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Following my time with well over 200 fresh titles this year, I'm formally wrapping things up on 2025. My best-of compilation is published, and I feel content with the concluding selections, despite being aware a host of fantastic releases likely fell through the cracks. At this point, it's plan is to except relax, unplug a little, and perhaps take a nice walk in the— ah crap, discovered one more brilliant title. And just like that, goodbye to my peaceful respite!

A Premature Favorite Surfaces

With my off-hours play, often set aside for a selection of unusual games, I've come across what might become my first favorite game of 2026. Sol Cesto is a peculiar roguelike for Windows PC that reimagines a conventional dungeon crawler into a probability-fueled game of high stakes danger and payoff. View this an early adopter's heads-up: If you take pride discovering a game before it's cool, test out Sol Cesto so you can make a dent in your wallet for unique titles.

A Tactical Genre Subversion

Sol Cesto is a tactical roguelike that's different from everything I've previously experienced. The setup is that you must venture into a dungeon, going down level by level on a quest for the sun, which has vanished from this mythical realm. When you play, that makes for some familiar roguelike structure. Pick a hero with their own parameters and powers, defeat enemies on every stage of enemies, collect some permanent upgrades (which are teeth), and defeat a few stage-ending champions. Simple enough!

The Unique Central System

The way you truly navigate a chamber, is unique. Whenever you enter a new floor, you're shown a sixteen-square board of boxes. All spaces features a monster, a loot box, a trap, or a healing strawberry. To make a move, you simply click on one of the four rows, but the specific tile you land in is a matter of probability.

You may face a row with a pair of enemies, a strawberry, and a reward box in it. You begin with a quarter likelihood of hitting a specific tile in a row.

Then, you'll odds shift. So do you take the risk, or do you opt on a alternative option first and attempt some less risky choices early? This is the risk-reward dynamic at play in Sol Cesto, and it's engrossing after you develop a feel for it.

Influencing Chance

The roguelike twist is that your percentages can be shaped through a run by gathering teeth that modify the types of squares you're more attracted to. As an instance, you may obtain a perk that will lower your chances of encountering a trap, but will concurrently lower the odds of finding a reward too.

• Crafting a loadout is about manipulating math to the utmost to have a higher chance at landing where you want.
• During one attempt, I put all my stat upgrades toward melee prowess and selected all the teeth I could that would improve my probability of attracting me toward monsters with that damage type.
• In another run, I constructed my hero around reward boxes and combined that with a perk that would debuff nearby foes each time I claimed a reward.

The strategic possibilities are limited, but there's enough to engage with to enable you to influence numbers the way you want.

A Persistent Tension

Naturally, at its heart, it's a game of chance. There remains the possibility that you have an 80% chance to select the desired tile but end up landing a monster that would deplete your final hit point. All selections is a gamble, so a persistent nervousness exists as you clear a floor out and determine if to press onward or when to move on to the subsequent stage instead of risking it all.

Consumables including explosive devices help cut down the chance, similar to some hero powers. A particular character's unique ability, activated once making four moves, allows players to choose a column instead of a row during that action. Should you use this move wisely, you can reserve that option for the right moment to circumvent a perilous selection. You'll find an astonishing degree of depth in the seemingly straightforward task of clicking.

Looking Ahead

Sol Cesto is remaining in early access, and it has at least one more update to go until the final game is launched. An additional hero and a additional end-level foe are expected to drop sometime in January. The official version likely won't be long after, but the creators haven't announced a concrete launch day yet.

A Concluding Endorsement

No matter when the complete game arrives, you ought to put Sol Cesto in your sights. I've been thoroughly captivated with it, uncovering each of small details and banking my earned gold in each run to reveal a continuous trickle of permanent unlocks, including fresh adventurers and items purchasable during a run. I still haven't found the deepest level, and I get the feeling I'll still be attempting that goal when the official release drops. Sign me up for the complete journey.