Which games have the best typography?

Hey folks,

Come at me with your opinions for games with the best typography (aka fonts).

This could include title screens, box/point-of-sale/packaging, UI, dialogue, HUD, whatever! Are there any games that you hate, but have iconic use of typography? Which are your favorites?

Thanks!

I haven't made any research, but my knee-jerk reaction to the question HAS to be Final Fantasy Tactics (the sound effects actually have a lot to do with it, but I feel it's still valid). The dialogue for FFT is what you're looking at for most of the game, and those letters look damn pretty.

Bioshock. Not as much in the menus, but the art deco style in world.

The custom font used all over Quake comes to mind. It feels consistent across the game, but unlike a lot of those novelty fonts (Diablo etc.) it's very legible. I suppose you could rightfully criticize the kerning in some spots, but it's not a regular problem.

The one that comes to mind is Borderlands 2. I like the fonts on the UI, subtitles, and effects because it was easy for me to read and understand while being stylish in certain aspects.

I also have to give a shoutout to Sunset Overdrive's fonts, I dig the punk skater aesthetic even though some of the regular UI font is barely legible if you're not close to your TV.

Battlefield V has some dope fonts. So does HITMAN 2. Very clean on both.

Persona 5 is probably the most impressed I've been by font treatments in a video game.

• Viewtiful Joe
• Killer 7
• RDR2
• Hotline Miami 1 + 2
• Marc Ecko's Getting up

• Bioshock (all parts)

Diablo 1/2. Fits well thematically.

MGSV. It’s not as stylized as most other games, follows a more real life style of serious interfaces. I think it’s really well done.

Neir: Automata. I was impressed how the menu reminded me of the tech used in the 90s, but looked futuristic, and had shapes all over that you don’t see in clean interfaces. Very iconic to me.

I agree. It's literally the only game I noticed fonts enough to think "Damn that's a dope ass font"

Pillars of Eternity has a menu option to toggle ligatures on/off, which I have never seen in a game before.

Persona 5 is not just stylish, but fairly easy to read in terms of contrast and font sizes. Give me some old-ass fonts that took up a fourth of the screen back in the day.

Detroit is really impressive. The UI is well done but not exactly inventive for sci-fi. But the environmental design is excellent. All of the storefronts, clothing, TV programs, signage, emagazines, are top notch. The use of typography is perfect. You never see them do something lazy and repeat typefaces where it doesn’t make sense. Everything has its own realistic branding. It kind of makes my head spin imagining how large an undertaking that is.

I think Codemasters' Xbox 360/PS3-era driving games would be up there on the shortlist.

We're not talking massively ornate fonts or anything like that. In fact, they're usually block-ish sans-serif affairs. But, the WAY in which they were used and positioned made it so that you could TELL when you were playing a driving game made by Codemasters.

They've fallen off a bit with it more recently, but I hope that GRID takes some pointers from the earlier games when it drops later in the year.