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Having experienced more than 200 recent games this year, I am officially wrapping things up on 2025. My year-end list is live, and I am at peace with the concluding selections, despite being aware plenty of fantastic releases probably slipped by the wayside. Currently, my only job is to other than unwind, take a short break, and perhaps take a pleasant stroll in the— oh no, discovered one more amazing experience. And just like that, goodbye to my peaceful respite!

A Premature Front-Runner Appears

In my more laid-back sessions, usually reserved for a handful of quirky titles, I've come across potentially my first favorite game of 2026. Sol Cesto is a peculiar roguelike for Windows PC that breaks down a traditional labyrinth explorer into a chance-driven game of high stakes peril and prize. Take this as a hipster's insider tip: If you enjoy discovering a game before it's popular, test out Sol Cesto so you can punch a hole in your gaming budget.

A Strategic Dungeon-Crawling Innovation

Sol Cesto is a tactical roguelike that's a departure from all I've previously experienced. The premise is that you must venture into a dungeon, going down level by level on a quest for the sun, which has gone missing from this mythical realm. In practice, this results in some standard crawl progression. Choose an adventurer who has stats and abilities, clear floor after floor of foes, pick up some passive buffs (which are teeth), and overcome a few stage-ending champions. Straightforward, right!

The Novel Central System

The method by which you truly navigate a dungeon room, is unique. Whenever you begin a fresh level, you see a 4x4 grid of boxes. Each square holds a monster, a reward cache, a trap, or a health-restoring fruit. To proceed, you just select on one of the four rows, but the exact space you land in is determined by luck.

You might see a row with multiple foes, a strawberry, and a treasure chest in it. You initially will have a one-in-four probability of selecting a particular space in a row.

Then, you'll chances are recalculated. So do you press your luck, or do you opt on a different row first and aim for less risky choices early? This is the tension between chance and safety in action in Sol Cesto, and it's absorbing when you acquire an understanding of it.

Shaping the Odds

The roguelike twist is that your odds can be manipulated over the course of a session by picking up teeth that alter which objects you're drawn toward. For example, you may obtain a perk that will decrease your odds of hitting a trap, but will similarly reduce the odds of finding a treasure chest too.

• Creating a build is about influencing the statistics to the utmost to have a higher chance at landing where you want.
• During one attempt, I invested my power boosts toward melee prowess and picked as many teeth possible that would boost my chances of attracting me toward monsters aligned with that strength.
• During a separate session, I constructed my hero around loot caches and paired that with a perk that would reduce the power of surrounding monsters whenever I secured loot.

The customization choices are limited, but there's enough to engage with to enable you to influence probabilities to your preference.

A Constant Tension

Of course, it remains a game of chance. There remains the possibility that you have a high probability to select the desired tile but wind up hitting a foe that would eliminate your remaining life. All selections is a gamble, so there's a constant tension as you clear a floor out and determine if to keep clicking or to proceed to the next floor as opposed to testing fate.

Items like destructive ordnance assist in minimizing the chance, similar to some character abilities. A particular character's unique ability, powered up by clearing four squares, allows players to select a vertical line instead of a horizontal row for that move. Should you use this strategically, you can hold that ability for an optimal time to circumvent a perilous selection. It's a surprising amount of nuance in the simple act of clicking.

Looking Ahead

Sol Cesto is still in its preview phase, and it has a final update scheduled before the complete edition is launched. An additional hero and a new boss are expected to drop before the conclusion of January. The full launch may not be long after, but the game's developers haven't committed to a specific release window yet.

A Parting Recommendation

No matter when it's fully released, you ought to put Sol Cesto on your wishlist. I've been positively obsessed with it, uncovering each of small details and banking my earned gold per attempt to access a constant flow of permanent unlocks, such as fresh adventurers and items I can buy mid-attempt. As of now, I am yet to reached the bottom, and I get the feeling I will remain working on that task when 1.0 finally hits. I'm committed for the complete journey.