Valve is working on an updated interface for Half-Life 2, targeting the upcoming Steam Deck release.
Valve is working on an updated interface for Half-Life 2, targeting the upcoming Steam Deck release.
Summary Half-Life 2 and its two episodes are aiming for a substantial update soon, which will greatly transform the user interface. It’s currently available by installing the game’s beta branch on Steam and using the -gamepadui launch option. Here’s a comparison of the previous and new interfaces; the updated version features text that is much clearer and more readable. My take? The current design feels outdated and overly large, but it’s definitely more functional than the old version with its fixed scaling. It seems Valve wants to ensure their titles, especially flagship ones like Half-Life, meet the Steam Deck standards. This change will likely extend to other Valve projects such as Portal 1 and GoldSrc games. Exciting times ahead with the upcoming big update! Though, it’s still impressive that long-old games receive such refreshes after 17 years. Also, Valve, fixing that outdated server browser would be a nice touch since it hasn’t changed much since 2003. Sources: PCGamer – Half-Life 2 UI redesign on Twitter (video available)
Shifted focus to PC gaming. An update altering menu text size doesn’t qualify as significant "Tech News."