I don’t think that’s true. Take Little Rocket Man, that achievement is a special challenge run that encourages people to replay through the game, probably after they’ve beaten it naturally, and then they see that achievement in the list and they get some more fun playing through it doing this weird thing.
Subnautica’s achievements are pretty much all on the critical path, only two (launching a time capsule during the end game sequence and hatching a cuddlefish) are reasonable for a first timer to not do. These serve more as useful metadata for both players and the developer. For example, the achievement “Get your feet wet” stands at 88.7% of players have gotten that achievement. 11.3% of players have played Subnautica but haven’t gotten into the water? You can look at the achievements in the order a player would probably do them, and you can see where players tend to fall off, and in fact it makes 100% sense to me why it does where it does. If a lot of players start the game and get early achievements, but there’s a sharp drop in the mid-game where players fall off, maybe you need to look at the mid-game, especially if it’s an early access title like Subnautica was, or you can learn from how players interact with this game and apply that knowledge to your next one.
Counterpoint: if they’re implemented well you wouldn’t need them anyhow. 😁
I don’t think that’s true. Take Little Rocket Man, that achievement is a special challenge run that encourages people to replay through the game, probably after they’ve beaten it naturally, and then they see that achievement in the list and they get some more fun playing through it doing this weird thing.
Subnautica’s achievements are pretty much all on the critical path, only two (launching a time capsule during the end game sequence and hatching a cuddlefish) are reasonable for a first timer to not do. These serve more as useful metadata for both players and the developer. For example, the achievement “Get your feet wet” stands at 88.7% of players have gotten that achievement. 11.3% of players have played Subnautica but haven’t gotten into the water? You can look at the achievements in the order a player would probably do them, and you can see where players tend to fall off, and in fact it makes 100% sense to me why it does where it does. If a lot of players start the game and get early achievements, but there’s a sharp drop in the mid-game where players fall off, maybe you need to look at the mid-game, especially if it’s an early access title like Subnautica was, or you can learn from how players interact with this game and apply that knowledge to your next one.