Subnautica: Below Zero

Pops in the opening minutes: after the crash landing, make your way to your drop pod - it's marked on your compass. Follow the marker, climb in, and the adventure (and the achievement list) begins.

Build a Sea Truck. This is kindof optional, but it'll be crazy hard to complete the game so its almost unmissable.

You'll need to find and scan three fragments to unlock the blueprint, but these aren't too hard to find.

NB you'll also need to discover and craft a Mobile Vehicle Bay to be able to actually craft the Sea Truck.

Story progression: follow the signals to Sanctuary Zero in the Twisty Bridges and interact with the alien device inside - which is how Al-An, your new head-mate, makes his entrance. Impossible to miss if you're following the main quest markers; the whole back half of the game is about getting him back out (Out of Mind).

Story progression: find Marguerit Maida's seabase - the story breadcrumbs lead you to it in the Deep Purple Vents, complete with her pet Snow Stalker. She's as warm as the biome, but the conversation moves the plot along. Pops on arrival at her home.

Story progression on Marguerit's errand: shut down the Alterra communications relay at the tower above Delta Station. Climb the island, interact with the console, and the airwaves go quiet - achievement pops as the comms die. The same island trip covers the Jukebox scan (Jukebox Hero), so ransack the buildings while you're up there.

In the Glacial Basin on the way toward Phi Robotics, a broken footbridge blocks the path - take out your trusty Repair Tool and fix it to cross. Pops on the repair. You're in Sam's storyline territory here, so keep following the trail toward Finding the Cure.

Scan Spy Pengling fragments around the Glacial Basin and Phi Robotics area (they're on the land portion of the map, often near research equipment), then craft it at a Fabricator along with its remote. Building it pops the achievement - and the little robot penguin is genuinely useful for retrieving items from the ice tunnels the real penglings live in. Also adorable. Mostly adorable.

The Snowfox is the land hoverbike: scan its fragments around the Phi Robotics Center in the Glacial Basin, build a Snowfox Hoverpad (Mobile Vehicle Bay's land cousin, via the Habitat Builder), then fabricate the bike on it and hop aboard - the achievement pops on your first ride. It turns the frostbitten overland slogs into joyrides, ice worms permitting.

Craft the Cold Suit set - the fur gear that stops the surface weather chewing through your body temperature. The key ingredient is Snow Stalker Fur: brush a tamed Snow Stalker (feed it first, bravery optional) or take it from them less politely. Fabricate the suit and it pops - and the Glacial Basin becomes an inconvenience rather than a countdown.

The late-game project: build Al-An a new body. He'll direct you to three Architect caches for the components - tissues, skeleton and organs - each buried in one of the deep biomes, then it all comes together at the Fabricator Base in the Crystal Caves region. Fabricate the vessel and your passenger finally checks out of your head - achievement pops at the hand-over. The finale (Into the Unknown) follows straight on.

The ending: with Al-An in his new body (Out of Mind), meet him at the Architect Phase Gate facility and leave 4546B together. Do your last-minute mopping up first - Finding the Cure especially if you care about Sam's story - then step through for the credits. Pops as you depart the planet.

The emotional heart of Sam's storyline, and entirely optional - which makes it the one to not skip. Follow Sam's trail through Phi Robotics and the Glacial Basin to find her hidden cache with the antidote, take it to the Frozen Leviathan in the Glacial Bay, load it into the injection robot by the creature's head, and press Begin Injection. As the Kharaa pustules fade, the achievement pops and the story lands its best moment.