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After playing well over 200 new releases this year, I'm formally turning the page on 2025. My best-of compilation is published, and I feel content with the ultimate rankings, even knowing numerous stellar titles probably slipped through the cracks. Now, there's nothing for me to do except relax, unplug a little, and possibly go for a refreshing hike in the— ah crap, stumbled upon a great game. And just like that, goodbye to my intentions!

An Early Front-Runner Appears

With my laid-back sessions, usually reserved for a handful of quirky titles, I've discovered what could be my first favorite game of 2026. Sol Cesto is an unusual roguelike for Windows PC that deconstructs a classic labyrinth explorer into a chance-driven game of high stakes risk and reward. Take this as a preview for the in-the-know: If you enjoy discovering a game before it's cool, sample Sol Cesto so you can make a dent in your indie credit card.

A Tactical Dungeon-Crawling Innovation

Sol Cesto is a tactical roguelike that's different from everything I've ever played. The setup is that you are tasked with descending into a dungeon, descending floor after floor to find the sun, which has vanished from this mythical realm. When you play, that makes for some familiar roguelike structure. Select a character possessing unique stats and abilities, fight through each level of foes, acquire some stat improvements (which are teeth), and defeat a few area guardians. Simple enough!

The Unique Core Mechanic

The method by which you truly navigate a area, however. Every time you start another stage, you see a sixteen-square board of boxes. All spaces holds a monster, a reward cache, a trap, or a healing strawberry. To explore a room, you just select on one of the four rows, but the specific tile you land in is up to chance.

You might see a row with a pair of enemies, a strawberry, and a reward box in it. You initially will have a 25% chance of selecting any given square in a row.

After that, the odds shift. The question becomes: Do you go for it, or do you click on a different row first and attempt some more cautious selections early? Herein lies the risk-reward dynamic in action in Sol Cesto, and it's absorbing once you get a feel for it.

Shaping the Odds

The procedural hook 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 may obtain a perk that will lower your chances of encountering a trap, but will also decrease the odds of getting a reward too.

• Developing a strategy is about influencing the statistics as best you can to have a higher chance at getting your desired outcome.
• In one run, I invested my power boosts toward physical attack/defense and chose every teeth possible that would increase my odds of being drawn to monsters with that damage type.
• During a separate session, I built my character around treasure chests and paired that with a perk that would weaken adjacent enemies whenever I secured loot.

The customization choices are not endless, but they are sufficient to work with to let you manipulate numbers the way you want.

A Persistent Risk

Naturally, it remains a game of chance. There's always the chance that you have a likely outcome to land on the preferred space but wind up hitting on an enemy that would take out your remaining life. Every move is a gamble, so a persistent nervousness exists as you navigate a level and decide when to continue selecting or when to move on to the following level instead of risking it all.

Consumables including enemy-killing bombs assist in minimizing the chance, as do some character abilities. A particular character's special power, powered up by clearing four squares, lets gamers to select a vertical line in place of a horizontal line during that action. If you play this strategically, you can save that move for an optimal time to circumvent a perilous selection. There's a shocking amount of nuance in the seemingly straightforward task of clicking.

Looking Ahead

Sol Cesto is remaining in its preview phase, and it has at least one more update planned until the full version is launched. A new character and a new boss are scheduled to arrive by the end of January. The 1.0 release likely won't be long after, but the game's developers haven't committed to a specific release window yet.

A Concluding Thought

Whenever the complete game arrives, you ought to put Sol Cesto on your wishlist. I've been completely engrossed with it, finding all of little secrets and banking my earned gold every session to access a constant flow of meta progression rewards, including fresh adventurers and items I can buy mid-attempt. As of now, I am yet to completed the dungeon, and I have a sense I will remain attempting that goal when the official release drops. Sign me up for the entire experience.