Sludgineers packs 25 Steam achievements into its cleanup-and-refine loop, and the good news is that none of them can be missed. You clean polluted countryside, collect cash and resources, feed a refinery, and pour the profit back into upgrades. Do that thoroughly through a single playthrough and most of the list falls into place on its own.
Quick answer: Play the main story, complete side quests, and buy every upgrade. There are no missable, time-gated, RNG, or multiplayer achievements, so a single completionist run unlocks all 25. Purchasing all upgrades is the final and most time-consuming one.
All 25 Sludgineers achievements and how to unlock them
Each achievement below lists the exact condition that triggers the unlock. Some pop the first time you finish a job, while others count actions across your whole save.
| Achievement | Unlock condition |
|---|---|
| Satisfied Customer | Complete a job. |
| Regional Expansion | Unlock a region. |
| Side Gig | Complete a quest. |
| Close Call | Pick up a battery with less than 5% energy remaining. |
| Turbo Domination | Clear 50% of a level with a single turbo charge. |
| Midas Touch | Collect 100 gold coins. |
| Attractive Investment | Collect $500 with a single magnet. |
| Clean Streak | Clean 10 bonus objects within 5 seconds. |
| Turbo Time | Maintain turbo boost mode for 10 seconds. |
| Supercharged | Collect 5 batteries in a single level. |
| Barrel Bonanza | Fill 20 barrels in a single level. |
| Refined Taste | Refine 500 barrels of pollution. |
| Preventative Measures | Destroy 10 vents before they erupt. |
| Criticality | Destroy 100 Zorkite crystals with critical hits. |
| Clearing the Air | Destroy 50 Vexon gas clouds with lightning storms. |
| In Safe Hands | Open 25 safes. |
| Bling King | Collect 50 diamonds. |
| Cash Cow | Earn $250,000. |
| Fully Operational | Unlock all refineries. |
| Drone Swarm | Unlock all drones. |
| Pollution Solution | Complete the game. |
| Maximum Suckage | Fully upgrade the vacuum. |
| Jacked | Fully upgrade the jackhammer. |
| Filtration Amplification | Fully upgrade the air filter. |
| Completionist | Purchase all upgrades. |
Achievements you get just by playing
A big chunk of the list unlocks naturally as you move through the countryside. Finishing your first job pops Satisfied Customer, opening a new area gives you Regional Expansion, and completing a quest hands over Side Gig. Progressing to the credits earns Pollution Solution.
Others come from normal use of your tools and power-ups. Holding turbo boost for 10 seconds unlocks Turbo Time, and clearing half a level on one turbo charge triggers Turbo Domination. Sweeping up bonus objects quickly gets you Clean Streak, and squeezing $500 out of a single magnet pop unlocks Attractive Investment. Grabbing a nearly dead battery at under 5% energy is enough for Close Call.
Tip: If a per-level achievement like Supercharged (5 batteries) or Barrel Bonanza (20 barrels) does not trigger on your first run, you can replay a level you have already cleaned to farm the count in one go.
The grindy achievements to plan for
A handful of unlocks ask for large running totals rather than a single clever moment. These are not difficult, but they take time to accumulate.
- Refined Taste needs 500 barrels of pollution refined, so keep the refinery working throughout your run.
- Criticality requires 100 critical hits on Zorkite crystals.
- Clearing the Air wants 50 Vexon gas clouds destroyed with lightning storms.
- Bling King and Midas Touch are collection counters for 50 diamonds and 100 gold coins.
- Cash Cow tallies $250,000 earned across your save.
- In Safe Hands and Preventative Measures track opening 25 safes and destroying 10 vents before they erupt.
Because these are cumulative, you rarely need to chase them directly. They tick over while you clean levels and process pollution on the way to the endgame.
Completionist: the last achievement you will unlock
Completionist is the biggest single ask in the game, since it requires purchasing every upgrade. Along the way you will also clear the individual tool goals that feed into it, since fully upgrading the vacuum, jackhammer, and air filter unlock Maximum Suckage, Jacked, and Filtration Amplification. Unlocking all refineries and all drones handles Fully Operational and Drone Swarm.
You will know Completionist is done when the upgrade menu shows every node purchased and the achievement fires. Getting there means banking a lot of cash, so lean on high-value cleaning and steady refining to build the currency you need.
The fastest route to 100%
Since nothing is missable, difficulty-locked, or tied to multiple playthroughs, one focused run clears the whole list. Work through the main story, take on every quest you see, and keep the refinery busy. That approach unlocks well over half the achievements on its own and feeds you the money required to buy out the upgrade tree by the endgame.
A full completionist run lands in the range of five to seven hours, with the upgrade grind being the only part that asks for patience. If a counter-based achievement is still short after the credits, revisit a cleared level and keep collecting until it pops.
