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After playing more than 200 fresh titles this year, I'm formally turning the page on 2025. My year-end list is out in the world, and I am at peace with the final results, despite being aware plenty of excellent games likely fell under the radar. Currently, my only nothing for me to do but sit back, disconnect briefly, and maybe enjoy a pleasant stroll in the— ah crap, discovered one more great game. And just like that, goodbye to my plans!

An Early Favorite Surfaces

During my laid-back sessions, often set aside for a selection of unusual games, I've discovered what might become my initial top game of 2026. Sol Cesto is an unusual roguelike for Windows PC that deconstructs a traditional dungeon crawler into a probability-fueled game of significant risk risk and reward. Take this as a preview for the in-the-know: If you enjoy in knowing about a game before it's cool, test out Sol Cesto so you can burn a spot in your gaming budget.

A Tactical Genre Subversion

Sol Cesto is a strategy-focused dungeon crawler that's unlike anything I've ever played. The setup is that you need to explore a dungeon, descending floor after floor in search of the sun, which has gone missing from this mythical realm. In practice, that makes for some recognizable genre framework. Choose an adventurer with their own attributes and skills, defeat enemies on every stage of monsters, collect some passive buffs (which are teeth), and vanquish a few area guardians. Simple enough!

The Distinctive Gameplay Loop

The method by which you actually clear a chamber, is unique. Whenever you enter a new floor, the game presents a 4x4 grid of boxes. Each square features a monster, a treasure chest, a trap, or a healing strawberry. To explore a room, you just select on one of the horizontal lines, but which square you select is a matter of probability.

You might see a row with a pair of enemies, a strawberry, and a reward box in it. You initially will have a one-in-four probability of hitting a specific tile in a row.

Then, you'll odds shift. So 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 at play in Sol Cesto, and it's absorbing after you develop a feel for it.

Influencing Chance

The procedural hook is that your percentages can be shaped over the course of a session by picking up teeth that modify the types of squares you're more likely to land on. As an instance, you could acquire a perk that will decrease your odds of hitting a trap, but will also decrease the odds of finding a reward too.

• Developing a strategy is about manipulating math to the utmost to have a better shot at landing where you want.
• During one attempt, I focused my power boosts toward melee prowess and chose every teeth possible that would improve my probability of landing on monsters with that damage type.
• In another run, I built my character around treasure chests and paired that with a perk that would reduce the power of surrounding monsters whenever I claimed a reward.

The strategic possibilities are not endless, but they are sufficient to engage with to let you manipulate probabilities the way you want.

A Constant Risk

Of course, at its heart, it's a game of chance. You constantly face the possibility that you have a likely outcome to select the preferred space but end up landing on an enemy that would deplete your remaining life. All selections is a gamble, so there's a constant tension as you work through a stage and determine if to press onward or when to move on to the next floor instead of risking it all.

Tools such as destructive ordnance help cut down the chance, as do some special skills. An adventurer's signature move, activated once selecting four tiles, lets gamers to click on a column in place of a row on a turn. Should you use this strategically, you can reserve that option for an optimal time to sidestep a dangerous choice. You'll find an astonishing amount of nuance in the seemingly straightforward task of clicking.

Looking Ahead

Sol Cesto is currently in development, and it has another update planned until the complete edition is launched. A new character and a additional end-level foe are planned for release before the conclusion of January. The 1.0 release may not be long after, but the game's developers haven't set a concrete launch day yet.

A Parting Recommendation

Regardless of when the complete game arrives, you might want to put Sol Cesto in your sights. I've been positively obsessed with it, uncovering each of little secrets and banking my earned gold in each run to reveal a continuous trickle of permanent unlocks, featuring additional heroes and items purchasable while playing. I still haven't reached the bottom, and I get the feeling I'll still be attempting that goal when the full version launches. I'm committed for the entire experience.