugthesda” moments: last time this level crashed to desktop with no warning, and today my screen randomly auto‑adjusted mid‑game and threw my aim and immersion completely off.
I did the usual ritual: check for updates → Microsoft Store updates → verify game files → repair the library. You know the drill.
But honestly, that’s not the part that’s really stuck in my head.
What’s been gnawing at me is this: in 2026, are achievements still relevant in the way platforms treat them—especially when mods disable them anyway?
A few things bother me:
Mods disable achievements (even on consoles now in some cases), so for a lot of players they’re already meaningless mechanically.
There’s no way to opt out. If I don’t want a permanent public record of what I did or didn’t do in a game, tough luck.
Even if I uninstall or refund a game, the partial achievement list just sits there on my profile forever like a half‑finished diary I never agreed to publish.
What I wish existed is something like:
a “no achievements” mode where I can play purely for the experience, and my achievement list just shows as “inaccessible/opted out” to others
or at least the ability to hide or erase achievements for specific games if I decide I don’t want that history attached to me anymore
I’m not pretending I can change the minds of big companies who still design like it’s 2005, but I am genuinely curious what different types of players think:
Achievement hunters: Do you care if others can opt out, or does that not affect you at all?
Mod users (PC and console): Since mods often disable achievements, do they still matter to you in any way?
Everyone else: Do you ever think about the permanence of your achievement history, or is it just background noise?
Is it time for platforms to give us a real opt‑out or ephemeral play option, or am I overthinking something that most people are fine with?
mods disable achievements
Lol no. Just install the mid that re-enables achievements and enjoy Bugthesda games the way they should have been
Can you say the same for consoles? PlayStation, Xbox etc. I have yet to see a mod that enables achievements on consoles, but that’s a discussion for another post. This thought is of achievements, should we have the option to delete achievement history? From those who care about achievements (Achievement Hunters), to those who don’t even acknowledge achievements (Modders), and I who is concerned with achievement permanence.
I was never really into them that much on modern games but I do get a kick out of retroachievements.org adding them to older games
They’ve always been a waste of time IMO. The only time I’d do them was when i owned very few games and had to squeeze every drop of value out of each one.
There are some cool ones like factorios finish the game in under 8 hours but most are slop. I think theres still a place on steam for them. I can go on peoples profile and see the ones they’ve chosen to display and how rare they are.
If you use mods you can usually get a mod to reenable them if you care about it.
They can be helpful when you enjoy playing a game but run out of stuff to do. I hunt for them in Mini Motorways, Forza Horizon, and a few other games. Most games I ignore them completely though.
Achievements basically boil down to “does it matter to me that other people see that I’ve accomplished something” and that only matters “if it matters to other people that my achievements are worth knowing”. It’s essentially trying to generate interest in a game by creating this social competition and of course FOMO. So I guess it’s just social media advertising.
In my case none of this matters. I play mostly single player games because I enjoy them, not because I care what other people think. Having that info in game is sometimes cool if I want to know I’ve finished everything there is to finish.
From a game developers standpoint this data could be useful. Is this part being used? How long does it take? At what part in the game did they accomplish it? That sorta thing. The publishing of that data in a public space is different beast.
But with mods disabling achievements and Cheat Engine (memory editing on PC), Modded firmware on consoles (rare, risky, bannable), Save file editors, Trainer programs, the data for game developers is faulty when it comes to achievements, isn’t it? I’m not asking to get rid of achievements, I’m asking to add a policy to delete one’s achievement history, the data is already faulty as I see it.
Makes no difference to me. I don’t mind them either way, but considering how they do nothing to effect the game i would say keep them. If anything they serve a purpose of statistics and possibly how far you are into a game. Considering i have never played a game with mods they are never disabled for me either. Ive been there when they started which i think was the year after the PS3 launched so 2007 or 2008 when the update came to introduce them. Its pretty cool seeing almost 20 years worth of that data on what i did and in what year i did it.
Now I ain’t saying get rid of achievements, I don’t want to pick fights with achievement hunters! I’m saying add a digital privacy policy term when it comes account or game deletion, yes some sites be it console or PC have the right to hide games, but what about deleting or uninstalling a game you could add ‘delete all achievements’ as well? I guess you could say this is more for those perfectionists, just a thought.
Side note but I really don’t know that drill. I’ve used Linux since 2010 and only begrudgingly dual booted in the years before proton was a thing, but now have used it as my only OS since Valve started developing it.
Highly recommend trying it out if you like to tinker. Modding things like Bethesda games is possible, but it’s been a while since I played one so I can’t remember all the specifics.
Achievements are cool sometimes. I did some challenge runs on Factorio like “there is no spoon” which is launching a rocket in under 8 hours. There is almost always a mod that turns achievements back on for most games fwiw
I like the different approach some games take, like Minecraft’s “advancements”. They’re per save, so mods don’t disable them (in fact, many mods add their own), and a nice indicator of how much progress you’ve made in a world already.
And people who care about “completing” a game can still do that in a single save and show off the advancement progress window there (although it can be cheated just like in any game).
There’s just no global statistics anymore.
I really like seeing the breakdown of what percentage of players have done X, Y, or Z compared to me. When achievements were first implemented, it was the first time developers had real data about how people played their games, and it influenced how games would change after that. I don’t think many people are circumventing them via mods percentage-wise, so they’re mostly a good representation of the sample size’s behavior. I rarely go for all of them, averaging about 35% of achievements per game, but I did just 100% Escape from Ever After not long ago, and part of that was getting all of the achievements in it, which was a fun little extra activity to do in a game I really enjoyed.
If you really don’t want that record attached to you, you could prioritize playing games from GOG via offline installer, I suppose.
In some games they so provide an extra challenge that can be fun to go for. It of course depends on the game and the achievement. I’ve had games where I enjoyed going for achievements and some where I never even looked at them
Idgaf about achievements. It always was a scattered mess and (imo) epeen length comparison. I play for the experience and fun of it.
Ymmv. Have fun however you’re having it!
I love achievements to the point I’ve been replaying a ton of old games just cause of retroachievements. As for what I’d think of others not wanting them, I don’t really care what you do. I do see a lot of pushback against achievements, especially whenever the topic of Nintendo adding them comes up since they’re the only platform without it, so a way to just permanently system or game wide disable them would be nice for those people. Something easy to access so you wouldn’t have to dig in menus for it.
Achievements are background noise for me, I only chase them if they sound fun to chase. I have done all the achievements for a few games intentionally, but only if there are like a dozen or less that don’t just happen naturally by playing.
I save scummed for elden ring to get all endings because I don’t like replaying games and wanted to see all endings with my playerc think I got all acheivements but 1 without trying to get them all. I was trying to get every piece of equipment and every spell/incantation/summon in the game.
I did the same thing even on my PS5. Saved the file like normal which saved to the cloud, then i disabled cloud saving and proceeded to do everything else off that save to get each ending and then copy that cloud save back down overriding my local save. I was shocked it worked so well. I think i ran into 1 issue with getting all the weapons since 1 could not be obtained again in the first play through but i had my friend join my game and he gave me the weapon and laughed when we realized it worked. I love that i not only beat that game but also got every achievement, so i guess that means i do enjoy them.
You can usually reenable achievements with another mod, if they matter to you.
I think they’re relevant for people who like them. Most games I don’t care, but for games I really like I’ll use achievements to see of there are things I haven’t yet discovered.
Sometimes it’s fun to compare to friends.
I don’t really know why they disable them with mods installed. If a person cheats and gets them all, who cares? It’s not like there’s actual value. If it makes them happy, let them be happy.
And yea, an opt out feature for people who don’t want them would be good, too.
Sometimes it’s fun to compare to friends.
Unless…
a person cheats and gets them all
If I’m actually friends with them, it’s a trait I’ve accepted, and at worst roll my eyes at. If you somehow feel less because a friend of yours has more achievements, that seems like a different issue altogether.
They are marketing shenanigans, they always have been. Those who care about them are the people who are sensible to such marketing tactics.
They used to have value for single player games like Final Fantasy series. Achievements were hints to the hidden parts of the game.
100%ing a game doesn’t mean as much when games are released in beta and get seasonal content updates.
Hate to break it to you but 100%ing a game means jack shit in every context.
It’s called personal satisfaction my dude.
As you can see, I care about achievements: https://sh.itjust.works/post/56525516
As others have said, it’s a great incentive to go deeper in a game. It should just not become a grind and that’s why I don’t 100% a lot of games.
It can also make you remember what branch of a story you went for in a story driven game.
If it gives data to developer about how a game is played, it ain’t something I mind as the way I play isn’t a important privacy wise as other data.
What’s stupid is when people buy a game just because it has easy achievements though…
