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After playing well over 200 recent games this year, I'm formally wrapping things up on 2025. My year-end list is live, and I am at peace with the concluding selections, despite being aware a host of stellar titles likely fell through the cracks. Now, there's job is to other than unwind, disconnect briefly, and perhaps take a pleasant stroll in the— ah crap, discovered one more amazing experience. So much for my plans!

A Premature Front-Runner Appears

In my more laid-back sessions, usually reserved for a few oddball curiosities, I've discovered what could be my first favorite game of 2026. Sol Cesto is an unusual roguelike for Windows PC that reimagines a classic dungeon crawler into a luck-based game of significant risk risk and reward. View this a hipster's insider tip: If you take pride being aware of a game before it's popular, sample Sol Cesto so you can punch a hole in your gaming budget.

A Calculated Roguelike Twist

Sol Cesto is a strategy-focused dungeon crawler that's different from everything I've ever played. The concept is that you need to explore a dungeon, going down level by level on a quest for the sun, which has gone missing from the fantasy world. Mechanically, this creates some recognizable genre framework. Pick a hero who has stats and abilities, fight through each level of monsters, collect some stat improvements (represented as teeth), and overcome a few area guardians. Easy to grasp!

The Novel Core Mechanic

The method by which you actually clear a dungeon room, though. Every time you start another stage, the game presents a 4x4 grid of boxes. Each square features a monster, a loot box, a trap, or a life-giving berry. To make a move, you simply click on one of the horizontal lines, but which square you end up on is a matter of probability.

You may face a row with multiple foes, a strawberry, and a treasure chest in it. You begin with a quarter likelihood of landing on any given square in a row.

Subsequently, your chances are recalculated. The question becomes: Do you go for it, or do you opt on a different row first and try to make less risky choices early? This is the push-your-luck gameplay on display in Sol Cesto, and it's engrossing once you get its rhythm.

Shaping the Odds

The meta-layer is that your odds can be manipulated during an attempt by collecting teeth that modify the types of squares you're more attracted to. To illustrate, you may obtain a perk that will reduce the probability of encountering a trap, but will similarly reduce the odds of finding a reward too.

• Creating a build is about influencing the statistics optimally to have a better shot at selecting the optimal square.
• During one attempt, I put all my attribute improvements toward physical attack/defense and picked as many teeth possible that would improve my probability of landing on monsters aligned with that strength.
• On a different attempt, I built my character around loot caches and combined that with a perk that would debuff nearby foes every time I opened a chest.

The customization choices are limited, but they are sufficient to engage with to enable you to influence numbers to your preference.

A Constant Gamble

Naturally, at its heart, it's a game of chance. There's always the risk that you have an 80% chance to select the square you want but ultimately choose a monster that would take out your last bit of health. All selections is a gamble, so there's a constant tension as you navigate a level and choose whether to keep clicking or to proceed to the next floor instead of testing fate.

Tools such as destructive ordnance help cut down the chance, just like some special skills. One hero's special power, powered up by selecting four tiles, allows players to select a column instead of a horizontal line on a turn. By employing this move wisely, you can hold that ability for an optimal time to avoid a risky decision. You'll find an astonishing amount of nuance in the basic action of clicking.

Looking Ahead

Sol Cesto is still in its preview phase, and it has another update planned before the final game is launched. An additional hero and a additional end-level foe are planned for release sometime in January. The official version likely won't be long after, but the creators haven't committed to a concrete launch day yet.

A Concluding Endorsement

No matter when its 1.0 launch occurs, you ought to put Sol Cesto on your radar. For the past week, I've been thoroughly captivated with it, finding all of little secrets and banking my earned gold per attempt to unlock a steady stream of meta progression rewards, featuring additional heroes and items I can buy during a run. I still haven't completed the dungeon, and I get the feeling I will remain attempting that goal when 1.0 finally hits. Sign me up for the long haul.