Half-Life 2’s UI is being quietly redesigned

As preparations for the imminent Steam Deck launch continue apace, Valve has quietly released a beta update for Half-Life 2 that rejuvenates its interface to make it more accessible on the upcoming handheld—and on modern desktop displays.

The update was noticed and shared on Twitter by gabefollower—of course—who also provided instructions on how to access it. The update hasn’t been fully rolled out at this point, so you’ll need to jump into Half-Life 2’s properties in Steam (right-click Half-Life 2 in your Steam library, then left-click “properties” in the pop-up menu), hit the “Betas” tab, and then select “beta updates” from the dropdown. You’ll also need to add “-gamepadui” (without the quotes) to the “Launch options” field in the general tab.