ZFR: True that the presence/absence of achievements will not make a good game bad or vice versa. But it's not "young" gamers that started relying on achievements.
Just for example, almost all old games had a score system and collecting treasures that did nothing* but increase that score. As kids I remember we'd often try to get that last kill in Doom, or do the extremely tricky jump in Commander Keen for that one treasure piece, just so we see the "100% Treasure/Kill bonus" at the end of the level screen. That's achievement right there
The difference is, getting 100% kills / secrets in Doom or a High-Score in an arcade game was 100% internal to the game that required no external integration from the retailer that sold the game. Steam achievements however, essentially rely on being linked to a specific store-front instead of being a purely internal in-game mechanic (which both disproportionately benefits the one with the monopoly (Steam) and also makes no real sense demanding it for store-fronts like GOG who sell games as Offline Installers as an advantage that they don't rely on connecting to a server which tracks everything you do). So in that respect, yes it really is young gamers that started relying on Steam-specific achievements (as we know them today).
I also agree with Lifthrasil in finding them far more annoying than enjoyable. Aside from being immersion breaking, most are completely fake / childish padding that exist for the sake of existing and seem to be aimed more at people with OCD / approval seeking issues. In a game with 50 or more achievements (vs 1x High-Score "Achievement" in an arcade game), you can literally feel the developers struggling to think of ones to make up the numbers. Unlike the satisfaction of 100% kills on Nightmare in some of the nastier Doom levels, or a record breaking run in Outrun, etc,
"Congratulations you just progressed the story / chopped wood / crafted a stick" feels completely fake and "tacked on" in many games.
Also not sure why let alone how they could be retro-actively added to games 15-25 years old by developers who no longer exist. I understand why some like them, but personally, I'm delighted that immersive plot-heavy games like Planescape Torment or Deus Ex are old enough to have avoided the "trend" of distracting you from
what you're playing with 'badges' about
how you're "supposed" to play them.