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Having experienced well over 200 new releases this year, I am officially closing the book on 2025. My year-end list is out in the world, and I am at peace with the concluding selections, even knowing plenty of fantastic releases likely fell through the cracks. Currently, my only plan is to other than unwind, unplug a little, and possibly go for a pleasant stroll in the— oh no, discovered one more brilliant title. So much for my plans!

A Surprising Contender Emerges

With my casual gaming time, often set aside for a selection of unusual games, I've encountered potentially my earliest beloved game of 2026. Sol Cesto is an unusual procedural dungeon crawler for Windows PC that breaks down a conventional dungeon crawler into a chance-driven game of major consequence danger and payoff. View this a preview for the in-the-know: If you relish being aware of a game before it's popular, give Sol Cesto a try so you can burn a spot in your wallet for unique titles.

A Strategic Dungeon-Crawling Innovation

Sol Cesto is a tactical roguelike that's unlike anything I've previously experienced. The premise is that you are tasked with descending into a dungeon, progressing deeper and deeper on a quest for the sun, which has vanished from the fantasy world. When you play, this results in some standard crawl progression. Select a character possessing unique stats and abilities, clear floor after floor of foes, pick up some stat improvements (represented as teeth), and defeat a few stage-ending champions. Simple enough!

The Unique Core Mechanic

The way you actually clear a area, though. Whenever you start another stage, you see a 4x4 grid of boxes. All spaces features a monster, a reward cache, a trap, or a life-giving berry. To explore a room, you simply click on one of the horizontal lines, but the specific tile you land in is up to chance.

You could encounter a row with two monsters, a strawberry, and a reward box in it. You initially will have a one-in-four probability of landing on any given square in a row.

Subsequently, your odds shift. So do you go for it, or do you opt on a different row first and attempt some more cautious selections early? That's the risk-reward dynamic at play in Sol Cesto, and it's captivating after you develop an understanding of it.

Manipulating Probability

The roguelike twist is that your percentages can be shaped 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 encountering a trap, but will similarly reduce the odds of getting a reward too.

• Creating a build is about tweaking the numbers as best you can to have a higher chance at selecting the optimal square.
• On a particular session, I invested my attribute improvements toward brute force and picked as many teeth possible that would boost my chances of being drawn to monsters aligned with that strength.
• In another run, I built my character around treasure chests and combined that with a perk that would reduce the power of surrounding monsters each time I claimed a reward.

The strategic possibilities are somewhat constrained, but they are sufficient to work with to let you manipulate the odds according to your strategy.

A Constant Risk

Naturally, it remains a game of chance. There's always the risk that you have an 80% chance to select the square you want but end up landing on an enemy that would eliminate your final hit point. 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 following level rather than pushing your luck.

Items like enemy-killing bombs help cut down the chance, just like some special skills. One hero's special power, activated once selecting four tiles, allows players to click on a vertical column instead of a horizontal row during that action. If you play this move wisely, you can hold that ability for a crucial point to avoid a risky decision. There's a shocking degree of depth in the simple act of clicking.

The Road to 1.0

Sol Cesto is currently in its preview phase, and it has a final update to go until the full version is released. An additional hero and a additional end-level foe are expected to drop before the conclusion of January. The 1.0 release may not be far behind, but the creators haven't committed to a final date yet.

A Final Thought

Regardless of when it's fully released, you might want to put Sol Cesto on your radar. For the past week, I've been positively obsessed with it, discovering its little secrets and storing my run rewards every session to unlock a steady stream of meta progression rewards, featuring new characters and items I can buy mid-attempt. To this day, I have not found the deepest level, and I suspect I'll continue attempting that goal when 1.0 finally hits. Sign me up for the complete journey.