David Szymanski, known for the retro‑FPS hit Dusk and the submarine horror Iron Lung, sat down for PC Gamer’s Disk Cleanup feature and declared the mid‑2000s the golden era of first‑person shooters. He traced his own gaming roots from early titles like Lemmings and Oil’s Well to a formative experience with Myst, noting how that era offered a flood of varied shooter designs before the genre settled into a Call of Duty‑style formula.
Szymanski highlighted the breadth of the period, pointing to games such as Serious Sam, Painkiller, Halo, Half‑Life 2, Doom 3 and Far Cry as examples of the experimental mechanics and distinct styles that flourished then. He contrasted that creative chaos with later “COD‑ified” design, suggesting the diversity of the mid‑2000s set a high bar for the genre.
Today, Szymanski is tinkering with an unannounced isometric project called B.U.G.B.I.T.E., while his Steam library still holds classics like Doom, the 2007 FPS Instinct, and newer titles such as Pragmata and Elden Ring. He keeps Doom installed as his go‑to shooter, indicating he’ll continue to explore both nostalgic and modern FPS experiences.
