A lot of this list is single-run conditions that don’t conflict with each other, so you can earn several at once instead of replaying for each. Each plan below is one run. Achievements in a plan are marked with a ⛓ badge further down.
Every one of these names the SAM'S STORY chapter in its own description, so a single pass through the DLC covers all of them. Play it on Normal or higher (Untouchable requires it), take the optional side activities as you meet them, and behave the way you intend to finish from the first scene.
- ✓▢The Last Hero — Complete the SAM'S STORY chapter.
- ✓▢Trapper — Set all 5 traps in the SAM'S STORY chapter as the Captain requests.
- ✓▢Lord of War — Collect all the upgrades for Sammy rifle and Stallion pistol in the SAM'S STORY chapter.
- ✓▢Cinephile — Organize a documentary screening in the SAM'S STORY chapter.
- ✓▢Great Owl — Find all the Night Hunters' secret stashes in the SAM'S STORY chapter.
- ✓▢Music Lover — Collect all harmonica melodies in the SAM'S STORY chapter.
- ✓▢Untouchable — Complete SAM'S STORY on Normal or higher difficulty without dying in Batwing encounters.
- ✓▢A Man of Principle — Complete the SAM'S STORY chapter earning the Captain's full trust.
Untouchable only disqualifies deaths during Batwing encounters, so the rest of the chapter is forgiving - but A Man of Principle is judged across the whole run, so it is the one that decides whether the pass counts.
The same trick for the other DLC chapter: all of these are scoped to THE TWO COLONELS by their descriptions. Run it on Normal or higher, sweep side rooms for the nine Diary pages as you go, and swing the flamethrower instead of spraying it when Nosalises close in.
- ✓▢Real Colonel — Complete THE TWO COLONELS Chapter.
- ✓▢New Year — Celebrated the New Year in THE TWO COLONELS Chapter.
- ✓▢Duty and conscience — Make a moral choice in THE TWO COLONELS Chapter.
- ✓▢Father and son — Provide guidance for Kirill in THE TWO COLONELS Chapter.
- ✓▢The whole picture — Find all 9 hidden Diary pages in THE TWO COLONELS Chapter.
- ✓▢Mind you, it's quite heavy! — Kill 3 Nosalises with flamethrower's melee attack in THE TWO COLONELS Chapter.
It's just a scratch adds a no-medkit condition to the whole chapter on Normal or higher. It stacks with this plan, but only if you commit before you start taking damage - so decide up front rather than adding it halfway.
Four achievements all name the TAIGA level. Completing it earns Sword of Damocles, and the tea party and the statue are optional detours inside the same chapter.
- ✓▢Sword of Damocles — Complete the TAIGA level.
- ✓▢5 o'clock — Take part in the Admiral's tea party on the TAIGA level.
- ✓▢Decommunization — Destroy the biggest statue in front of the children's camp on the TAIGA level.
- ✓▢Forest child — Complete the TAIGA level without attacking anyone or getting noticed.
Careful here: Forest child asks you to finish TAIGA without attacking anyone OR being noticed. The statue is an object rather than a person and the tea party is a scripted event, so on the published descriptions they do not conflict - but if you are not confident the detours keep you unseen, do the ghost run clean and pick the other two up on a separate visit.
Both of these scope themselves to New Game+, so neither can be earned on a first playthrough. Start the NG+ run with a modification already active and go looking for the three toys along the way.
- ✓▢Mutation — Complete the game in New Game+ mode using any modification.
- ✓▢Toy seller — Find 3 toys in New Game+ mode: teddy bear, sun and fish.
Hardcore and Iron Mode are each a separate full-campaign condition. We have not verified that they can be combined with each other or with this run, so plan them as their own attempts unless a current guide says otherwise.
Story unlock. MOSCOW is the opening level, so this fires as soon as the campaign moves past it. Nothing to plan for — just play.
The story hands you a moment where the train gets its name. Take the prompt when it appears; it is part of the scripted sequence rather than something you have to hunt for.
Artyom's mask cracks when you take hits to the head or fall badly, and once it is damaged you can patch it from your gear. Let a crack appear, then use the mask repair action. Any single successful patch counts.
Purely for stepping aboard one of the boats the game gives you. Climb in once and it pops. No rowing, no destination required.
Take one weapon to a workbench (or use your backpack) and fill every modification slot it offers — sight, barrel, magazine, stock and so on. It is one gun with a complete set of categories, not one mod spread across several guns. Pick whichever rifle you have the most parts for.
The hand-powered rail trolley is one of the ways you cross the map. Climb onto it once and the achievement fires.
Consumables are the chemical-free resource you pick up constantly and spend at the backpack on ammo, filters, medkits and throwables. 500 accumulates on its own over a full playthrough — if you want it faster, craft ammo you will use anyway every time your backpack is open.
One of the map's points of interest is a passenger carriage. Reach it and the achievement unlocks. Sweep the open levels rather than driving straight to objectives and you will run into it.
Story unlock for completing VOLGA, the first big open level. It fires when the chapter ends.
Story unlock. YAMANTAU is a linear, contained chapter, so this arrives simply by seeing it through.
The Bukhanka is the van you are given on one of the open levels. Get behind the wheel and drive it. Sitting in it is not enough — actually move.
Tied to a specific laboratory location rather than a general collectible sweep. Search the lab thoroughly and pick up the maps inside. Explore the area before you trigger the story exit so you are not relying on a return trip.
Steam does not publish this achievement's description, and we have not verified its trigger. Rather than guess, treat it as unknown: check a community guide or the in-game tracker before you go out of your way for it.
The Tikhar is the pneumatic rifle that fires ball bearings and has to be pumped by hand. Thirty kills is comfortable if you make it your default stealth weapon for one of the open levels — it is quiet, and its ammo is craftable, so it also feeds Handyman.
Two specific optional pickups on the VOLGA level. They are level-scoped: sweep for both while VOLGA is still open to you rather than after the story moves on.
Story unlock for completing CASPIAN. It fires at the end of the chapter.
A scripted optional event on the SUMMER level. You have to actually be present for it, so do not rush the story beat that leads there; it belongs to that chapter, so take the detour while you are there.
Story unlock for completing TAIGA.
Unlocks for getting through a specific tunnel section. It sits on the critical path of the level it belongs to, so seeing that chapter through covers it.
Both non-lethal takedowns and lethal melee count, so a stealth-leaning playthrough gets there without trying. If you are behind, humans in the open levels are easy to sneak up on — you can stun rather than kill, which also keeps a low-kill run intact.
Mutants are the animal enemies rather than the human factions, and they are endless in the open levels. 300 accumulates naturally; if you need to top up, the wilderness between objectives keeps spawning them.
Steam does not publish this achievement's description, and we have not verified its trigger. Rather than guess, treat it as unknown: check a community guide or the in-game tracker before you go out of your way for it.
Steam does not publish this achievement's description, and we have not verified its trigger. Rather than guess, treat it as unknown: check a community guide or the in-game tracker before you go out of your way for it.
A named water creature you have to put down. It is a set-piece encounter rather than a wandering spawn, so bring something with weight behind it and shoot from a position where it cannot reach you.
The wording is the whole trick: at your FIRST meeting with the Bear you must hold your position instead of running. That means it is bound to a single moment, so decide before you walk into it that you are standing still.
Artyom carries a radio you can tune. Cycle it until you land on a broadcast rather than static. Any successful tune counts.
The crossbow is silent and its bolts are retrievable from bodies, so the ammo cost is close to nothing if you pick up after every kill. Thirty is one open level's worth of stealth play.
Steam does not publish this achievement's description, and we have not verified its trigger. Rather than guess, treat it as unknown: check a community guide or the in-game tracker before you go out of your way for it.
Human kills only, so mutants do not contribute. This is the achievement that conflicts most directly with a pacifist or low-kill approach — if you are also chasing a no-kill run on a level, do your killing elsewhere.
An optional scripted event inside the TAIGA level. You have to actually attend it, and it belongs to that chapter, so look for it while TAIGA is open.
Steam does not publish this achievement's description, and we have not verified its trigger. Rather than guess, treat it as unknown: check a community guide or the in-game tracker before you go out of your way for it.
Belongs to THE TWO COLONELS DLC chapter. It is a story-side moment inside that chapter — you need the DLC to see it at all.
THE TWO COLONELS puts a decision in front of you and this fires for taking it. Either side of the choice satisfies the wording as published — it asks that you make one, not which one.
Kirill is the son in the DLC's title. The achievement asks you to guide him, so engage with him when the chapter gives you the opportunity rather than pushing past. It is scoped to that chapter.
Completion unlock for the whole DLC chapter. Requires THE TWO COLONELS.
Steam does not publish this achievement's description, and we have not verified its trigger. Rather than guess, treat it as unknown: check a community guide or the in-game tracker before you go out of your way for it.
A no-kill condition scoped to one building on one level: inside the Research Facility on DEAD CITY, not a single Blind One may die by your hand. Go slow, use crouch and stay out of their hearing — and note that a single accidental kill ends the attempt for that visit, so save before you go in if your difficulty allows saving.
Steam hides this one's description. Community guides consistently describe it as finishing a campaign with every crew member still alive, which makes it a whole-playthrough condition rather than a single action — but that is community consensus, not a published description, so verify against a full guide before you commit a run to it.
A demon is the large flying mutant. The kill has to come from fire, so bring an incendiary option to an encounter with one rather than trying to improvise mid-fight.
Completion unlock for the SAM'S STORY DLC chapter. Requires that DLC.
Every ranged weapon in the game needs one kill on your account. Keep a checklist as you find guns, and deliberately swap to anything you have not used yet when an easy target presents itself — otherwise you finish the campaign having never fired two or three of them.
You have to actually run dry in a hazard zone and then craft a fresh filter while the suffocation timer is running. Set it up deliberately: enter a contaminated area with your last filter nearly spent and the crafting resources already in your pack, let it expire, then craft.
Three conditions at once, three times over: sniper scope, gas mask on, night vision goggles active. A dark, contaminated area is where all three overlap naturally. Charge the goggles first — if the battery dies mid-run the kills stop counting.
Chemicals are the second crafting resource, and cleaning a dirty weapon at the workbench is what drains them. Clean your guns every time you pass a bench instead of only when they jam, and 500 goes by on its own.
Five traps, all of them, during the Captain's request in SAM'S STORY. Count them as you place them so you do not finish the section on four.
A specific destructible: the largest statue standing in front of the children's camp on TAIGA. It is optional and easy to walk straight past, so deal with it while you are in that area.
The DLC's two signature weapons each have a set of upgrades scattered through the chapter. Explore the optional buildings rather than following the objective marker, and pick them all up on the one pass through the chapter.
A specific traversal on the CASPIAN level: use the bucket lift as your route to the Oasis rather than any other approach. Take that route while CASPIAN is open to you.
An optional side activity inside SAM'S STORY. It has its own small chain of steps in the chapter, so engage with it when the opportunity appears rather than pushing the story forward.
A full-game collectible sweep for every suit upgrade. They are spread across the open levels, so search each level thoroughly on the pass you make through it rather than planning to clean up later.
Steam does not publish this achievement's description, and we have not verified its trigger. Rather than guess, treat it as unknown: check a community guide or the in-game tracker before you go out of your way for it.
Steam does not publish this achievement's description, and we have not verified its trigger. Rather than guess, treat it as unknown: check a community guide or the in-game tracker before you go out of your way for it.
Long-range kills only. The open levels give you the sightlines; scope up and take engagements from a distance instead of closing in, and this accumulates alongside Headhunter and Antibiotic.
The condition is narrower than it first reads: deaths only disqualify you during Batwing encounters, but any of them ends the attempt, and the run has to be on Normal or above. Treat the Batwing fights as the whole challenge and play them cautiously — cover first, damage second.
A morality condition measured across the whole DLC chapter, so it is decided by how you play throughout rather than by one choice at the end. It stacks with the other SAM'S STORY achievements in a single careful run.
Steam does not publish this achievement's description, and we have not verified its trigger. Rather than guess, treat it as unknown: check a community guide or the in-game tracker before you go out of your way for it.
The one genuinely demanding achievement on the list. Ranger Hardcore strips the HUD, thins out ammo and resources and makes hits far more punishing. Play it as a stealth game: silent weapons, non-lethal takedowns on humans, and avoid open firefights you did not choose. It is a full campaign, so combine it with whatever other run-scoped goals you can.
Nine pages inside the DLC chapter. Sweep side rooms as you go rather than hoping to return.
Not flamethrower kills in general — three Nosalises specifically killed with the flamethrower's melee attack, inside THE TWO COLONELS. Swing rather than spray when they close in.
A full-level ghost run: no attacks on anyone, and no detections, for the whole of TAIGA. Move at a crouch, stay off the obvious paths, and douse lights before crossing open ground. This is the level's hardest ask and it is scoped to that one chapter, so treat TAIGA as a dedicated stealth attempt.
Seventy pages spread across the whole campaign. Each is tied to the level it sits in, so use a collectible guide alongside the playthrough and sweep as you go rather than trying to recall locations later.
Twenty-one postcards, spread across levels the same way the Diary pages are. Hunt them on the same pass as Librarian so you only sweep each level once.
New Game+ only, which by definition means a second run after you have finished once. The wording asks that a modification be in use for that run, so set one up before you start rather than partway through.
A complete stash sweep inside the SAM'S STORY chapter. Do it on the same pass as the chapter's other collectible sets.
Zero medkit uses for the entire DLC chapter, on Normal or above. Play it defensively — the restriction is on healing, not on taking damage, so cover and patience carry the run.
A full collectible set inside SAM'S STORY. Do it on the same run as the stashes and the weapon upgrades so the chapter only has to be played through carefully once.
Three specific toys, and the description scopes them to New Game+ mode — they will not count on a first playthrough. Line this up with Mutation so a single NG+ run covers both.
Iron Mode removes the save system, so a death sends you back to the start of the level rather than to a quicksave. It is a full campaign under that restriction. Community guides describe it as a mode you select before starting a New Game+ run rather than a difficulty of its own — worth confirming against a current guide before you plan your runs around it.
