Approximately up achievements

Achievement overview

This Approximately Up achievements guide covers the 22 Steam achievements available at launch, all tied directly to the modular ship building, exploration, and objective-based play of the core game. The list is a mix of natural progression unlocks and deliberate challenge goals, so most players will see a solid handful of achievements during a first campaign, while a few will require special trips, careful restraint, or specific ship setups.

The achievements fall into a few broad groups:

• Progression: finishing the tutorial, completing your first objective, completing the full journey, and finishing every available objective in the game.
• Exploration: discovering new planets, finding Tenebra, activating and using Black Hole Tunnels, reaching the bottom of Green Trench, and encountering set-piece events like a solar storm or a dinosaur.
• Stunt feats: reaching 1,000,000 m/s, diving 1,000m below sea level, and flying close to the Sun or the Red Dwarf without exploding.
• Restriction runs: completing objectives without touching Time Rewind, including the full-objective no-rewind clear tied to Golden Thruster.

Because Approximately Up supports co-op and online multiplayer, achievement progress can be earned together with a crew, which makes long-distance flights and cargo-based goals noticeably easier to set up.

Full achievement list

All 22 achievements appear below with their unlock conditions.

• Achievement

  How to unlock

• Tutorial Completed

  Successfully complete the tutorial.

• First Milestone

  Complete your first objective.

• No Rewinds!

  Complete the objective without using Time Rewind.

• One Step Further

  Discover a new planet.

• Houston, We Have A Submarine

  Reach a depth of 1000m below sea level.

• Solar Storm

  Encounter a solar storm.

• Baaa-ck To Headquarters

  Bring tutorial sheep to Headquarters.

• Wool Age

  Transport a sheep from Earth to the Moon alive, then release her into the wild.

• Ice Age

  Transport a mastodon from the Moon to Earth alive, then release him into the wild.

• Green Trench

  Reach bottom of Green Trench.

• The Long Way Home

  Complete the journey.

• When The Thrusters Go Quiet

  Complete every available objective.

• Event Horizon

  Travel through a Black Hole Tunnel to a new universe.

• Jurassic Surprise

  Encounter a dinosaur.

• Edge Of The Known

  Find Tenebra, the farthest known planet.

• Way Forward

  Activate a Black Hole Tunnel.

• Saving The Twins

  Prevent a planetary catastrophe.

• Need For Thrust

  Reach a speed of 1 000 000 m/s.

• Golden Thruster

  Complete every objective without using Time Rewind.

• See You Next Week

  Travel safely from Aundara to Outcast, or from Outcast to Aundara.

• Almost Crispy

  Get within 1 000 000 meters of the Sun and survive.

• Small But Spicy

  Get within 100 000 meters of the Red Dwarf and survive.

Tips for completionists

If you are chasing 100% completion, plan around the handful of achievements that can be missed or made harder by how you play. The good news: the game supports Save Anytime, so you can create a save before risky attempts instead of rebuilding your whole ship after a failure.

• Split the no-rewind goals from your casual run. Both No Rewinds! and Golden Thruster punish the same habit: hitting Time Rewind after a crash. The easiest path is to make your first clean campaign a no-rewind campaign, then use Time Rewind freely during your cleanup and exploration playthrough.
• Stack thrust in deep space for Need For Thrust. Strip your ship down, bolt on the biggest thrusters you can mount, and do a long straight burn far from any planet. The target is 1,000,000 m/s, so this is a pure speed attempt, not a navigation puzzle.
• Treat the solar proximity achievements as controlled flybys. Almost Crispy requires getting within 1,000,000 meters of the Sun and surviving, while Small But Spicy asks for 100,000 meters from the Red Dwarf. Approach slowly, keep an escape vector clear, and save before you close the gap.
• Keep the animals alive above speed. Wool Age needs a sheep transported from Earth to the Moon alive, and Ice Age needs a mastodon hauled from the Moon to Earth alive. Gentle acceleration, stable flight, and a well-protected cargo spot matter more than fast travel.
• Combine depth goals in one trip. Houston, We Have A Submarine pops at 1,000m below sea level, and Green Trench requires reaching the bottom of the trench. Treat the trench as your deepest planned dive so one descent covers both checks.
• Use Black Hole Tunnels on the way to cleanup. Activating a tunnel earns Way Forward, and flying through one to a new universe earns Event Horizon. Later exploration objectives naturally push you toward these systems.
• Scan and wander for the rare encounters. Solar Storm, Jurassic Surprise, and Edge Of The Known (finding Tenebra, the farthest known planet) reward exploring the outer map. Keep an eye on distant destinations during your journey completion run.
• Save the story cleanup last. The Long Way Home (complete the journey), When The Thrusters Go Quiet (complete every available objective), and Saving The Twins (prevent a planetary catastrophe) are tied to the main objective flow, so chasing them after a no-rewind clear means you already know where every objective is waiting.

If you play in co-op, agree on who handles cargo and who avoids using Time Rewind. Golden Thruster expects every objective completed without Time Rewind across the whole session, so coordinate early or save that achievement for a dedicated solo run.