Trenched is a hybrid tower defense and third person shooter game developed by Double Fine. The game is set after World War I in an alternate reality and follows a rather bizarre but well thought out storyline. This arcade game is unique in the fact it has 20 achievements tied to it as a base list. The achievements are not that difficult but expect to play for a good 10-15 hours. We’ve broken down the achievements into a three playthrough plan of attack so you can efficiently unlock your achievements.

Playthrough 1

On the initial playthrough of the campaign you’ll need to play with a friend to get the most out of the game. There isn’t really anything out of the ordinary to look out for except for one of two sniper rifles with the Ricochet ability. This will come as a random drop from loot boxes in the mid to later missions. Be sure to keep this once you get it.

If you find some of the later missions too challenging, you can always repeat past missions for experience and money to level up and better equip yourself. You’ll notice whilst customizing your trench that once a mission is selected it will show loadout recommendations. Take heed of this as they are often key to a winning strategy.

Playthrough 2

This second playthrough will be mainly for attaining gold medals on all missions. By this point your Trench should be level 10 or close to it. You will also have much better equipment to work with and you should have a good grasp on how the game works. If by some chance you have not unlocked Bandolier of Brothers, Battle Buds and the boss co-op kill achievements, then this is the playthrough to do so. If you also have not unlocked the Trickshooter, Pounder and Conscientious Objector achievements you should take care of them as well.

Playthrough 3

This is not a proper playthrough per say but rather a lot of repeated missions to farm for Scrap and Emplacement kills for the Razputin achievement. If you have not unlocked the Monovision Massacre achievement you will most likely unlock it during this time.

Bandolier of Brothers – 5
Completed a mission with 4 players.

From the start menu press the A button on Start Game and you will appear on the ship the USS McKinley. Once aboard turn left and an onscreen prompt saying Radio Room will be visible, walk over to it and press the A button to start matchmaking. From here you will be able to find other players online by pressing the A button on the Find Other Players option. Alternatively you may invite people from your party or friends list into the game when aboard the USS McKinley.

Complete a single mission with three others and you will unlock this achievement. The boss missions at the end of each act are generally the shortest missions.

Scrap Snatcher – 10
Collected 10,000 Scrap.

Scrap is the currency used whilst on the battlefield to buy and upgrade turrets. They are visually recognizable as they resemble a TV or monitor colored bright blue. To collect scrap just walk over it. The trench also has ability to pull scrap towards itself by pressing the RB button. There are also emplacements called Collection Prongs which will pull scrap towards itself and collect them. Only scrap that you and your emplacements collect will count towards this achievement

If you play through the game normally you should unlock this towards the end of the Pacific act.

Battle Buds – 20
Completed 10 Missions with 2 or more players.

To unlock this achievement you will need to complete 10 missions in co-op with more than one player.

African Allies – 5
Defeated the Guardian of the Southern Terminal with 2 or more players.

This boss is located at the end of the Africa act in the mission Sphinx. It’s a standard boss battle where shooting at the boss damages it’s health. Be sure to place two or three emplacements down around yourself to watch your back as you attack the boss. Like all bosses it has three health bars, once a health bar level is destroyed it will retreat for a short amount of time and send variants of Monovisions to attack you. Any weapons that inflict massive damage such as artillery or snipers are recommended. Oh, and don’t forget to bring along a buddy; remember this achievement requires at least two players.

European Entourage – 5
Defeated the Northern Pylon with 2 or more players.

This boss is located at the end of the Europe act in the mission Pylon. This one’s also pretty straight forward. Be sure to place two or three emplacements down around yourself to watch your back as you attack the boss. The boss will emit a shield around it self when it’s health bar reaches the second level, during this time it’s body is invulnerable so you will have to damage it’s legs to hurt it. Any weapons that inflict massive damage such as artillery or snipers are recommended. Keep your buddy with you as this one also requires at least two players.

Pylon Pillager – 10
Defeated the Northern Pylon.

See the European Entourage achievement.

Mobile Trench Recruit – 5
Completed Mobile Trench training.

As soon as you press A button on the Start Game option in the main menu for the first time you are automatically taken to the tutorial, complete the mission to unlock this achievement.

Terminal Terminator – 10
Defeated the Guardian of the Southern Terminal.

See African Allies.

Rainmaker – 10
Earned $20,000 from mission completion rewards.

At the end of each mission you are awarded money to spend at the shop. The amount depends on how far the mission you completed is through the campaign and what medal you were awarded for it. For instance the last mission Farnsworth rewards $2,000 for being awarded the Bronze medal. By completing all missions up until this point, you should unlock this on the mission Volcano in the last act Pacific.

Farnsworth Finisher – 10
Defeated Vlad.

See Pacific Partnership.

Medal of Honor – 30
Earned a Gold Medal on every mission.

IMPORTANT: If you Gold medal the last mission you need in co-op there have been cases where only the host unlocks the achievement despite the others being awarded the gold medal. If this happens to you don’t panic. Replay a few missions, it doesn’t matter which and the achievement will pop.

At the end of each mission you are awarded a medal depending on how well you protected the objective and for boss missions how quick you killed the boss.

The requirement for the Gold medal on all missions except boss missions is 80% health left on the objective.
The requirement for the Gold medal on boss missions is time dependent. They are as follows;

Europe boss – 40s

Africa boss – 135s

Pacific boss – 320s

Do not expect to gold medal every mission on your first go. You’ll need to level up and upgrade your Trench to easily Gold medal them. In reality you should not have any problem with this achievement with the exception of the second last mission Volcano and the last mission Farnsworth, the latter being a boss battle. It’s recommended that you use machine guns and machine gun emplacements for Volcano. Learn each wave and it should not be a problem.

Farnsworth may seem tough to Gold medal but the boss really has three forms…

First form; one weakness on the top of it’s head.

Second form; three weaknesses around it’s body.

Third form; four weaknesses that dangle from it’s body.

If you equip two Gungnir Sniper Rifles and fire them at the same time at a weakness it will instantly explode. The Gungnir is found in the missions Oasis, Hospital and Port in the second act Africa. Make sure the legs you are using have the Quick Load ability on them as there is no point otherwise and remember to redeploy after each cut scene. You will only be able to miss about one shot if you want to make the 320s cut off. Once all missions have been awarded the Gold medal, this achievement will unlock as well as any other medal related achievement.

Silver Star – 30
Earned a Silver Medal on every mission.

See Medal of Honor

Big Spender – 5
Purchased an item in the store.

When on the USS McKinley turn directly around and press the A button on the Customize Trench prompt. Scroll down to the Shop option and browse through the wares. When you find something you like press the A button to choose the equip slot and press A again to buy it.

Conscientious Objector – 5
Completed a solo mission without firing a shot.

This means that you will have to complete a mission by only using Emplacements to kill the enemies. It is recommended to wait until you have the top tier emplacements before attempting this achievement. Alternatively any legs that have the Smash ability can be used to attack enemies. The easiest mission to do this on is the first mission of the first act Europe called Beach. As the achievement describes, you will need to do this in single player to unlock the achievement.

Razputin – 5
Completed a mission while wearing the uniform of an elite PSI agent.

This is composed of the Psi Goggles obtained from completing the Challenge for Emplacement Kills and the Raz Sweater obtained from completing the Challenge for Scrap Collected. These are both Personal Challenges, not Regiment Challenges.

To complete the Emplacement Kills Challenge you’ll need 2,500 kills solely from Emplacements. This is easiest farmed on the mission Oasis. Use a chassis that has two heavy and two light turret emplacement slots. The map is made up of four lane ways. The reasoning behind grinding on this mission is that it has the largest volume of Knobs. They will die in as little as one bullet sometimes. In front of the objective you will want to place six Machine Gun emplacements placed in two rows. This will cover the two lanes in the middle. As for the the outer two lanes you will want to place a Mine Dropper on each.

Mine Droppers are hidden emplacements so Monovisions will walk straight past them. Because of this Knobs will roll straight on the mines and head for the Machine Gun emplacements in the middle while other enemies will walk over them in groups and wipe themselves out. There is only one wave in which your emplacements may become overwhelmed if they are not sufficiently upgraded — it involves a lot of Knobs and a lot of Aerials. Be sure to maintain this volume of turrets and resist the urge to shoot. Using this method should net 300 — 350 kills each mission for Emplacements.

To complete the Scrap Collected Challenge you’ll need 25,000 Scrap. This is easiest farmed on the last mission of the act Pacific called Farnsworth. Equip a chassis with two Support Emplacements and some sort of long range weapon to defeat the boss with. Equip a Collection Prong, the higher tier it is the better. Collection Prong emplacements are also a hidden emplacement so Monovisions are oblivious to it. Because your chassis is primarily a Support role, emplacements will be cheaper to buy and upgrade.

Once it starts defeat the first two forms of the boss straight away but leave it sitting on the last form. During this form the boss will cause lightning storms very frequently. During these lightning storms 100 — 200 scrap is dropped all around the level. Place the Collection Prongs everywhere you think is necessary to cover the entire island you are standing on, upgrade as you wish.

You will be attacked by Monovisions constantly so kill them to boost scrap. When playing in single player it is actually impossible to die, when you lose all your health a quick time event will pop up asking you to tap either A, B, X or Y buttons repeatedly to regain health. As long as you do not kill the boss, you can sit here forever. Using this method it is entirely possible to collect 2,000 scrap every ten minutes.

Once both items are unlocked complete a single mission whilst wearing them. It is possible to complete the boss mission of the first act Europe in 30 seconds with a good Trench set-up.

Monovision Massacre – 15
Defeated 3500 Monovisions.

A Monovision is just what the enemies are classed as. You will end up with around 2,000 kills by the end of the campaign. The second last mission Volcano has by far the most enemies and waves, farming for kills is best done on this mission.

Pacific Partnership – 5
Defeated Vlad with 2 or more players.

This boss is located at the end of the Pacific act in the mission Farnsworth. Unlike the other bosses it is damaged through attacking weaknesses around it’s body. You will only damage the boss when the weakness has turned orange. Be sure to place two or three emplacements down around yourself to watch your back as you attack the boss. Like all bosses it has three health bars, once a health bar level is destroyed it will retreat for a short amount of time and send variants of Monovisions to attack you.

If you have turrets placed be sure to watch out for roving groups of Knobs as they will turn them into dust. Once the first weakness on it’s head is destroyed it will raise itself up slightly revealing three more weaknesses. When these have been destroyed it will yet again raise itself for the last time to reveal a further four weaknesses.

This achievement requires you to kill it with more than one player in Co-op.

Trickshooter – 5
Killed an enemy with a ricochet sniper shot after 4 bounces.

There are two Sniper Rifles with the ability Ricochet, the Indirect Sniper Cannon and U0-FM “Fighting Wolverine”. The Indirect Sniper Cannon can be found on the missions Sinkhole and Port in the second act Africa. The U0-FM “Fighting Wolverine” can be found on the missions Drydock and Volcano in the final act Pacific. The easiest way to unlock this achievement is to fire the sniper into large groups of Monovisions, it should work within 20 shots.

Bronze Star – 15
Earned a Bronze Medal on every mission.

Unlike the other two medal related achievements, a Bronze medal is awarded on completion of the mission. So this will unlock once you have completed the game.

Pounder – 5
Destroyed 5 Enemies with a single explosion.

Load the mission Oasis in the second act Africa. This is the mission where the Knob variant of Monovisions is introduced. They are very weak and generally die in a single bullet. They travel in packs of up to fifteen at a time so killing them with an explosive is very easy.

Alternatively you can equip an Artillery weapon and walk close to a Monovision Eruptor and wait until a cluster of enemies spawn. Try to aim in the middle of the group and you should unlock this easily. This can be done with any form of explosion created by the player.