A first-shift roadmap for the 20 Steam achievements

Before the first letters

Turn on your own spoiler boundary here. If the goal is simply to see the story, play through and pick the destination you like. For a completion run, read the separate Pavel guide before replying to him. Keep a short note of the decisions you made. The ambiguous achievement hint on Steam gives very little indication of how early this branch begins.

When the envelope indicator first appears, collect the post at the supply window before resuming the current order. A player’s capture of Pavel’s request shows two answer buttons beneath the letter and a timer above them. Record the reply while it is still visible. A save made in the locomotive is a useful route checkpoint but comes too late to preserve an earlier reply.

Use the Steam list as a working checklist

First Cut and Warmed Up belong to the opening. The general peeling and manual peeling counters are separate, so check both when you move to machines. During the shift look for the puppy, the village request, a smoking opportunity and the cableway ride. Mark which side activities actually unlocked in Steam before the final push. A completed order in the Journal and a Steam achievement answer different questions.

Make three passes through your list. At the bench, compare Old School with These Hands Were Made for Peeling. At the machines, watch your first machine-peeled potato for Industrial Revolution; the community guide ties Fully Automated to a working line including the cableway and crane. During interruptions, finish the cigarette when the smoking event occurs for One Last Puff. A partly smoked cigarette or a machine merely purchased is a poor checkpoint.

Leave the destination sweep until last

Save at the locomotive controls before committing to a route. Community completion notes identify three destination awards, a separate award for seeing all three, and a Pavel-dependent outcome on one route. Golden Horn added finished-save ending replay in hotfix 1.0.1. It is useful for the destination sweep even if an earlier letter choice prevents the Pavel outcome.

In the cab, choose one labelled lever, then use the departure chain by the front window. Keep the pre-departure save available until all three destination awards are recorded. If one is missing, match the award name to the destination before starting a replay. The results page includes separate manual and machine totals; keep that screen if you also want to diagnose a missed hand milestone.

Related field notes

• Old School and the two different 1,000-potato milestones
• Your Own Executioner: the Pavel decisions before Varenka