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Having experienced more than 200 recent games this year, It's time to closing the book on 2025. My year-end list is out in the world, and I'm satisfied with the final results, accepting that plenty of excellent games probably slipped by the wayside. Currently, my only job is to except relax, unplug a little, and possibly go for a refreshing hike in the— oh no, discovered one more great game. So much for my plans!

A Surprising Contender Emerges

During my laid-back sessions, typically earmarked for a few oddball curiosities, I've encountered what might become my earliest beloved game of 2026. Sol Cesto is an unusual roguelike for Windows PC that reimagines a classic labyrinth explorer into a luck-based game of significant risk 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 burn a spot in your gaming budget.

A Strategic Genre Subversion

Sol Cesto is a strategy-focused dungeon crawler that's different from everything I've previously experienced. The concept is that you need to explore a dungeon, progressing deeper and deeper to find the sun, which has vanished from the fantasy world. In practice, that makes for some recognizable genre framework. Select a character possessing unique parameters and powers, fight through each level of monsters, collect some stat improvements (which are teeth), and defeat a few biome bosses. Easy to grasp!

The Novel Central System

How you actually clear a area, however. Whenever you begin a fresh level, you see a four-by-four matrix of boxes. Every tile features a monster, a loot box, a trap, or a health-restoring fruit. To explore a room, you choose on one of the four rows, but which square you end up on is up to chance.

You might see a row with multiple foes, a strawberry, and a reward box in it. You start with a 25% chance of landing on a particular space in a row.

Then, you'll chances are recalculated. The question becomes: Do you go for it, or do you click on a safer line first and attempt some more cautious selections early? Herein lies the push-your-luck gameplay at play in Sol Cesto, and it's absorbing when you acquire a feel for it.

Influencing Chance

The roguelike twist is that your odds can be manipulated through a run by collecting teeth that change what things you're more likely to land on. As an instance, you may obtain a perk that will reduce the probability of hitting a trap, but will similarly reduce the odds of getting a treasure chest too.

• Crafting a loadout is about manipulating math optimally to have a better shot at selecting the optimal square.
• During one attempt, I focused my power boosts toward melee prowess and selected all the teeth I could that would boost my chances of landing on monsters with that damage type.
• In another run, I developed my adventurer around treasure chests and paired that with a perk that would debuff nearby foes every time I opened a chest.

The customization choices are somewhat constrained, but they are sufficient to experiment with to let you manipulate the odds according to your strategy.

A Constant Gamble

Unsurprisingly, it's still a game of chance. There's always the possibility that you have an 80% chance to land on the desired tile but wind up hitting a monster that would deplete your final hit point. Every move is a gamble, so a persistent nervousness exists as you navigate a level and choose whether to continue selecting or to advance to the next floor as opposed to pushing your luck.

Consumables including enemy-killing bombs aid in reducing the chance, as do some special skills. One hero's signature move, charged after clearing four squares, enables you to click on a vertical line in place of a horizontal row during that action. By employing your cards right, you can save that move for an optimal time to sidestep a dangerous choice. You'll find an astonishing amount of nuance in the basic action of clicking.

Future Development

Sol Cesto is remaining in its preview phase, and it has at least one more update planned before the final game is launched. A new character and a new boss are scheduled to arrive sometime in January. The full launch may not be long after, but the studio haven't announced a concrete launch day yet.

A Final Thought

Whenever the complete game arrives, you might want to put Sol Cesto on your wishlist. I've been completely engrossed with it, discovering its little secrets and storing my run rewards per attempt to unlock a steady stream of persistent upgrades, including fresh adventurers and items available for acquisition while playing. To this day, I have not found the deepest level, and I get the feeling I will remain attempting that goal when the full version launches. I'm committed for the entire experience.