how do achievements work on the Steam Deck?

[dynastystar]

I'm a major achievement hunter and I'd like to know how Steam Deck handles achievements. Do I have to be connected to a Wifi? If so, I may not be able to play at work because the wifi is ♥♥♥♥. Are there any other restrictions? Has anybody had any problems with achievements not popping when they should?

[invision2212]

Achievement work as normal for me but I play on Wi-Fi at all times. Only one time did an achievement give me issues and it was the game firewatch and to solve it I simply changed proton versions. No idea why it wouldn’t pop.

[davoto]

Offline shouldn't be a problem. The info gets stored somewhere, and you'll get the pop-ups next time you're online.

[Man's Best Friend]

Originally posted by davoto:

Offline shouldn't be a problem. The info gets stored somewhere, and you'll get the pop-ups next time you're online.

This is correct. I play offline almost exclusively, and achievements are simply unlocked when you're online next.

Things to note about this though:
The notifications cannot be relied upon for this. They won't pop up when you get the achievement, and they usually won't pop up once they sync. They'll sometimes pop up much later (even if you're offline again), or they may never pop up. This is especially true if you got several before syncing. They're still synced though, so check your achievements page for the definitive answer.

The times and dates of the unlock will not be when you met the requirements, but rather when they got synced. This can lead to cases where you appear to unlock achievements that are mutually exclusive at the same time. You can get even weirder situations where according to my activity page I unlocked an achievement before ever playing the game. This is really only a problem if you are particularly worried about people thinking that you've been using SAM. Though SAM use usually shows as dozens of achievements all unlocking at the same time, not just two or three.

[Mahjik]

Originally posted by HTTP Error 418: I'm a teapot:

Originally posted by davoto:

Offline shouldn't be a problem. The info gets stored somewhere, and you'll get the pop-ups next time you're online.

This is correct. I play offline almost exclusively, and achievements are simply unlocked when you're online next.

Just to note, this is a "YMMV". Not all games function that way for offline play. Some of them you will not get the achievements recorded. The time played can get missed as well.
These are not new issues with offline, the Steam Deck just makes them more noticeable.

[dynastystar]

Originally posted by Mahjik:

Originally posted by HTTP Error 418: I'm a teapot:

This is correct. I play offline almost exclusively, and achievements are simply unlocked when you're online next.

Just to note, this is a "YMMV". Not all games function that way for offline play. Some of them you will not get the achievements recorded. The time played can get missed as well.
These are not new issues with offline, the Steam Deck just makes them more noticeable.

if thats the case, Does anybody have any game recommendations that you for sure know work for achievements in offline play? I may just have to make my Steam Deck how I play achievementless games otherwise.

[Mahjik]

FWIW: https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/7/2527030866874246942/

[Cattobutt]

I recieved achievements offline from Terraria before. However, the achievement icon didn't show up unless I was connected to the internet. I do wonder if this was patched in the new UI update...

[dynastystar]

Originally posted by Mr. Catboi:

I recieved achievements offline from Terraria before. However, the achievement icon didn't show up unless I was connected to the internet. I do wonder if this was patched in the new UI update...

Now that I'm familiar with the Steam Deck, I know that achievements for games do work(at least so far). I do believe there's a setting in the notification settings that effects that pop up. Try finding it. I fiddled with the settings one time, and was upset that I suddenly wasn't getting the pop up anymore and realized it was the setting I switched.

[Exdeun]

Originally posted by dynastystar:

Originally posted by Mahjik:

Just to note, this is a "YMMV". Not all games function that way for offline play. Some of them you will not get the achievements recorded. The time played can get missed as well.
These are not new issues with offline, the Steam Deck just makes them more noticeable.

if thats the case, Does anybody have any game recommendations that you for sure know work for achievements in offline play? I may just have to make my Steam Deck how I play achievementless games otherwise.

Did you find a list for those games? I am also looking for games that would pop achievements when I'm back online

[dynastystar]

Originally posted by Exdeun:

Originally posted by dynastystar:

if thats the case, Does anybody have any game recommendations that you for sure know work for achievements in offline play? I may just have to make my Steam Deck how I play achievementless games otherwise.

Did you find a list for those games? I am also looking for games that would pop achievements when I'm back online

pretty much all of the games I've played so far do pop achievements, the achievements are stored on the deck and then it pops them once the Deck its connected to the internet again(so the time you got the achievement is based on when you synced, not based on when you got it). Maybe I'm just having good luck on the games I've chosen, or maybe being able to play offline is part if being "Verified". I've played Yakuza Kiwami 2, Hexcells, Hexologic, DuckTales Remastered, Luna's Fishing Garden, Hand of Fate(although I think I finished that at home when I was connected to the net?), Vampire Survivors, The Last Campfire(current one I'm playing), etc.