Achievement Unlocked

Achievement Unlocked is an Adobe Flash video game written by John Cooney in four days and published by Armor Games in 2008. The player controls an elephant who moves and jumps around a level with the goal of completing every achievement. Such achievements include finding hidden numbers, dying, or even doing nothing for a period of time.

Achievement Unlocked was recognized as commentary on "meaningless rewards" in video games and was featured in a book about must-play indie games. Two sequels were released in 2010 and 2012.

Gameplay
While essentially a platform game, it has been referred to as a metagame as well as an "antigame". The game is a send-up of in-game achievements, still a relatively new concept at the release of the game. While a video game achievement is usually a meta-goal defined outside a game's parameters, they are the only goal of the game in Achievement Unlocked.

Achievement Unlocked takes place on a single screen where the player controls an elephant. All the player can do is move and jump, and the game has various surface-level targets and obstacles, such as finding hidden numbers and avoiding spikes. These elements (among others) have to be interacted with in order to get all the achievements. For example, dying to the spikes, touching the hidden numbers in a specific order, and even doing nothing for a certain amount of time are all achievements that need to be completed.

Development
Achievement Unlocked was developed by video game developer John Cooney, who completed it in four days. It was published by Armor Games and placed onto various flash game websites over time.

Reception
It's been described as a "commentary on the proliferation of nearly meaningless rewards in games" and was featured in the book 250 Indie Games You Must Play by Mike Rose and The Game Designer's Playlist: Innovative Games Every Game Designer Needs to Play by Zack Hiwiller. Escapist writer John Funk questioned whether it was ironic to enjoy collecting achievements in a game meant to lambaste that mindset.

Sequels
A sequel, Achievement Unlocked 2, was released in 2010 with more rooms and achievements. Achievement Unlocked 3 was released in 2012.