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?
I usually don’t hunt them but some times i do, if it’s a game I’m particularly interested in and i don’t have to go out of my way too much for them. I also like how you can tell a story with them. In the Talos Principle for example there are very branching options that you decide on by being attentive and by testing your philosophy. On my achievement showcase i can now show which path i went on my favourite game.
There’s also the aspect of hints. They hung at little extra challenges and generally tell you there’s something left to experience in the game. For example BG3: after finishing the game I have only 26/54, so i know there’s a lot of content I’ve not explored. I might eventually do another run of it. Had i like 40 something achievements I’d be like "yeah idk that little extra content isn’t worth digging for 60 hours again. I also like the aspect of seeing the achievements of friends showing up in my timeline so i know if i can talk about a certain part of the game without spoiling it.
Oh also if you don’t want some achievements to show up for friends, you can hide the game and activity for others.