Three of the hottest recent and upcoming releases on Epic Games Store feature support for the platform’s achievements feature, allowing players to unlock gameplay achievements to display on their profile. Achievements are a relatively recent addition to the Epic Games Store and not every game has the feature yet, so having unlockable achievements be available for high-profile releases indicates that the feature may appear for more games on the platform moving forward.
The Epic Games Store was launched in late 2018 and works as both a game launcher and a storefront designed to compete with other online distribution platforms, like Steam. Though the program's launch was met with frustration by some gamers who weren’t eager to install yet another launcher on their PC, it has managed to establish its own niche in the marketplace thanks to a combination of exclusive titles and regular releases of free games on Epic Games Store. Support for unlockable achievements in games, similar to those available on Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation, was added to Epic Games Store in late 2021 but is still not available for many titles on the platform.
The three new major titles with achievements to be added to the Epic Games Store are Scorn, Gotham Knights, and A Plague Tale: Requiem. Each of the three titles features the ability to earn 1000 XP by unlocking all available achievements, with the number of achievements in each title ranging from just 12 in the H.R. Giger-influenced Scorn to a whopping 48 achievements in the upcoming Gotham Knights. As the Epic Games Store continues to try to compete with the 800-lb gorilla of digital distribution that is Valve’s Steam, adding achievements for new releases like these could help draw some gamers to the platform which makes their absence from upcoming releases like the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection seem like a strange omission.
Adding achievements to the Epic Games Store was Epic's latest attempt to increase consumer interest in the platform and drive business away from rival online storefronts like Steam and EA Play, and it remains to be seen if players were actually drawn in by the appeal of new unlockables to boost their gaming cred. The previous lack of achievements was only one of many complaints that some gamers had for Epic’s storefront, though. Even as recent updates have attempted to improve discoverability on Epic Games Store, the inability to easily find games on the platform continues to be a thorn in the side of many gamers.
The addition of achievements to these new releases is good news for fans of trophy-hunting, but it may not be enough to sway gamers away from Steam. As Epic faces new threats to its digital storefront thanks to Steam’s tight integration with the hugely successful Steam Deck, it may take more than a new slate of unlockables to keep gamers opening their wallets at the Epic Games Store.
