Half-Life 2: 20th Anniversary update video game

November 16th, 2024 marked the 20th anniversary of Half-Life 2. Expectedly, Valve released an update for the game to celebrate the anniversary with bug fixes, improved graphics and a whole host of new content for us to feast on. While Half-Life fans the world over rejoiced and celebrated the game, something piqued my interest when I was looking over the changelogs. There was a new typeface.

Prior to the 20th Anniversary update, Half-Life 2 relied on system fonts such as Verdana and Tahoma for its user interface. In fact, they are the default fonts for Source Engine titles unless a developer goes out of their way to change it. While I can think of a variety of reasons as to why this is, this seemed more than likely to be a practical decision influenced by the general availability of Microsoft typefaces at the time and legibility on low-res monitors.

DIN and Half-Life is like light and shadow, one ca’'t exist without the other. Since Valve’s founding, they have extensively used FF DIN in a lot of material, even in non related Half-Life things such as the Steam logotype. It only makes sense that Half-Life 2’s UI should receive the same treatment. And so, GorDIN makes its first appearance, replacing all instances of system fonts.

At first glance, it looks unsettlingly similar to FF DIN. A closer look however shows that GorDIN leans towards a more square and condensed appearance. This can be seen in the uppercase Q, both lowercase & uppercase O and lowercase C. Its ampersand is an “Et” ligature and there are many other small differences, which all result in a slightly more space-saving FF DIN. Think of a semi-condensed width.

GorDIN does not have any credits listed and whether or not it will be used in this next secret Half-Life game is anyone’s guess. Though in my opinion, it would be pretty wasteful for Valve to not reuse this font.