🔗 Share this article

Having experienced more than 200 fresh titles this year, I am officially wrapping things up on 2025. My best-of compilation is out in the world, and I'm satisfied with the ultimate rankings, even knowing plenty of excellent games may have dropped through the cracks. Currently, my only plan is to but sit back, disconnect briefly, and maybe enjoy a refreshing hike in the— ah crap, stumbled upon a great game. And just like that, goodbye to my plans!

A Premature Front-Runner Appears

During my laid-back sessions, typically earmarked for a few oddball curiosities, I've discovered what might become my initial top game of 2026. Sol Cesto is an unusual roguelike for Windows PC that breaks down a conventional labyrinth explorer into a probability-fueled game of major consequence danger and payoff. Take this as a preview for the in-the-know: If you relish being aware of a game before it hits the mainstream, give Sol Cesto a try so you can punch a hole in your indie credit card.

A Strategic Roguelike Twist

Sol Cesto is a strategy-focused dungeon crawler that's different from everything I've previously experienced. The premise is that you are tasked with descending into a dungeon, going down level by level in search of the sun, which has disappeared from its world. Mechanically, that makes for some standard crawl progression. Select a character with their own parameters and powers, defeat enemies on every stage of foes, collect some stat improvements (which are teeth), and overcome a few stage-ending champions. Simple enough!

The Distinctive Central System

The way you effectively complete a chamber, though. Each instance you enter a new floor, you're shown a four-by-four matrix of boxes. Each square features a monster, a loot box, a trap, or a life-giving berry. To proceed, you choose on one of the horizontal lines, but the exact space you end up on is up to chance.

You may face a row with two monsters, a strawberry, and a reward box in it. You initially will have a 25% chance of hitting a particular space in a row.

Subsequently, your odds shift. The question becomes: Do you take the risk, or do you click on a safer line first and aim for safer moves early? This is the push-your-luck gameplay on display in Sol Cesto, and it's captivating once you get a feel for it.

Influencing Chance

The meta-layer is that your probabilities can be influenced through a run by collecting teeth that modify the types of squares you're drawn toward. For example, you could acquire a perk that will reduce the probability of landing on a trap, but will also decrease the odds of getting a reward too.

• Creating a build is about manipulating math optimally to have a improved likelihood at selecting the optimal square.
• In one run, I invested my attribute improvements toward physical attack/defense and chose every teeth possible that would increase my odds of being drawn to monsters aligned with that strength.
• On a different attempt, I developed my adventurer around loot caches and paired that with a perk that would reduce the power of surrounding monsters whenever I opened a chest.

The strategic possibilities are somewhat constrained, but there's enough to work with to let you manipulate numbers the way you want.

A Persistent Gamble

Of course, it remains a game of chance. There remains the possibility that you have a high probability to select the preferred space but wind up hitting a foe that would eliminate your remaining life. Every move is a gamble, so you feel ongoing pressure as you work through a stage and choose whether to keep clicking or to advance to the next floor instead of risking it all.

Items like explosive devices assist in minimizing the chance, similar to some character abilities. A particular character's special power, activated once making four moves, allows players to select a vertical line instead of a horizontal line during that action. If you play your cards right, you can hold that ability for the right moment to sidestep a dangerous choice. There's a shocking degree of depth in the simple act of clicking.

Future Development

Sol Cesto is currently in its preview phase, and it has another update scheduled until the complete edition is unleashed. An additional hero and a additional end-level foe are scheduled to arrive sometime in January. The full launch likely won't be much later, but the studio haven't announced a specific release window yet.

A Parting Recommendation

Whenever the complete game arrives, you ought to put Sol Cesto on your wishlist. For the past week, I've been positively obsessed with it, finding all of hidden nuances and banking my earned gold per attempt to access a constant flow of persistent upgrades, including new characters and items purchasable during a run. To this day, I have not reached the bottom, and I have a sense I will remain working on that task when 1.0 finally hits. Count me in for the entire experience.