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I'm looking for a font from the game Uplink (2001) but can't seem to identify it online.

It looks almost like someone has taken Helvetica and shrunk it down to the bare minimum, then zoomed in (so I'm inclined to say it's not a bitmap even though it looks like one?)

I've tried Identifont, DaFont, FontSquirrel, I've browsed through the bitmap listings for Font Space but still can't find it.

It is very close to these fonts:

Which are all bitmap fonts.

The comma and question mark in particular are striking as you will see below...

Font photo

Note that the word "Gateway" is in a different font, namely Dungeon.

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    Hi Finn and welcome to GDSE. It's totally a bitmap font drawn pixel by pixel. The similarity to Helvetica is a trick your mind is playing in you imo. Pixel fonts in small sizes are all very similar. Not many variations are possible because of the low resolution. It might have been designed for that game so it's not given that you will be able to find an exact match.
    – Wolff
    Commented Oct 31, 2020 at 17:49
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    If you can't live with a close match and only need to make a few lines of text, you can hand-pixel a copy of the font. If you want to go deeper into it, you could also make your own bitmap font using for example FontStruct or BitFontMaker2.
    – Wolff
    Commented Oct 31, 2020 at 17:50
  • @Wolff Thank you. I was afraid you would say it has been custom made. I wasn't aware I could make my own bitmap fonts! I'll have to try that out - while I could use a close match, it wouldn't hurt to put a bit of time in to make it exact. I'll give bitfontmaker2 a go!
    – user157666
    Commented Oct 31, 2020 at 18:10
  • @Wolff Okay no seriously, I've basically remade like 70% of the font in 25 minutes (thank you!!) - feel free to write that comment as an answer because while it may be impossible to find the font, it's not impossible to redraw it.
    – user157666
    Commented Oct 31, 2020 at 18:38
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    I'm glad you could use the tip! 😀 It's fun, isn't it? I've made a proper answer now.
    – Wolff
    Commented Oct 31, 2020 at 19:12

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The font in question is a bitmap font drawn pixel by pixel. Pixel fonts in small sizes are all very similar. Not many variations are possible because of the low resolution.

So it's easy to find many close matches, but I suspect that this font (like many fonts in games of that time) has been designed for that game so it's not given that you will be able to find it as a downloadable font.

I suggest that you redraw the font yourself using for example FontStruct or BitFontMaker2. It's not really that time consuming - especially when you have a reference.

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Computer screen at early 2000's mainly used these bitmap fonts which embeded in TrueType font such as simsun, tahoma, verdana.

You can make it in FontForge easily. Select any ttf file in fontforge, then click menu Element - Bitmap Strikes available, fill 8 at Pixel Sizes text entry, click OK, click menu View - 8 pixel bitmap, edit it.

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