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After playing in excess of 200 new releases this year, I'm formally closing the book on 2025. My best-of compilation is live, and I feel content with the final results, accepting that numerous stellar titles probably slipped under the radar. At this point, it's nothing for me to do but sit back, unplug a little, and perhaps take a refreshing hike in the— well, shoot, discovered one more brilliant title. And just like that, goodbye to my intentions!

An Early Favorite Surfaces

With my off-hours play, usually reserved for a few oddball curiosities, I've discovered potentially my first favorite game of 2026. Sol Cesto is an unusual procedural dungeon crawler for Windows PC that reimagines a traditional labyrinth explorer into a luck-based game of significant risk peril and prize. View this a preview for the in-the-know: If you enjoy being aware of a game before it's popular, sample Sol Cesto so you can punch a hole in your indie credit card.

A Strategic Roguelike Twist

Sol Cesto is a thought-provoking procedural game that's different from everything I've ever played. The concept is that you are tasked with descending into a dungeon, progressing deeper and deeper on a quest for the sun, which has disappeared from its world. When you play, that makes for some familiar roguelike structure. Pick a hero possessing unique parameters and powers, fight through each level of foes, pick up some permanent upgrades (represented as teeth), and vanquish a few stage-ending champions. Simple enough!

The Distinctive Core Mechanic

The method by which you actually clear a area, is unique. Each instance you enter a new floor, the game presents a sixteen-square board of boxes. Every tile features a monster, a reward cache, a trap, or a life-giving berry. To proceed, you choose 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 multiple foes, a strawberry, and a reward box in it. You begin with a one-in-four probability of selecting a specific tile in a row.

Then, you'll probabilities change. So do you press your luck, or do you opt on a different row first and try to make less risky choices early? This is the risk-reward dynamic on display in Sol Cesto, and it's captivating after you develop its rhythm.

Influencing Chance

The roguelike twist is that your odds can be manipulated over the course of a session by picking up teeth that alter which objects you're more attracted to. For example, you might get a perk that will lower your chances of encountering a trap, but will similarly reduce the odds of getting a treasure chest too.

• Creating a build is about tweaking the numbers to the utmost to have a improved likelihood at landing where you want.
• In one run, I invested my power boosts toward physical attack/defense and selected all the teeth possible that would improve my probability of attracting me toward monsters of that variety.
• In another run, I built my character around reward boxes and combined that with a perk that would debuff nearby foes whenever I claimed a reward.

The strategic possibilities are somewhat constrained, but they are sufficient to engage with to allow you to tweak the odds the way you want.

An Ever-Present Gamble

Unsurprisingly, it remains a game of chance. There's always the possibility that you have a high probability to land on the desired tile but ultimately choose on an enemy that would take out your last bit of health. Each click is a gamble, so a persistent nervousness exists as you work through a stage and choose whether to press onward or to advance to the subsequent stage instead of testing fate.

Consumables including explosive devices assist in minimizing the chance, similar to some character abilities. A particular character's special power, charged after selecting four tiles, lets gamers to choose a vertical column rather than a row during that action. Should you use your cards right, you can reserve that option for a crucial point to circumvent a perilous selection. It's a surprising level of strategy in the simple act of clicking.

The Road to 1.0

Sol Cesto is remaining in its preview phase, and it has another update planned before the complete edition is launched. Another playable adventurer and a fresh guardian are scheduled to arrive by the end of January. The official version likely won't be long after, but the studio haven't committed to a final date yet.

A Parting Endorsement

No matter when the complete game arrives, you should consider put Sol Cesto on your radar. I have been completely engrossed with it, uncovering each of little secrets and saving my accumulated currency per attempt to reveal a continuous trickle of persistent upgrades, featuring fresh adventurers and items I can buy while playing. To this day, I have not found the deepest level, and I have a sense I will remain working on that task when the official release drops. Count me in for the entire experience.