🔗 Share this article

Having experienced in excess of 200 fresh titles this year, I'm formally turning the page on 2025. My annual roundup is live, and I am at peace with the ultimate rankings, accepting that a host of excellent games likely fell through the cracks. Now, there's plan is to except relax, disconnect briefly, and maybe enjoy a nice walk in the— oh no, discovered one more brilliant title. And just like that, goodbye to my intentions!

A Premature Front-Runner Appears

During my laid-back sessions, typically earmarked for a selection of unusual games, I've encountered what might become my earliest beloved game of 2026. Sol Cesto is an unusual procedural dungeon crawler for Windows PC that breaks down a conventional labyrinth explorer into a luck-based game of major consequence peril and prize. Consider this a preview for the in-the-know: If you relish discovering a game before it's cool, sample Sol Cesto so you can burn a spot in your gaming budget.

A Tactical Roguelike Twist

Sol Cesto is a tactical roguelike that's unlike anything I've previously experienced. The setup is that you must venture into a dungeon, going down level by level on a quest for the sun, which has vanished from the fantasy world. When you play, that makes for some recognizable genre framework. Pick a hero with their own parameters and powers, fight through each level of enemies, acquire some passive buffs (in the form of teeth), and vanquish a few area guardians. Straightforward, right!

The Unique Gameplay Loop

How you effectively complete a area, though. Every time you enter a new floor, you're shown a four-by-four matrix of boxes. Each square holds a monster, a treasure chest, a trap, or a life-giving berry. To make a move, you just select on one of the four rows, but the specific tile you select is up to chance.

You may face a row with two monsters, a strawberry, and a treasure chest in it. You initially will have a quarter likelihood of hitting a particular space in a row.

Then, you'll probabilities change. The question becomes: Do you go for it, or do you click on a safer line first and try to make less risky choices early? This is the tension between chance and safety in action in Sol Cesto, and it's absorbing once you get its rhythm.

Influencing Chance

The meta-layer is that your percentages can be shaped over the course of a session by collecting teeth that change what things you're drawn toward. As an instance, you could acquire a perk that will decrease your odds of landing on a trap, but will similarly reduce the odds of landing on a reward too.

• Creating a build is about manipulating math as best you can to have a higher chance at getting your desired outcome.
• On a particular session, I focused my attribute improvements toward physical attack/defense and chose every teeth possible that would boost my chances of attracting me toward monsters with that damage type.
• On a different attempt, I constructed my hero around loot caches and combined that with a perk that would debuff nearby foes every time I opened a chest.

The strategic possibilities are somewhat constrained, but there's enough to engage with to allow you to tweak numbers to your preference.

A Persistent Risk

Of course, it remains a game of chance. There remains the risk that you have a high probability to hit the preferred space but end up landing a monster that would eliminate your final hit point. Each click is a gamble, so you feel ongoing pressure as you clear a floor out and determine if to press onward or when to move on to the subsequent stage as opposed to risking it all.

Tools such as explosive devices help cut down the chance, as do some special skills. A particular character's signature move, activated once making four moves, allows players to click on a column instead of a horizontal row for that move. If you play this strategically, you can save that move for a crucial point to circumvent a perilous selection. There's a shocking level of strategy in the seemingly straightforward task of clicking.

Looking Ahead

Sol Cesto is still in early access, and it has a final update planned until the full version is released. Another playable adventurer and a fresh guardian are planned for release before the conclusion of January. The full launch probably isn't much later, but the studio haven't set a specific release window yet.

A Parting Endorsement

No matter when it's fully released, you should consider put Sol Cesto in your sights. I have been positively obsessed with it, discovering its small details and storing my run rewards in each run to access a constant flow of meta progression rewards, such as new characters and items available for acquisition during a run. As of now, I am yet to found the deepest level, and I have a sense I will remain attempting that goal when the official release drops. I'm committed for the complete journey.