Retrowave 2 carries 163 achievements, and the count is misleading. Around thirty of them ask you to do something specific once. The remaining hundred and thirty are the same four tasks repeated, one unlock per run, until each set is finished.
That split is worth knowing before you start, because it changes what you are actually planning for. The specific ones can be cleared in an afternoon of directed play. The repeated ones are a time commitment and nothing else.
The first one is free
Launching Retrowave 2 once awards the opening achievement. Nothing else is required for it.
Play each of the four modes once
There are four modes: One Way, Two Way, Time Attack and Bomb. A single run in each awards four achievements between them, one per mode, and every repeated set later in this list is tied to one of these same four modes.
Buying cars
Three achievements track ownership: a new car at your first purchase, then 5 cars owned, then 10 cars.
Fitting parts to a car
Five separate achievements cover the categories of modification: new wheels, a plate, a spoiler, a livery, and an upgrade. Each category counts once, so one part from each is enough.
Distance and top speed
Covering distance in a single race awards achievements at 1 km, 5 km, 10 km and 20 km, and there is a separate one for reaching 300 km/h. Two more sit further out, at 50 km and 100 km in a single run.
Speed Bomb on peaceful settings is the practical way to accumulate distance, because you can slow the car down and hold a run open rather than being forced to finish it.
The original five maps
Sunset, Windmill, Skyway, Basalt and Floralshop each award an achievement the first time you race on them.
The eight later maps
A second batch of maps arrived after launch, and they follow the same rule of one achievement per map. Workshop and Halloween are in that group, alongside Miami, Dystopia, Night City, Space Trip, Space Beach and Black Hole.
The four repeated sets
Everything above accounts for roughly thirty achievements. The rest are four alphabet-and-number sets, each tied to one mode, each awarding one unlock per completed run.
One Way — the palm set. Twenty-six runs, one per letter.
Two Way — the 80s set. Forty-three runs. This is the longest of the four, and it covers letters, digits and punctuation marks.
Time Attack — the neon set. Thirty-five runs.
Bomb — the chrome set. Thirty-six runs.
None of the four require anything beyond completing a run, so they can be ground in whatever mode you find least tedious to repeat. Two Way being the longest is the main scheduling consideration.
A caveat on the upgrade achievement
The general upgrade achievement has been reported as not firing even when its conditions are met. If you fit an upgrade and nothing unlocks, that is the known behaviour rather than something you did wrong.
More broadly, a note dated 2 February 2026 reported that achievements had stopped unlocking entirely and were waiting on a patch. Whether that has since been resolved is not something this list can tell you, so treat any run of non-unlocks as worth checking against the game’s current version before assuming you have missed a condition.