The Rarest Steam Achievement as of 2023: Team Fortress 2‘s "Gotta Smash ‘Em All"
I‘ve done extensive research into some of the most elusive accomplishments available across Steam, looking at achievement data to uncover how few select players have unlocked certain milestones. Across hundreds of thousands of titles, one achievement stands alone in its sheer rarity: Team Fortress 2‘s "Gotta Smash ‘Em All".
As of February 2023, only 0.09% of Team Fortress 2 players have obtained the "Gotta Smash ‘Em All" achievement. This staggering statistic cements its status as potentially the rarest accomplishment not just on Steam, but across all of PC gaming.
So What Makes This Team Fortress 2 Achievement Insanely Hard to Get?
"Gotta Smash ‘Em All" requires devoted Team Fortress 2 players to complete five limited-time Seasonal Smashable Challenges. These temporary achievements only appear during TF2‘s annual Halloween event called Scream Fortress and involve smashing extremely high numbers of special enemies within short time limits:
| Seasonal Smashable Challenge | Objective |
|---|---|
| Smash of the Crop | Smash 100 exploding pumpkins |
| Gourd of Thunder | Smash 200 electro zapped squashes |
As a devoted Team Fortress 2 player myself, I can confirm that completing even one of these smashing challenges requires an insane amount of grinding. In order to have a chance, you need to join specially-configured Halloween maps and race around one-shotting masses of these seasonal enemies while trying not to get blown up yourself!
The two week window to attempt these achievements combined with the need to smash hundreds of bullet-hell-style foes makes checking all five off a list a monstrous task only the most dedicated fans have been able to achieve after 10+ years.
More Treacherous Treasures: Steam‘s Other Hardest-to-Earn Achievements
While the "Gotta Smash ‘Em All" achievement claiming a 0.09% unlock percentage still appears to reign supreme in terms of sheer unreachability, here are some other infamously tricky Steam accomplishments:
Achieve 100% Completion in Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy
This 2017 indie platforming phenomenon is mechanically straightforward…yet emotionally devastating. Players must hoist themselves up an extremely tall mountain using nothing but a hammer and their own perseverance through the controller-smashingly tricky ascent.
Only 3.8% of Getting Over It players have made it to the top according to global Steam stats, making its "Achieve 100% Completion" milestone one of the lowest percentage accomplishments in Steam history.
Roundhouse Rumble in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
The brutal FromSoftware samurai souls-like Sekiro is packed with dramatic showdowns against larger-than-life foes. But one optional encounter requires expert timing and reflexes – traits that only 1.1% of Sekiro players displayed in order to unlock the "Roundhouse Rumble" achievement.
This immensely tricky award involves perfectly parrying ten rapid strikes from the giant Guardian Ape‘s massive blade then attacking himself. For melancholy masochists only!
Additional Standouts
- "Excalibro" in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (1.1% unlock percentage)
- "The True Ending" in NieR: Automata (2.8% of players)
- "Steel Soul" in Hollow Knight (0.4%)
Surmounting the dizzying challenges in above takes extreme skill, patience, or luck!
Tips from an Achievement-Hunting Expert
As an avid achievement collector across decades of gaming, I‘ve compiled some tips for players looking to showcase their mastery by capturing some of Steam‘s toughest-to-earn badges of honor:
Sort games by difficulty – Sites like Completionist.me let you search games by the % of achievement unlocks. Lower percentages often indicate harder lists!
Research missable achievements – Ensure story-related accomplishments can‘t be missed via chapter selects before starting narrative-heavy games.
Analyze global achievement data – External sites show global Steam stats letting you discover which achievements very few people worldwide have obtained across certain titles.
Leverage completionist communities – Subreddits like r/Achievements and forums at TrueSteamAchievements are filled with advice from completionist veterans advising how to earn elusive accomplishments.
For extreme achievement hunters, intentionally seeking out Steam‘s most Sadistically tough games almost mathematically guarantees you‘ll unlock accomplishments only a tiny fraction of other players can lay claim. Just be prepared for copious failures and fury!
So there you have it – an up-to-date look at the rarest Steam achievement along with analysis on some other supremely elusive accomplishments. Let me know in the comments if you have any other questions! I relish opportunities to geek out over the pursuit of gaming‘s shiniest badges.
