The Best Achievements And Trophies Of 2013

Whether you love them, hate them, or forget they exist until they pop on your screen and interrupt your game, achievements and trophies have become a (literally) required aspect of all PlayStation 3, 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Steam games.

I fall into the love camp, and these are some of my favorites from 2013. The achievements and trophies that I find most interesting aren't the ones that mark your progress in a storyline or reward you for attaining a certain number of headshots. I like the ones that force you to think outside of the normal functions of the game or simply reward you for doing something weird.

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The Stanley Parable is a hilarious and clever examination of the idea behind player-driven decision and behavior in virtual interactive experiences. It’s no surprise that the game’s Steam achievements are similarly hilarious examinations of the nature behind these meaningless bonuses. All of them are great, but there are two in particular that stand out, and the "Click on Door 430 Five Times" achievement stands out as one of the greatest achievements ever, not just of 2013. I would hate to spoil it for you by describing it in detail.

Click on Door 430 Five Times. - Click on door 430 five times.

Go Outside - Don't play The Stanley Parable for five years.

Grand Theft Auto V is a great with a huge open world open to exploration, but its achievements and trophies are fairly tame bonuses awarded for normal progression through the game.  The “Altruist Acolyte” tasks players with using Trevor to take drunk characters in need of a ride home to a group of cannibals, continuing to prove that Trevor is a terrible, terrible person. The “Out of your Depth” achievement is awarded for getting eaten by a shark.

Altruist Acolyte - Deliver an unsuspecting victim to the Altruist Cult.

Out of Your Depth - You're gonna need a bigger boat...

The Last of Us is a game that doesn’t waste much time on humor, and wastes even less time on handing out trophies for players trying to explore beyond the main narrative. There is one trophy, however, for sitting around and listening to Ellie read you some jokes from a terrible joke book that she managed to track down.

That's All I Got - Survive all of Ellie's jokes

Most of Lara’s achievements or trophies come from leveling up your weapons and defeating enemies in certain ways. There is one that is very easy to bypass, and it involves killing a crab on the beach. It’s totally random, and there’s nothing else in the game like it.

Crab Cakes - FeeFee the crab killed

The name of the achievement/trophy says it all. As long as there’s Dead Space, there will always be Peng. There’s also one for shooting a deer’s head trophy for no reason.

There's Always Peng! - Find Peng

Under a Buck - Shoot the deer head trophy in the Admiral's Quarters

Read on for more of the best Achievements and Trophies of 2013.