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After playing more than 200 recent games this year, It's time to turning the page on 2025. My best-of compilation is out in the world, and I feel content with the final results, even knowing numerous excellent games likely fell under the radar. At this point, it's plan is to except relax, disconnect briefly, and maybe enjoy a nice walk in the— oh no, stumbled upon a brilliant title. There go my intentions!

A Premature Front-Runner Appears

During my casual gaming time, often set aside for a selection of unusual games, I've encountered what could be my first favorite game of 2026. Sol Cesto is an unusual roguelike for Windows PC that breaks down a classic dungeon crawler into a luck-based game of major consequence peril and prize. Take this as an early adopter's heads-up: If you take pride in knowing about a game before it hits the mainstream, give Sol Cesto a try so you can punch a hole in your wallet for unique titles.

A Strategic Genre Subversion

Sol Cesto is a strategy-focused dungeon crawler that's different from everything I've ever played. The concept is that you must venture into a dungeon, descending floor after floor to find the sun, which has vanished from its world. When you play, this results in some standard crawl progression. Pick a hero who has attributes and skills, clear floor after floor of enemies, pick up some stat improvements (which are teeth), and vanquish a few biome bosses. Simple enough!

The Novel Core Mechanic

The way you actually clear a dungeon room, is unique. Whenever you start another stage, the game presents a 4x4 grid of boxes. All spaces either contains a monster, a treasure chest, a trap, or a healing strawberry. To explore a room, you just select on one of the four rows, but the exact space you end up on is up to chance.

You could encounter a row with two monsters, a strawberry, and a reward box in it. You start with a one-in-four probability of hitting a particular space in a row.

After that, the odds shift. The question becomes: Do you take the risk, or do you click on a safer line first and attempt some less risky choices early? That's the risk-reward dynamic at play in Sol Cesto, and it's captivating after you develop an understanding of it.

Manipulating Probability

The meta-layer is that your percentages can be shaped over the course of a session by picking up teeth that change what things you're drawn toward. As an instance, you might get a perk that will reduce the probability of hitting a trap, but will also decrease the odds of getting a reward too.

• Crafting a loadout is about influencing the statistics as best you can to have a higher chance at selecting the optimal square.
• On a particular session, I invested my power boosts toward melee prowess and selected all the 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 combined that with a perk that would reduce the power of surrounding monsters every time I opened a chest.

The build options are not endless, but there's enough to engage with to allow you to tweak the odds to your preference.

A Constant Gamble

Naturally, it's still a game of chance. You constantly face the chance that you have a high probability to land on the desired tile but wind up hitting a foe that would eliminate your final hit point. Each click is a gamble, so a persistent nervousness exists as you clear a floor out and choose whether to press onward or when to move on to the next floor rather than testing fate.

Consumables including destructive ordnance aid in reducing the chance, just like some special skills. A particular character's signature move, activated once clearing four squares, enables you to choose a column rather than a horizontal row for that move. If you play your cards right, you can reserve that option for an optimal time to circumvent a perilous selection. There's a shocking amount of nuance in the seemingly straightforward task of clicking.

The Road to 1.0

Sol Cesto is remaining in its preview phase, and it has a final update planned until the final game is unleashed. A new character and a new boss are planned for release by the end of January. The full launch probably isn't long after, but the studio haven't committed to a specific release window yet.

A Concluding Endorsement

Regardless of when it's fully released, you ought to put Sol Cesto in your sights. I have been thoroughly captivated with it, discovering its small details and banking my earned gold every session to reveal a continuous trickle of persistent upgrades, including fresh adventurers and items purchasable mid-attempt. I still haven't reached the bottom, and I get the feeling I'll continue pursuing that objective when 1.0 finally hits. Sign me up for the long haul.