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Having experienced in excess of 200 recent games this year, I am officially turning the page on 2025. My annual roundup is live, and I feel content with the ultimate rankings, despite being aware a host of stellar titles probably slipped through the cracks. Now, there's nothing for me to do except relax, disconnect briefly, and maybe enjoy a pleasant stroll in the— oh no, found another great game. There go my intentions!

A Premature Favorite Surfaces

During my laid-back sessions, usually reserved for a selection of unusual games, I've encountered what might become my first favorite game of 2026. Sol Cesto is an unusual roguelike for Windows PC that deconstructs a traditional dungeon crawler into a probability-fueled game of major consequence risk and reward. Take this as a hipster's insider tip: If you take pride being aware of a game before it's cool, test out Sol Cesto so you can punch a hole in your indie credit card.

A Tactical Roguelike Twist

Sol Cesto is a strategy-focused dungeon crawler that's unlike anything I'm familiar with. The premise is that you are tasked with descending into a dungeon, progressing deeper and deeper in search of the sun, which has disappeared from its world. When you play, this creates some standard crawl progression. Pick a hero with their own attributes and skills, fight through each level of enemies, collect some stat improvements (in the form of teeth), and overcome a few biome bosses. Easy to grasp!

The Novel Core Mechanic

How you truly navigate a chamber, is unique. Whenever you begin a fresh level, you're shown a four-by-four matrix of boxes. Every tile either contains a monster, a treasure chest, a trap, or a life-giving berry. To explore a room, you just select on one of the horizontal lines, but which square you end up on is a matter of probability.

You might see a row with two monsters, a strawberry, and a reward box in it. You initially will have a quarter likelihood of selecting any given square in a row.

Subsequently, your odds shift. So do you go for it, or do you click on a different row first and aim for less risky choices early? That's the push-your-luck gameplay on display in Sol Cesto, and it's captivating when you acquire its rhythm.

Manipulating Probability

The procedural hook is that your odds can be manipulated during an attempt by gathering teeth that modify the types of squares you're drawn toward. For example, you might get a perk that will decrease your odds of encountering a trap, but will similarly reduce the odds of finding a reward too.

• Developing a strategy is about influencing the statistics as best you can to have a improved likelihood at getting your desired outcome.
• In one run, I invested my attribute improvements toward brute force and selected all the teeth possible that would increase my odds of attracting me toward monsters of that variety.
• In another run, I built my character around loot caches and coupled it with a perk that would reduce the power of surrounding monsters each time I secured loot.

The customization choices are somewhat constrained, but there's enough to engage with to allow you to tweak the odds to your preference.

A Constant Gamble

Of course, at its heart, it's a game of chance. You constantly face the chance that you have a high probability to hit 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 navigate a level and choose whether to continue selecting or when to move on to the following level rather than risking it all.

Consumables including destructive ordnance assist in minimizing the chance, just like some character abilities. An adventurer's unique ability, activated once selecting four tiles, enables you to choose a column in place of a horizontal line during that action. If you play this move wisely, you can reserve that option for the right moment to avoid a risky decision. There's a shocking amount of nuance in the basic action of clicking.

Future Development

Sol Cesto is currently in early access, and it has at least one more update planned before the final game is unleashed. An additional hero and a additional end-level foe are scheduled to arrive by the end of January. The 1.0 release probably isn't long after, but the creators haven't set a specific release window yet.

A Parting Thought

No matter when the complete game arrives, you should consider put Sol Cesto on your wishlist. I've been positively obsessed with it, finding all of hidden nuances and banking my earned gold every session to access a constant flow of persistent upgrades, such as additional heroes and items purchasable mid-attempt. I still haven't reached the bottom, and I suspect I'll continue attempting that goal when the official release drops. I'm committed for the long haul.