50 Most Memorable Achievements in Gaming History

By Alex Turner / December 10, 2012

21. Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Pacifist

Complete Deus Ex: Human Revolution without anyone dying by your hand. (Boss fights dont count.) One of the things the developers were so proudly vocal about in the first Deus Ex release were the myriad ways you could approach the game. The example that caught the most attention was that, in theory, you could complete the entire game without ever killing an enemy (excluding boss fights). In Human Revolution, you can now prove youve done it. Unfortunately, for the majority of us attempting to give it a crack on our first playthrough, it fails to make clear that youre not even allowed to kill the enemies the game orders you to during a gunfight tutorial. For many of us myself included this fact was discovered some fifteen hours or so into the game, making the rest of the playthrough a frustration-fuelled, caution to the wind massacre.

22. Halo Reach - If They Came To Hear Me Beg

Perform an Assassination against an Elite to survive a fall that wouldve been fatal. The amount of posts on myriad forums suggesting this achievement is glitched or broken go a long way to proving how mind numbingly frustrating it can be to unlock. To get this achievement, Master Chief must perform an assassination on an elite which enables him to survive an otherwise fatal fall. As theres only one area in the campaign where this is possible and no real in-game feedback as to what youre doing right or wrong it takes many, many attempts. I unlocked this somewhere between the thirtieth and fortieth try, but Ive heard of people reaching triple numbers before they finally get it to pop.

23. Dragon Age 2 - Supplier

Found every variety of crafting resources. The main problem with this achievement is that its completely missable in a game that essentially has no need to be replayed. Even the fact of the game being a somewhat lacklustre effort by Bioware aside, Dragon Age 2 is a severely dumbed-down version of its predecessor, with little space to explore, find side missions or collectables. Asking the player to find every herb in each act when theyre barely even given the freedom to put their own armour on seems like a waste of gamer points.

24. Left 4 Dead 2 - Tank Burger

Kill a tank with melee weapons. Another one requiring a fair amount of co-ordination (or just switching the difficulty over to easy), it was always a good feeling to reduce something that had previously been such a terrifying enemy to a laughing stock.

25. Viva Pinata - Pigxie Prize

Cross romance a Swanana and a Rashberry. Viva Pinata is an addictive game with a Pokemon-like approach to its compelling gameplay. Therere a lot of things to collect and achieve in this game, but these twenty points are particularly memorable in that its the only time you can cross romance two separate breeds of piñata and have utterly no idea what the offspring is going to look like. The offspring, as it turns out, looks quite hilarious.