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Following my time with more than 200 recent games this year, I'm formally wrapping things up on 2025. My year-end list is live, and I'm satisfied with the ultimate rankings, accepting that numerous excellent games likely fell by the wayside. Now, there's nothing for me to do other than unwind, disconnect briefly, and maybe enjoy a refreshing hike in the— oh no, discovered one more brilliant title. And just like that, goodbye to my intentions!

A Premature Favorite Surfaces

With my off-hours play, typically earmarked for a selection of unusual games, I've come across what might become my first favorite game of 2026. Sol Cesto is a distinctive procedural dungeon crawler for Windows PC that deconstructs a classic labyrinth explorer into a probability-fueled game of significant risk danger and payoff. Take this as a preview for the in-the-know: If you take pride in knowing about a game before it's popular, test out Sol Cesto so you can make a dent in your indie credit card.

A Strategic Dungeon-Crawling Innovation

Sol Cesto is a tactical roguelike that's unlike anything I've previously experienced. The setup is that you are tasked with descending into a dungeon, descending floor after floor in search of the sun, which has gone missing from its world. When you play, that makes for some familiar roguelike structure. Pick a hero who has attributes and skills, defeat enemies on every stage of monsters, pick up some passive buffs (which are teeth), and overcome a few stage-ending champions. Easy to grasp!

The Distinctive Central System

The way you effectively complete a dungeon room, is unique. Every time you enter a new floor, the game presents a four-by-four matrix of boxes. Each square either contains a monster, a reward cache, a trap, or a health-restoring fruit. To make a move, you just select on one of the four rows, 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 treasure chest in it. You initially will have a quarter likelihood of landing on any given square in a row.

Subsequently, your chances are recalculated. So do you take the risk, or do you click on a safer line first and try to make safer moves early? Herein lies the tension between chance and safety on display in Sol Cesto, and it's captivating after you develop a feel for it.

Manipulating Probability

The roguelike twist is that your odds can be manipulated during an attempt by gathering teeth that modify the types of squares you're more attracted to. To illustrate, you might get a perk that will reduce the probability of landing on a trap, but will concurrently lower the odds of landing on a reward too.

• Developing a strategy is about tweaking the numbers to the utmost to have a better shot at landing where you want.
• In one run, I put all my attribute improvements toward melee prowess and chose every teeth possible that would improve my probability of attracting me toward monsters of that variety.
• During a separate session, I developed my adventurer around loot caches and paired that with a perk that would debuff nearby foes whenever I opened a chest.

The customization choices are not endless, but there's enough to work with to allow you to tweak probabilities the way you want.

A Persistent Risk

Of course, it remains a game of chance. There remains the possibility that you have a likely outcome to hit the preferred space but ultimately choose a monster that would take out your remaining life. Every move is a gamble, so a persistent nervousness exists as you clear a floor out and choose whether to press onward or when to move on to the next floor rather than risking it all.

Items like enemy-killing bombs help cut down the chance, as do some hero powers. An adventurer's unique ability, activated once clearing four squares, lets gamers to click on a vertical line in place of a horizontal row for that move. By employing your cards right, you can hold that ability for a crucial point to avoid a risky decision. It's a surprising level of strategy in the simple act of clicking.

The Road to 1.0

Sol Cesto is remaining in its preview phase, and it has a final update to go before the full version is launched. A new character and a fresh guardian are expected to drop before the conclusion of January. The official version may not be far behind, but the studio haven't announced a concrete launch day yet.

A Final Thought

No matter when the complete game arrives, you might want to put Sol Cesto on your wishlist. I have been completely engrossed with it, discovering its small details and saving my accumulated currency per attempt to unlock a steady stream of persistent upgrades, featuring fresh adventurers and items purchasable while playing. I still haven't completed the dungeon, and I have a sense I'll still be attempting that goal when the official release drops. Count me in for the entire experience.