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Following my time with in excess of 200 fresh titles this year, I'm formally closing the book on 2025. My best-of compilation is out in the world, and I am at peace with the ultimate rankings, despite being aware plenty of stellar titles probably slipped through the cracks. Currently, my only plan is to other than unwind, unplug a little, and possibly go for a nice walk in the— oh no, stumbled upon a brilliant title. There go my peaceful respite!

A Premature Contender Emerges

With my laid-back sessions, typically earmarked for a few oddball curiosities, I've encountered what could be my initial top game of 2026. Sol Cesto is a peculiar roguelike for Windows PC that breaks down a classic dungeon crawler into a chance-driven game of high stakes danger and payoff. Consider this a hipster's insider tip: If you take pride discovering a game before it hits the mainstream, sample Sol Cesto so you can make a dent in your indie credit card.

A Strategic Roguelike Twist

Sol Cesto is a thought-provoking procedural game that's a departure from all I've ever played. The setup is that you must venture into a dungeon, progressing deeper and deeper on a quest for the sun, which has gone missing from the fantasy world. In practice, this creates some familiar roguelike structure. Choose an adventurer possessing unique attributes and skills, fight through each level of foes, collect some stat improvements (in the form of teeth), and vanquish a few biome bosses. Easy to grasp!

The Novel Central System

The method by which you actually clear a chamber, however. Every time you begin a fresh level, you're shown a 4x4 grid of boxes. All spaces either contains a monster, a treasure chest, a trap, or a life-giving berry. To make a move, you simply click on one of the four rows, but the specific tile you land in is determined by luck.

You might see a row with a pair of enemies, a strawberry, and a treasure chest in it. You begin with a 25% chance of selecting a particular space in a row.

Then, you'll chances are recalculated. The question becomes: Do you press your luck, or do you choose on a different row first and aim for safer moves early? That's the risk-reward dynamic in action in Sol Cesto, and it's captivating once you get its rhythm.

Shaping the Odds

The procedural hook is that your percentages can be shaped through a run by picking up teeth that alter which objects you're drawn toward. For example, you could acquire a perk that will lower your chances of landing on a trap, but will also decrease the odds of getting a treasure chest too.

• Developing a strategy is about influencing the statistics optimally to have a higher chance at landing where you want.
• In one run, I focused my attribute improvements toward melee prowess and chose every teeth possible that would boost my chances of attracting me toward monsters with that damage type.
• On a different attempt, I built my character around treasure chests and paired that with a perk that would debuff nearby foes every time I claimed a reward.

The customization choices are not endless, but it provides ample to experiment with to enable you to influence numbers according to your strategy.

A Persistent Tension

Unsurprisingly, at its heart, it's a game of chance. There's always the chance that you have a likely outcome to land on the desired tile but wind up hitting on an enemy that would deplete your final hit point. All selections is a gamble, so a persistent nervousness exists as you work through a stage and choose whether to press onward or when to move on to the subsequent stage rather than risking it all.

Items like enemy-killing bombs help cut down the chance, similar to some special skills. An adventurer's signature move, powered up by making four moves, allows players to click on a vertical column in place of a horizontal line on a turn. By employing this strategically, you can reserve that option for the right moment to circumvent a perilous selection. You'll find an astonishing amount of nuance in the simple act of clicking.

Future Development

Sol Cesto is currently in its preview phase, and it has a final update planned before the complete edition is released. Another playable adventurer and a additional end-level foe are planned for release before the conclusion of January. The full launch likely won't be long after, but the creators haven't announced a specific release window yet.

A Parting Endorsement

No matter when it's fully released, you ought to put Sol Cesto on your radar. I have been completely engrossed with it, discovering its little secrets and saving my accumulated currency per attempt to access a constant flow of permanent unlocks, such as additional heroes and items purchasable mid-attempt. I still haven't found the deepest level, and I suspect I'll continue working on that task when 1.0 finally hits. Count me in for the entire experience.