How-To

How to Reset Game Achievements on Steam

By Jeff Butts

Published January 30, 2024

As fun as it can be to see your achievements stack up in a game on Steam, sometimes you might want to reset one or more of them. We’ll show you how.

Steam achievements are like games within the game. They’re a ton of fun, marking milestones above and beyond just winning a match or beating a certain level. Sometimes, though, you might want to reset those achievements on Steam.

Since Steam saves your achievements and game progress in the cloud, even transferring the titles from one PC to another or moving them to a different storage device won’t reset things. Without any obvious way to wipe the slate clean, how can you get a fresh start on completing the achievements for a game on Steam? Talk a walk with me into the more advanced side of the Steam client, and I’ll show you.

Relocking Those Achievements You Unlocked: More Complicated Than It Needs to Be

Now, some game developers will give you an easy way to reset all of your achievements and progress towards the same within the Steam client. I’ve found those titles to be few and far between, unfortunately, but it’s worth looking for that option first.

Another option mentioned in various forums is to use Steam Family Sharing to play the game under a different profile. Since this allows you to share your game library with as many as five other friends or family members, it might be the best option to consider.

If you don’t find a button provided by the developer and don’t want to use an alternate Steam account, you’ll need to use the Steam Client Console to reset achievements one at a time for your game.

How to Access the Steam Client Console

You can launch the Steam Client Console easily, using either your web browser or, on Windows, the Run Dialog. We’ll start with the browser method since it’s the same on any operating system.

1. In your web browser, open a new window or tab.
2. In the address bar, enter steam://nav/console and press Enter or Return.
   
3. A dialog appears confirming you want to allow the website to open the Steam client. Click Open or Open Steam to confirm.
   
4. Your Steam client will either launch or refresh to show a new tab, Console.

If you’re running Steam under Windows, you can also use the Run Dialog to accomplish the same thing.

1. Press the Windows key + R to open the Run Dialog.
2. Type steam://open/console in the text box and click OK.
   
3. As with the browser method, the Steam client will appear and you’ll have a new tab, Console.

How to Reset Achievements with the Steam Client Console

Now that you’ve opened the console, you can reset your achievements.

1. You’ll first need to look up your game on the SteamDB webpage. After locating the game, make note of its App ID.
   
2. Click Achievements in the left sidebar, and scroll until you find the name of the achievement you want to reset. In our example, we’re going to reset Escort Service achievement in Sid Meier’s Civilization VI.
   
3. Make note of the API Name for that achievement. You’ll need it in the next step.
   
4. From the Steam Client Console, enter the command achievement_clear [App ID] [API Name]. For example, to clear the Escort Service achievement for Sid Meier’s Civilization VI, you’d enter achievement_clear 289070 NEW_ACHIEVEMENT_4_13.
   
5. If all goes well, you’ll receive a success message in the console.
   

I have noticed that some games won’t allow achievements to be reset. Cities: Skylines, for example, would not allow me to reset achievements at all. You may also need to completely exit the Steam client and relaunch it to see the changes.

Are There Easier Ways to Modify Game Stats on Steam?

Yes, there’s also an older open-source utility called Steam Achievement Manager (SAM). This tool was originally released in 2008 and last updated in 2013. That being said, it seems to continue to work for many.

Not only does SAM allow you to relock achievements you’ve unlocked, but it also can do the opposite. With SAM, you can unlock achievements you haven’t earned yet, something many consider to be cheating.

You can download SAM from its GitHub repository, but proceed with caution. It’s by no means an official tool for the Steam client and may or may not violate Steam’s Terms of Service.

There have been reports of gamers having their accounts suspended or banned after using SAM. Steam has never officially commented on this, but it’s worrisome enough for me to say to be careful with the tool.