Permafrost Achievements Guide
Permafrost has 42 Steam achievements covering almost every major part of the survival game, from basic crafting and exploration to skill levels, combat challenges, collectibles, and more unusual conditions like surviving White Hell without Lunar Armor. A lot will unlock naturally, but several cumulative and challenge achievements are much easier if you start working toward them early.
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All Permafrost Achievements
Easy Early Achievements
Survival Achievements
Combat and Hunting Achievements
Crafting and Base Achievements
Exploration and Collection Achievements
Skill Achievements
Hidden Achievements
Best Route to 100%
All Permafrost Achievements
There are 42 achievements in Permafrost. Most have their requirements displayed directly on Steam, while five currently have hidden requirements in the supplied achievement list.
Tool Time: Craft your first tool.
Schematic Starter: Unlock the first recipe in the blueprint tree.
Smash It!: Break a destructible object.
Locksmith: Open a lock.
Spark of Life: Start a fire for the first time.
Survivor: Survive a full day without dying.
Sausage for the Dog: Pet the dog.
Disposable: Use an item until it breaks.
First Steps: Experience your first death.
Cold Resistance: Spend more than 300 seconds in a cold zone.
Leap of Fail: Die from falling from a great height.
Architect: Construct 100 structures.
Party Time: Hidden requirement.
S.O.S.: Shoot a flare gun.
Memory Collector: Collect 10 recordings.
Cultist Slayer: Kill 20 Moon Cultists.
Scavenger: Loot 100 containers.
Trapper: Catch a rabbit using a trap.
Archer: Kill an animal with a bow from more than 55 yards away.
Jack of All Trades: Reach Level 10 or higher in five different skills.
Station Specialist: Learn the Tailoring Bench, Disassembly Bench, and Weapons Bench recipes.
Explorer: Walk 31 miles on foot.
Crafting Enthusiast: Craft 300 items.
Ally: Find the Runners Faction Camp.
Connoisseur's Bargain: Sell a bottle of rare whiskey to a trader.
Lumberjack: Cut down 100 trees.
Overheated: Reach a body temperature above 104°F.
Master of One: Reach Level 20 in any skill.
Sharpshooter: Shoot 1,000 projectiles.
Pain Threshold: Reach Level 5 in the Toughness skill.
Hunter's Prize: Find a Volkodav's Rifle.
The End: Hidden requirement.
Mineralogist: Collect Moonrock.
Recycler: Disassemble 300 items.
Handyman: Repair 50 items.
Hell Runner: Complete White Hell without equipping the Lunar Armor.
Killing Spree: Kill five enemies within 15 seconds.
Cartographer: Hidden requirement.
Wealthy: Collect more than 10,000 cash.
Unlucky Duo: Have parasites and be drunk at the same time.
The Hell Has Frozen: Hidden requirement.
Heads Up: Hidden requirement.
Easy Permafrost Achievements to Get Early
Several achievements require almost no dedicated farming and should unlock during the opening portion of a normal playthrough. Tool Time, Schematic Starter, Smash It!, Locksmith, Spark of Life, and Survivor all come from systems you will use naturally.
Sausage for the Dog is another easy one once you can interact with the dog. Disposable simply requires letting an item's durability reach zero instead of repairing or replacing it beforehand.
First Steps is awarded for dying once, so anyone attempting a perfect survival run will eventually need to deliberately sacrifice one life for completion.
Get naturally: Tool Time, Schematic Starter, Smash It!, Locksmith, Spark of Life
Remember to do: Pet the dog for Sausage for the Dog
Do not repair one item: Let it completely break for Disposable
Eventually die once: Required for First Steps
Permafrost Survival Achievements
Survivor only asks you to make it through one complete day without dying, while Cold Resistance requires more than 300 cumulative seconds inside a cold zone.
Overheated goes in the opposite direction and requires raising your body temperature above 104°F. Because normal survival play revolves around preventing dangerous temperature extremes, this is one achievement where you may eventually need to deliberately push the temperature system rather than simply wait for it to happen.
Leap of Fail requires dying after a fall from a sufficiently great height, while Unlucky Duo requires parasites and drunkenness at the same time.
The more unusual survival challenge is Hell Runner. You need to complete White Hell without ever equipping the Lunar Armor, so this is one requirement worth knowing about before beginning that content rather than discovering it after finishing.
Combat and Hunting Achievements
Cultist Slayer requires 20 Moon Cultist kills, while Killing Spree requires five enemy kills within a 15-second window. The latter is better attempted when you can deliberately gather several manageable enemies rather than hoping five happen to appear during normal exploration.
Archer requires an animal kill with a bow from more than 55 yards away. Give yourself an open sightline and enough distance before taking the shot, since a normal close-range hunting kill will not count.
Sharpshooter is the long grind of this group at 1,000 projectiles. If ranged weapons are part of your normal build, start using them early rather than leaving hundreds of shots for the end of your achievement cleanup.
Cultist Slayer: Kill 20 Moon Cultists
Archer: Bow kill on an animal from over 55 yards
Sharpshooter: Fire 1,000 projectiles
Killing Spree: Kill five enemies within 15 seconds
Trapper: Catch one rabbit using a trap
Crafting and Base Building Achievements
Architect, Crafting Enthusiast, Recycler, Handyman, and Lumberjack are the achievements most likely to turn into late-game grinding if you ignore their counters during normal play.
Architect requires 100 constructed structures, Crafting Enthusiast requires 300 crafted items, Recycler requires 300 disassembled items, Handyman requires 50 repairs, and Lumberjack requires cutting down 100 trees.
Do not wait until the end of the game to start disassembling unwanted equipment or repairing useful items. Working on these counters throughout your playthrough lets several achievements progress simultaneously.
Station Specialist has a different requirement. You need to learn the recipes for all three specified crafting stations: the Tailoring Bench, Disassembly Bench, and Weapons Bench.
Exploration and Collection Achievements
Explorer is one of the largest passive grinds, requiring 31 miles traveled specifically on foot. If you are trying for every achievement, excessive reliance on alternate transportation could leave you with a large walking requirement after most of the game is already finished.
Scavenger works well alongside it because you need to loot 100 containers. Explore buildings and side locations while traveling rather than running directly between major objectives.
Memory Collector requires 10 recordings, while Mineralogist requires collecting Moonrock. Hunter's Prize is awarded when you find a Volkodav's Rifle.
Ally requires reaching the Runners Faction Camp, so faction exploration also contributes to the achievement list rather than everything being based on raw counters.
Money and Trading Achievements
Wealthy requires collecting more than 10,000 cash. Because the wording specifies collecting the money rather than necessarily holding exactly 10,000 at one time, normal looting and trading should naturally push you toward it over a longer playthrough.
Connoisseur's Bargain is much more specific: obtain a bottle of rare whiskey and sell it to a trader. If you find one while exploring, keep it instead of consuming or otherwise getting rid of it until you have completed the trade.
Permafrost Skill Achievements
Three achievements are directly connected to skill development. Pain Threshold requires Level 5 Toughness, Jack of All Trades requires at least Level 10 in five separate skills, and Master of One requires reaching Level 20 in any single skill.
The efficient approach is to pick one skill as your Level 20 target while still rotating enough activities to bring four additional skills to Level 10. Focusing everything into one playstyle may finish Master of One quickly but leave Jack of All Trades much farther behind.
Pain Threshold: Toughness Level 5
Jack of All Trades: Five different skills at Level 10 or higher
Master of One: Any single skill at Level 20
Achievements You Should Plan Around
A few achievements are easier if you know about them before reaching the end of the game.
Hell Runner is the biggest example because equipping Lunar Armor while attempting White Hell conflicts with the achievement requirement. Connoisseur's Bargain is also worth remembering so you do not get rid of your rare whiskey, while Sharpshooter, Recycler, Architect, and Explorer benefit heavily from accumulating progress throughout the playthrough.
Hell Runner: Remember the restriction before starting White Hell
Connoisseur's Bargain: Save rare whiskey until you can sell it
Sharpshooter: Use projectile weapons throughout the game
Recycler: Disassemble unwanted items instead of stockpiling them
Explorer: Accumulate your 31 miles while completing other objectives
Hidden Permafrost Achievements
Five of the 42 Steam achievements in the current list do not display an unlock description: Party Time, The End, Cartographer, The Hell Has Frozen, and Heads Up.
Party Time: Hidden
The End: Hidden
Cartographer: Hidden
The Hell Has Frozen: Hidden
Heads Up: Hidden
I would not guess at their requirements based only on their names. Their exact unlock conditions need to be confirmed separately before treating any specific action as the solution.
Best Route to Get Every Permafrost Achievement
The easiest 100% route is to let the large counters build in the background while you focus on exploration and story content. Loot every useful container, travel on foot when practical, cut trees as you need resources, repair instead of constantly replacing equipment, and disassemble items you no longer need.
At the same time, rotate your activities enough to level several different skills, use ranged weapons toward the 1,000-projectile requirement, collect recordings, and complete the specific hunting and survival challenges when good opportunities appear.
Save the deliberately harmful conditions such as Leap of Fail, Overheated, and Unlucky Duo for controlled attempts rather than risking a good survival run unnecessarily. Hell Runner should be planned before White Hell, while any remaining cumulative achievements can be finished during the final cleanup.
During normal play: Loot, walk, craft, repair, dismantle, cut trees, and fire projectiles
During exploration: Find recordings, Moonrock, the Runners Camp, and Volkodav's Rifle
During combat: Work on Cultist Slayer, Archer, Trapper, and Killing Spree
Before White Hell: Plan the Hell Runner attempt
Final cleanup: Temperature, death, fall, intoxication, and remaining skill/counter achievements
