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Following my time with well over 200 fresh titles this year, I am officially closing the book on 2025. My best-of compilation is live, and I feel content with the concluding selections, despite being aware plenty of excellent games probably slipped through the cracks. Currently, my only job is to except relax, unplug a little, and maybe enjoy a nice walk in the— oh no, stumbled upon a brilliant title. So much for my plans!

A Premature Favorite Surfaces

During my laid-back sessions, typically earmarked for a handful of quirky titles, I've discovered what could be my initial top game of 2026. Sol Cesto is a distinctive procedural dungeon crawler for Windows PC that breaks down a traditional labyrinth explorer into a chance-driven game of high stakes risk and reward. View this a preview for the in-the-know: If you take pride discovering a game before it's cool, test out Sol Cesto so you can burn a spot in your gaming budget.

A Calculated Roguelike Twist

Sol Cesto is a tactical roguelike that's a departure from all I'm familiar with. The premise is that you are tasked with descending into a dungeon, descending floor after floor on a quest for the sun, which has disappeared from its world. Mechanically, that makes for some standard crawl progression. Select a character who has stats and abilities, fight through each level of foes, collect some stat improvements (in the form of teeth), and overcome a few biome bosses. Simple enough!

The Novel Gameplay Loop

How you effectively complete a area, though. Each instance you begin a fresh level, you're shown a 4x4 grid of boxes. All spaces holds a monster, a treasure chest, a trap, or a life-giving berry. To explore a room, you simply click on one of the horizontal lines, but the specific tile you select is a matter of probability.

You may face a row with a pair of enemies, 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 choose on a safer line first and try to make more cautious selections early? That's the push-your-luck gameplay at play in Sol Cesto, and it's absorbing once you get a feel for 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 more likely to land on. For example, you might get a perk that will reduce the probability of landing on a trap, but will also decrease the odds of getting a reward too.

• Crafting a loadout is about manipulating math as best you can to have a better shot at selecting the optimal square.
• In one run, I invested my stat upgrades toward brute force and picked as many teeth possible that would boost my chances of being drawn to monsters of that variety.
• On a different attempt, I built my character around reward boxes and paired that with a perk that would weaken adjacent enemies each time I secured loot.

The customization choices are somewhat constrained, but it provides ample to engage with to allow you to tweak the odds to your preference.

A Persistent Gamble

Naturally, it's still a game of chance. You constantly face the possibility that you have a likely outcome to land on the desired tile but wind up hitting a foe that would eliminate your last bit of health. Every move is a gamble, so you feel ongoing pressure as you work through a stage and choose whether to continue selecting or to proceed to the next floor as opposed to pushing your luck.

Consumables including destructive ordnance aid in reducing the chance, just like some hero powers. A particular character's special power, activated once clearing four squares, allows players to click on a vertical column rather than a horizontal row during that action. Should you use your cards right, you can reserve that option for a crucial point to avoid a risky decision. There's a shocking degree of depth in the simple act of clicking.

The Road to 1.0

Sol Cesto is currently in early access, and it has a final update planned before the final game is released. A new character and a additional end-level foe are planned for release sometime in January. The official version may not be far behind, but the creators haven't set a final date yet.

A Final Thought

No matter when it's fully released, you ought to put Sol Cesto on your radar. For the past week, I've been positively obsessed with it, finding all of small details and saving my accumulated currency per attempt to unlock a steady stream of permanent unlocks, featuring fresh adventurers and items I can buy while playing. As of now, I am yet to found the deepest level, and I suspect I will remain working on that task when 1.0 finally hits. Count me in for the long haul.