13 years on, Ubisoft adds Steam achievements to the one mainline Assassin's Creed game you can't actually buy, but not the updated version you can

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

Ubisoft's been returning to Steam with all the enthusiasm of a groom at a shotgun wedding for a good few years now, and most recently it's been adding Steam achievements to its back catalogue of games. In the last month alone, both Watch Dogs 2 and Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon have found themselves redolent with cheevos.

But now, in a move I can't help but find a bit funny, Ubi has gone ahead and added achievements to Assassin's Creed 3. Original, 2012 Assassin's Creed 3, I mean, not the remastered version from 2019. That's, uh, the version you can't actually buy anymore: the one with a big orange "Assassin’s Creed 3 is no longer available on the Steam store" notice on its page. AC3 remastered, meanwhile, remains cheev-less. It means only people who already bought AC3 Cool Original back when it was available will be able to earn 'em.

Which, hey, isn't much of an issue unless you're some kind of weirdo who actually cares about Steam achievements (like, well, me), and I have to imagine there's probably some long chain of weird corporate decision-making that makes the bass-ackwards way Ubisoft is Steam-ifying its games make sense. But still, on its face it's not exactly intuitive to add features to a game you're not actually selling anymore rather than the games you actually are.

In addition to the AC3 update, Ubi's also put out achievements for Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD, the once-upon-a-time Vita exclusive that got ported to beefier machines in 2014. You can still buy that one, so fair play. If you're worried about having to replay those games to unlock the achievements you already earned, fear not, you'll get all the cheevos you've previously chalked up straight away when you launch the game.

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One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.