Seeing Half-Life's G-Man with smooth skin brings me deep discomfort

Smooth G-Man
(Image credit: Valve, custom model by Gmadador)

Half-Life's G-Man has always been a little uncanny valley. A straightforward, stone-faced businessman for whom the act of speaking human words appears to bring great discomfort. But in an attempt to redesign the interdimensional businessman, one fan's remodel has crossed the line into downright creepy.

3D modeller Gmadador posted a bizarre new look for G-Man—one based on his debut appearance in the original Half-Life. Here's how he looked back in 1998, for context. 

Gman

(Image credit: Valve)

And here's Gmadador's redesign, all smooth-skinned and sinister. It's certainly a departure from Valve's own Half-Life 2 update (or his more recent "cool uncle" look in Half-Life: Alyx) for our suited pal, veering away from photorealistic pores to a sleeker, more alien look reminiscent of XCOM's Thin Men.

While it brings me deep discomfort to see a familiar Half-Life face twisted this way, it's also a fascinating way to re-approach the character. The artist has very much honed in on G-Man's more unknowable qualities, and it's interesting to imagine this approach applied across the Half-Life 2 cast.

As a bonus, the artist stuck the new model into one of G-Man's rare HL2: Episode 2 appearances—and while the gulf between his slimier rework and the base Valve models is stark, your man's looking creepy as ever. Maybe even more so.

Gman prepares Alyx for unforseen consequences

(Image credit: Valve, custom model by Gmadador)

Our Andy K managed to chat with the actual G-Man, Mike Shapiro, last year. But while he spoke of the quiet exhilaration of playing such an enigmatic character, Andy wasn't able to make him do the voice. Shame. Let's hope that interview wasn't a Once In A Lifetime experience.

Natalie Clayton
Features Producer

20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.

Read more
The G-Man looking at the camera.
G-Man's voice actor rings in the new year by dropping a cryptic tweet grenade promising 'unexpected surprises' into the starving Half-Life 3 fanbase
Screenshots from Half-Life 2 RTX, showing the various new effects delivered by full ray tracing and enhanced assets.
I just played Half-Life 2 RTX, a fully ray-traced overhaul of the original, and its meaty headcrabs have me hankering for more
A noir Chicago with Combine metro cops from Half-Life 2
If you missed it over the holidays, this noir Half-Life 2 mod turns you into a hardboiled detective in Prohibition-era Chicago
Half-Life: Alyx
Valve's Steam page currently lists a second mystery game alongside Deadlock, sending Half-Life 3 theorists into another frenzy of speculation
Aloy
'Creepy,' 'ghastly,' 'rancid': Viewers react to leaked video of Sony's AI-powered Aloy
Image of artist Viktor Antonov superimposed over a concept art piece depicting a suspension bridge in Dishonored
Viktor Antonov, the visionary artist who defined Half-Life 2 and Dishonored, has died
Latest in FPS
Metro Exodus
'I want to raise this glass to our fans, to our community': 4A Games celebrates Metro 2033's 15th anniversary and hints at next Metro game
Official artwork of Valorant showing the game's characters in a row
Valorant dev accepts there's too much random crap cluttering up the screen: 'The balance team generally agrees with this take'
Fragpunk FPS
Fragpunk review
Battlefield 1
The best Battlefield game of the last decade is 95% off until Thursday
Grab the brilliant Doom 2016 for its lowest price ever
Rainbow Six Siege year 9 season 2 key art - two Rainbow Six Siege operators facing each other
'Siege 2 was never on the table': Rainbow Six Siege X director explains why the 10-year-old FPS doesn't need a sequel
Latest in News
Image for
Rise of the Ronin's PC troubles continue as players report disappearing saves on Steam
Former Treyarch studio co-head and Black Ops 3 director is heading up a new first-party PlayStation studio
Metro Exodus
'I want to raise this glass to our fans, to our community': 4A Games celebrates Metro 2033's 15th anniversary and hints at next Metro game
Assassin's Creed Shadows promo image
Ubisoft reportedly has an anti-harassment plan in place for Assassin's Creed Shadows developers
Avowed Kai holding out his hand toward camera while explaining something to the player.
Avowed's new patch just gave you 6 more talent points to muck around with, along with a heap of fixes and improvements
In-game recreation of iconic Indiana Jones stealing the idol in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Silent Hill 2 remake and Indiana Jones are at historically low prices this Steam Spring Sale—so long as you don't buy them directly from Steam