The Temple of Elemental Evil adds achievements and fixes XP bug in new patch

The easiest reason to reinstall The Temple of Elemental Evil is also the most practical one: the game now has Steam achievements, and the new patch fixes a bug that could interfere with experience gain. For anyone returning to a 2003 Dungeons & Dragons CRPG built around character advancement, that is not a cosmetic tweak. It removes a progression snag and gives lapsed players a clear incentive to dive back in.

Steam’s update is labeled Patch #2 released - Steam Achievements added, while the store page says the re-release arrived on December 10, 2025 and is currently part of a daily deal at $6.69, down from $9.99. That puts a fresh coat of relevance on a cult RPG that first launched more than two decades ago, long before achievement tracking became a routine part of PC game stewardship.

The Temple of Elemental Evil was developed by Troika Games, the Irvine, California studio founded by Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky, and Jason Anderson before closing in 2005. It used the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 ruleset and leaned hard into the tabletop feel, with its Hommlet and Nulb roots tying it to one of Greyhawk’s most famous early adventures. That rules-heavy, sometimes awkward authenticity is part of why it still draws attention from preservation-minded players and old-school CRPG fans alike.

SNEG has framed the updated release as more than a simple re-listing. Its store copy says the edition includes over a thousand fixes and improvements, along with enhanced stability, AI improvements, smoother performance, refined UI, and other quality-of-life changes. In November 2025, SNEG also said the Steam release built on major work from the Circle of Eight and Temple+ modding communities, while noting that some community-created content could not be included for legal reasons.

That broader support is visible beyond Steam as well. The re-release on GOG includes both a Legacy Edition and an Updated Edition, which helps turn a once-fussy classic into something easier to install, recommend, and actually finish on a modern machine. Steam discussion posts around the re-release showed the split you would expect from a game with this kind of history, with some players ready to buy immediately and others waiting for reviews.

For a 23-year-old CRPG, achievements may sound small. In this case, they arrived alongside the kind of XP fix that can change a return playthrough from frustration into forward motion, and that is exactly the sort of maintenance that keeps an old adventure alive.