What this covers
Shelve the Potions! has 24 achievements on Steam. Most of them track natural progress: finish the tutorial, hit shelf-count milestones, clear every named board, and pet all ten magical cats. Only one — "No magical abilities for me, thanks." — requires a deliberate playstyle change. Every name below is quoted exactly as it appears on Steam.
Source: Steam Community global achievement stats for appid 4928820, checked Aug 27, 2026.
Shelf milestones — the backbone
Eight achievements track how many shelves you complete. They unlock in order as you play, so you do not need to grind them separately.
| Achievement | Requirement |
|---|---|
| "First Shelf" | Complete your first shelf. |
| "Getting the hang of it" | Complete 25 shelves. |
| "It looks nicer already" | Complete 50 shelves. |
| "How long has it been" | Complete 100 shelves. |
| "I'm going to feel my lower back tomorrow" | Complete 150 shelves. |
| "Almost there" | Complete 200 shelves. |
| "Ah, finally" | Complete all shelves. Global unlock rate is about 17.7%, making this one of the rarest achievements in the list. |
Puzzle achievements
Four achievements track how many unique puzzle orders you have solved. Steam's global stats show roughly half of players clear all ten.
| Achievement | Requirement |
|---|---|
| "First Discovery" | Solve your first puzzle order. About 99.3% of players have this. |
| "Puzzle Solver" | Solve 5 unique puzzle orders. About 81.8% unlock rate. |
| "I can see the patterns" | Unlock 10 puzzle solutions. About 74.7% unlock rate. |
| "I can see through the matrix" | Unlock every puzzle solution. About 42% unlock rate — the game has more than ten orders, so this takes longer than the previous one. |
Named boards
Six achievements unlock the first time you complete a specific shelf. If you can read a clue well enough to solve one of these boards you get them automatically.
| Achievement | Which board |
|---|---|
| "Spicy" | Complete the Spices Table. About 98.9% unlock rate — usually the very first board most players clear. |
| "Restocking Board" | Complete the ingredients board. |
| "BEST STORY EVER!" | Complete the Hero chronicles. |
| "Proud Grandfather" | Complete the clock. |
| "Gardener" | Complete the plant shelve. (Steam's typo — that's how the achievement is written.) |
| "Grandmaster" | Complete the chess board. |
Cats and upgrades
Six achievements reward you for using the game's comfort systems: petting cats and buying upgrades.
| Achievement | Requirement |
|---|---|
| "Curious Cat" | Pet your first cat. |
| "Cat lady" | Pet all 10 magical cats. About 35.3% unlock rate. |
| "Hooman needs help :)" | Use a cat hint for the first time. |
| "Welcome, Apprentice" | Finish the tutorial. About 97% of players have this. |
| "Hello improvements." | Buy your first upgrade. |
| "I need all the help I can get ok!" | Buy all the upgrades. |
The hard one
"No magical abilities for me, thanks."
This is the rarest achievement in the list at about 4.5% unlock rate, and the only one that demands a playstyle decision: finish the game without ever using an ability. In practice that means:
- Never pet a cat to ask for hints — even one use ends the run for this achievement.
- You can still pet cats for the Curious Cat and Cat lady achievements; petting is separate from asking a cat for help. If you are unsure on your save, do a dedicated no-hint run and keep petting out of it too.
- Solve every puzzle from clue reading alone. Our walkthrough's Hint → Rule → Solution ladder is built for this.
Steam achievement text only says "any abilities", so we recommend being conservative: treat every interaction with a magical cat as off-limits during the run.
Evidence
Where this information comes from
- Achievement names, descriptions, and global unlock percentages: Steam Community global stats page for app 4928820.
- Three-tier cat help description: official Steam store listing for Shelve the Potions!
- No in-game retest has been done for this article; we label it accordingly and will update it once verified.