The Epic Store is finally getting one of the features both its fans and detractors have long said it lacked: achievements. While its achievements are rolling out in a limited form, it’ll still be fun to see them in our Epic-owned titles, considering it’s a feature almost every other gaming platform offers.
Epic revealed the feature in a tweet, adding that it’s still tinkering with the feature. The tweet shows an image of what achievements will look like using ARK: Survival Evolved as an example. It appears the achievements will be listed in a side panel, and you’ll be able to see your progress towards certain objectives (it’s a bit hard to see in the clip, so it’s rather speculative on my part).
Certain games on the Epic Games Store may begin to display achievements as you unlock them.
This is an early version of the feature and you can expect to see changes & adjustments.
We'll have more info to share on achievements in the future, so stay tuned! pic.twitter.com/80dnoLYegV
— Epic Games Store (@EpicGames) July 29, 2020
A representative later confirmed to PC Gamer that ARK is the only game in the Epic Store at the moment on which you can earn achievements. Epic warned that the feature is still in an early form, meaning it probably won’t be working for everyone. So it’ll be a little while before we know for certain whether I will, for example, have to replay Control to get all the achievements. Not that I’d be opposed to that, mind you. It also appears that the games will have the same achievements as they do everywhere else, if a quick comparison between these achievements and those on ARK‘s Steam page tells us anything.
The 💜 of EU tech
The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
While the Store Wars have tapered off somewhat since they started last year, Epic skeptics have criticized the platforms lack of features compared with Steam or even Uplay or Origin. Chief among said features is achievements. I don’t think having them will necessarily convert the critics, but it would certainly put it closer to the competition. The responses to Epic’s tweets show at least a few people pleased with the addition, though there are quite a few exasperated either with how long it took Epic to add it.
Either way, as someone who’s just accepted that having multiple PC game stores is my life now, it’ll be nice to see more things come to the Epic Store. Achievements may be a bit frivolous, but they do, in my opinion, make playing a game more fun — especially longer games, where they act as sort of mile markers separating what might otherwise be a slog. It’s sort of a “Congratulations, you’ve made it X far.” And considering I already get that dopamine rush from almost every other gaming platform on which I play (barring Nintendo), I won’t say no to getting the same from the Epic Store.
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.