I don't know if this really counts as it isn't out yet, but I've had the immense pleasure of participating in the closed beta back in February and March of this year, and frankly, I want to spread the word about it!
Sorry in advance for a thinly-veiled sales pitch, but every game cultist has to try and proselytise the masses at some point right? Without further ado...
Diabotical (The GD Studio, Release Date TBD.)
1. Fine, have it your way!: This game has the most indepth settings menu I've ever seen in an FPS. You can adjust your HUD in any way you see fit down to size, spacing, font choice, colours, how it reacts to variable changes. It's like a small photo editor that you can craft into your personal perfect FPS HUD and then send links to others they can paste in and check out themselves. Customisation extends beyond UI, as you can choose specific settings regarding mouse input and sensitivity and netcode options. There's also custom lobbies for your specific game mode tastes that shares the same link copy paste system to allow easy match pick-up's.
2. Rise from your grave: Arena First Person Shooters (AFPS) have unfortunately fallen into obscurity in recent years, but this game is trying its damned hardest to bring back the heart of Quake with a modern presentation and feel.
Wipeout is The GD Studio's take on Clan Arena, which now has individual escalating respawn timers for every death with rounds ending once a team is successfully wiped out. In Duel, there is the new 'Golden Frag' mechanic that's intended to help new players pick up a game mode notorious for it's high skill gap and punishing ruleset. This rule makes it possible for amazing comebacks once time's up instead of waiting the timer out once you have a decent frag deficit on your opponent and knowing they have no chance of getting sweet sweet revenge.
For general mechanics, an Unreal Tournament style dodge/dash has been added for new players to gain UPS quickly and helps set them up for advanced movement mechanics like strafe jumping, circle jumping, etc. There are also utility grenades (called Weeballs) that players get in each mode that help to shake up familiar modes and a ping system for better communication in public team modes such as Wipeout and Team Deathmatch.
3. Passion Project: While AAA industry plagues itself with Games as a Service and indie titles make strides with limited resources, Diabotical is a game that shows its lofty ambitions on its sleeve and in my opinion succeeds in spades. The GD Studio is founded by ex-professional Quake players who felt the genre was under served in its modern forms and that it's niche and steadfast community truly deserved a better experience. The intention with this game is to create a base that can stand the test of time, with planned release of server binaries, a simple to use in-game map editor and working in collaboration with the AFPS community such as appearing at TimConLAN and offering money to regional grassroots ESports. This game screams out to me as a passion project unlike any other in recent memory. One of a kind.
I'm excitedly waiting for open beta later this year, but for those curious this game will be free to play on release and you can still sign up for access on the website. I think this game would make for an amazing play with fans session should Ross look into it, I know he's done UT2004 sessions in the past and this would be much in the same vein with no price cost and it's an absolute blast to play.