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Having experienced in excess of 200 recent games this year, I am officially closing the book on 2025. My best-of compilation is published, and I'm satisfied with the ultimate rankings, accepting that plenty of fantastic releases probably slipped through the cracks. Now, there's job is to other than unwind, disconnect briefly, and possibly go for a pleasant stroll in the— oh no, found another amazing experience. So much for my plans!

A Surprising Favorite Surfaces

In my more casual gaming time, often set aside for a selection of unusual games, I've encountered what might become my first favorite game of 2026. Sol Cesto is a peculiar roguelike for Windows PC that deconstructs a classic labyrinth explorer into a chance-driven game of major consequence peril and prize. Consider this an early adopter's heads-up: If you enjoy discovering a game before it's cool, test out Sol Cesto so you can punch a hole in your gaming budget.

A Strategic Roguelike Twist

Sol Cesto is a tactical roguelike that's different from everything I've previously experienced. The premise is that you are tasked with descending into a dungeon, descending floor after floor in search of the sun, which has gone missing from this mythical realm. When you play, that makes for some familiar roguelike structure. Choose an adventurer who has stats and abilities, fight through each level of monsters, acquire some permanent upgrades (in the form of teeth), and overcome a few area guardians. Simple enough!

The Unique Central System

The way you actually clear a dungeon room, is unique. Whenever you begin a fresh level, you're shown a sixteen-square board of boxes. Every tile holds a monster, a loot box, a trap, or a life-giving berry. To proceed, you just select on one of the four rows, but the exact space you select is up to chance.

You might see a row with two monsters, a strawberry, and a treasure chest in it. You start with a quarter likelihood of landing on any given square in a row.

Then, you'll probabilities change. So do you press your luck, or do you opt on a safer line first and aim for more cautious selections early? That's the tension between chance and safety on display in Sol Cesto, and it's engrossing after you develop a feel for it.

Manipulating Probability

The meta-layer is that your odds can be manipulated over the course of a session by collecting teeth that alter which objects you're more attracted to. For example, you might get a perk that will lower your chances of hitting a trap, but will also decrease the odds of getting a reward too.

• Crafting a loadout is about manipulating math optimally to have a better shot at selecting the optimal square.
• During one attempt, I invested my attribute improvements toward brute force and chose every teeth possible that would increase my odds of being drawn to monsters aligned with that strength.
• During a separate session, I built my character around loot caches and paired that with a perk that would debuff nearby foes every time I claimed a reward.

The build options are somewhat constrained, but there's enough to experiment with to let you manipulate the odds to your preference.

A Persistent Gamble

Unsurprisingly, at its heart, it's a game of chance. There remains the possibility that you have a likely outcome to land on the preferred space but wind up hitting a monster that would eliminate your final hit point. All selections is a gamble, so there's a constant tension as you navigate a level and decide when to keep clicking or when to move on to the following level as opposed to testing fate.

Items like enemy-killing bombs aid in reducing the chance, as do some special skills. A particular character's signature move, activated once making four moves, lets gamers to select a column in place of a horizontal row for that move. If you play your cards right, you can reserve that option for an optimal time to circumvent a perilous selection. You'll find an astonishing amount of nuance in the simple act of clicking.

The Road to 1.0

Sol Cesto is currently in early access, and it has at least one more update to go until the complete edition is unleashed. Another playable adventurer and a fresh guardian are planned for release by the end of January. The full launch may not be much later, but the creators haven't announced a concrete launch day yet.

A Parting Endorsement

Regardless of when its 1.0 launch occurs, you might want to put Sol Cesto on your wishlist. I have been completely engrossed with it, finding all of small details and banking my earned gold in each run to reveal a continuous trickle of permanent unlocks, including new characters and items I can buy mid-attempt. I still haven't completed the dungeon, and I have a sense I'll continue pursuing that objective when the official release drops. Count me in for the entire experience.