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Having experienced more than 200 new releases this year, I am officially closing the book on 2025. My annual roundup is live, and I am at peace with the final results, accepting that a host of stellar titles may have dropped by the wayside. Currently, my only job is to but sit back, unplug a little, and perhaps take a pleasant stroll in the— well, shoot, found another brilliant title. There go my plans!

A Premature Favorite Surfaces

During my casual gaming time, typically earmarked for a handful of quirky titles, I've encountered potentially my initial top game of 2026. Sol Cesto is a peculiar procedural dungeon crawler for Windows PC that breaks down a conventional labyrinth explorer into a probability-fueled game of major consequence danger and payoff. Take this as a hipster's insider tip: If you relish discovering a game before it hits the mainstream, give Sol Cesto a try so you can burn a spot in your wallet for unique titles.

A Strategic Roguelike Twist

Sol Cesto is a thought-provoking procedural game that's different from everything I've previously experienced. The concept is that you are tasked with descending into a dungeon, progressing deeper and deeper in search of the sun, which has gone missing from its world. Mechanically, that makes for some standard crawl progression. Select a character possessing unique attributes and skills, fight through each level of enemies, acquire some passive buffs (in the form of teeth), and vanquish a few biome bosses. Simple enough!

The Novel Central System

The method by which you effectively complete a chamber, however. Every time you begin a fresh level, you see a 4x4 grid of boxes. Every tile holds a monster, a loot box, a trap, or a healing strawberry. To proceed, you simply click on one of the horizontal lines, but the specific tile you end up on is a matter of probability.

You might see a row with a pair of enemies, a strawberry, and a reward box in it. You start with a quarter likelihood of selecting a specific tile in a row.

Then, you'll odds shift. So do you go for it, or do you click on a different row first and attempt some more cautious selections early? This is the risk-reward dynamic in action in Sol Cesto, and it's captivating when you acquire a feel for it.

Manipulating Probability

The meta-layer is that your odds can be manipulated over the course of a session by picking up teeth that modify the types of squares you're more likely to land on. For example, you might get a perk that will reduce the probability of hitting a trap, but will similarly reduce the odds of getting a reward too.

• Creating a build is about manipulating math optimally to have a improved likelihood at getting your desired outcome.
• During one attempt, I focused my stat upgrades toward physical attack/defense and picked as many teeth possible that would boost my chances of being drawn to monsters with that damage type.
• During a separate session, I constructed my hero around treasure chests and coupled it with a perk that would reduce the power of surrounding monsters whenever I secured loot.

The build options are limited, but they are sufficient to work with to allow you to tweak numbers according to your strategy.

An Ever-Present Tension

Unsurprisingly, it's still a game of chance. There remains the risk that you have a high probability to land on the square you want but wind up hitting on an enemy that would deplete your remaining life. Every move is a gamble, so you feel ongoing pressure as you work through a stage and decide when to keep clicking or when to move on to the following level instead of testing fate.

Consumables including explosive devices aid in reducing the chance, similar to some hero powers. An adventurer's signature move, charged after selecting four tiles, enables you to select a column instead of a horizontal line during that action. By employing this strategically, you can hold that ability for the right moment to sidestep a dangerous choice. There's a shocking amount of nuance in the basic action of clicking.

The Road to 1.0

Sol Cesto is still in early access, and it has a final update to go until the complete edition is unleashed. Another playable adventurer and a new boss are expected to drop sometime in January. The official version likely won't be far behind, but the game's developers haven't announced a final date yet.

A Final Recommendation

No matter when its 1.0 launch occurs, you might want to put Sol Cesto on your radar. For the past week, I've been thoroughly captivated with it, discovering its hidden nuances and storing my run rewards in each run to access a constant flow of persistent upgrades, such as fresh adventurers and items available for acquisition while playing. I still haven't reached the bottom, and I suspect I'll continue working on that task when 1.0 finally hits. Sign me up for the long haul.