Challenges not counting: a diagnostic checklist

Checked against Patch 1.2.1 (Oct 28, 2026).

Can’t open the challenge. IllFonic — Patch Notes 1.2.1 ↗ (October 28, 2026) fixed an issue that prevented players from accessing the new Scythe Progressive Challenge, and asks players to restart the client. That is an access fix for one challenge. If it was missing for you, update and restart.

Opens, but progress doesn’t count. Hotfix 1.2.1 says nothing about this, and neither does 1.2.0 in general terms. IllFonic has not said that challenge progress tracking is fixed across the board, so do not assume an update solved a counting problem. Work through the checklist below and report it.

IllFonic — Early Access Hotfix 1 ↗ (September 5) lists fixes for several challenges that failed to track, without identifying every affected objective. Steam players — Challenges Not Working ↗ includes different outcomes for the same challenges, so a single workaround should not be presented as universal.

IllFonic — Patch Notes 1.0.2 ↗ lists these as fixed: escorting a resident to safety, surviving a full match, Weight of the Mask (Michael’s passive), and Superstitious Tools (Rachel), plus several other Passive and Progressive challenge blockers. Five previously stuck achievements can now unlock. If one of these is still broken for you after updating, treat it as a new, reportable case rather than the known 1.0.2 issue.

IllFonic — Patch Notes 1.0.3 ↗ lowers most multiplayer Progressive challenge targets (see every new target), makes knockdown and blind/disorient/stun challenges easier, keeps Passive Challenges progressing after Prestige (a temporary fix), and lets private-match hosts earn achievements. If a challenge “stopped” near its old target, check the new number first — it may already be met.

IllFonic — Patch Notes 1.1.0 ↗ lists fixes for several issues where certain Progressive Challenges were not tracking, a fix for the Purely and Simply Evil trophy tracking, and a change so Passive Challenges no longer appear locked after Prestiging. It also says the team improved the difficulty of completing various Passive, Progressive and Story Mode challenges, and that Story Mode challenges now show a notification when you fail one. The notes do not name every affected challenge, so compare against the September 17 list below instead of assuming a specific one is fixed.

IllFonic — What’s Coming Next ↗ names specific Progressive challenges the team is still working on: Thomas – Linebacker, Rachel – Superstitious Tools, Alexis – Craftswoman and Laurie – Quick Thinking. The same post admits some weapon-type Progressive challenges don’t make clear that you must use the matching weapon to get credit, and says IllFonic is evaluating adjustments to some challenge count requirements.

Three achievements are named as not granting correctly: Purely and Simply Evil, Pumpkin Smasher and Heavy Handed. If you’re missing one of these four challenges or three achievements, this is an acknowledged issue — the 1.0.3 notes lower some of those targets (Linebacker 15 → 10, Superstitious Tools 30 → 15, Craftswoman 45 → 30 — IllFonic — Patch Notes 1.0.3 ↗) but do not list a tracking fix for any of them or for the three achievements, so retrying with a different route is unlikely to fix it, and reporting it mainly helps confirm scope rather than surface something new. Patch 1.1.0 later fixed tracking for the Purely and Simply Evil trophy; Pumpkin Smasher and Heavy Handed are not mentioned in its notes. IllFonic — Patch Notes 1.1.0 ↗ Patch 1.2.0 lowered Craftswoman again (30 → 20) but still lists no tracking fix for any of the four named challenges or the two remaining achievements. IllFonic — Tower Farm Terror (Patch 1.2.0 notes) ↗

This is our suggested reporting workflow, not an official fix sequence.

Do not change difficulty, route and optional objectives simultaneously if you are trying to isolate a failure. Do not delete saves or use an unofficial executable as a first troubleshooting step. A useful report explains what happened before the failure, not just that a reward is missing.

For alert-sensitive runs, see Chapter 2 Challenge 6. For the orderly dispute, see the Prologue evidence comparison. For a sequence mismatch, see Chapter 4. For crashes rather than tracking failures, see known crash scenarios.

IllFonic — Tower Farm Terror (Patch 1.2.0 notes) ↗ adjusted completion values, criteria and descriptions for 202 Progressive challenges, across 12 Civilians, seven Michael skins and five weapons. If a challenge seems to have “stopped”, first check the current targets — seven requirements changed wording too (for example, Lynda’s First Aid now names the health spray only, and Thomas’s Second Wind is a different task). The notes do not say whether progress already above a lowered target completes by itself. The limited-time limited-time pumpkin challenge (Jack Ghoul Goggles) ends November 3 at 10:00 AM PT, so report a stuck count there quickly.