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After playing in excess of 200 fresh titles this year, It's time to closing the book on 2025. My annual roundup is published, and I feel content with the final results, even knowing numerous stellar titles likely fell under the radar. Now, there's nothing for me to do other than unwind, take a short break, and perhaps take a pleasant stroll in the— ah crap, found another amazing experience. There go my intentions!

A Surprising Contender Emerges

With my laid-back sessions, usually reserved for a selection of unusual games, I've come across what could be my initial top game of 2026. Sol Cesto is a peculiar roguelike for Windows PC that deconstructs a conventional dungeon crawler into a luck-based game of significant risk peril and prize. View this a preview for the in-the-know: If you enjoy discovering a game before it's cool, sample Sol Cesto so you can make a dent in your indie credit card.

A Tactical Genre Subversion

Sol Cesto is a thought-provoking procedural game that's unlike anything I'm familiar with. The concept is that you must venture into a dungeon, progressing deeper and deeper in search of the sun, which has disappeared from the fantasy world. In practice, that makes for some recognizable genre framework. Choose an adventurer with their own parameters and powers, clear floor after floor of enemies, acquire some permanent upgrades (in the form of teeth), and overcome a few biome bosses. Straightforward, right!

The Novel Central System

The method by which you effectively complete a area, is unique. Every time you start another stage, you're shown a 4x4 grid of boxes. Each square either contains a monster, a loot box, a trap, or a health-restoring fruit. To explore a room, you choose on one of the horizontal lines, but the exact space you select 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 a particular space in a row.

Then, you'll odds shift. The question becomes: Do you take the risk, or do you choose on a different row first and aim for more cautious selections early? That's the tension between chance and safety in action in Sol Cesto, and it's captivating when you acquire a feel for it.

Manipulating Probability

The procedural hook is that your probabilities can be influenced through a run by picking up teeth that alter which objects you're more attracted to. For example, you might get a perk that will reduce the probability of hitting a trap, but will similarly reduce the odds of getting a reward too.

• Crafting a loadout is about influencing the statistics as best you can to have a improved likelihood at selecting the optimal square.
• During one attempt, I focused my power boosts toward physical attack/defense and picked as many teeth I could that would improve my probability of being drawn to monsters with that damage type.
• During a separate session, I developed my adventurer around loot caches and combined that with a perk that would debuff nearby foes whenever I opened a chest.

The customization choices are limited, but it provides ample to experiment with to allow you to tweak the odds the way you want.

An Ever-Present Tension

Naturally, at its heart, it's a game of chance. There's always the risk that you have a high probability to hit the preferred space but ultimately choose a monster that would eliminate your final hit point. Each click is a gamble, so a persistent nervousness exists as you work through a stage and choose whether to continue selecting or when to move on to the next floor instead of testing fate.

Items like destructive ordnance help cut down the chance, as do some hero powers. A particular character's unique ability, activated once selecting four tiles, lets gamers to choose a vertical line rather than a row for that move. Should you use your cards right, you can hold that ability for an optimal time to avoid a risky decision. You'll find an astonishing level of strategy in the simple act of clicking.

Looking Ahead

Sol Cesto is still in its preview phase, and it has another update to go until the full version is released. Another playable adventurer and a fresh guardian are expected to drop before the conclusion of January. The full launch likely won't be long after, but the studio haven't announced a concrete launch day yet.

A Parting Recommendation

No matter when the complete game arrives, you might want to put Sol Cesto on your radar. I have been completely engrossed with it, finding all of small details and saving my accumulated currency in each run to access a constant flow of meta progression rewards, such as additional heroes and items purchasable during a run. To this day, I have not reached the bottom, and I have a sense I will remain pursuing that objective when 1.0 finally hits. Count me in for the long haul.