🔗 Share this article

Having experienced in excess of 200 new releases this year, I'm formally closing the book on 2025. My best-of compilation is live, and I am at peace with the ultimate rankings, accepting that a host of fantastic releases probably slipped through the cracks. Currently, my only job is to except relax, disconnect briefly, and perhaps take a nice walk in the— oh no, found another brilliant title. And just like that, goodbye to my intentions!

An Early Front-Runner Appears

In my more casual gaming time, typically earmarked for a selection of unusual games, I've encountered what could be my first favorite game of 2026. Sol Cesto is a distinctive procedural dungeon crawler for Windows PC that deconstructs a conventional dungeon crawler into a chance-driven game of significant risk danger and payoff. Take this as a hipster's insider tip: If you relish discovering a game before it's cool, sample Sol Cesto so you can make a dent in your indie credit card.

A Calculated Roguelike Twist

Sol Cesto is a thought-provoking procedural game that's unlike anything I've previously experienced. The concept is that you must venture into a dungeon, progressing deeper and deeper in search of the sun, which has gone missing from its world. When you play, this creates some standard crawl progression. Choose an adventurer who has stats and abilities, defeat enemies on every stage of enemies, collect some permanent upgrades (which are teeth), and defeat a few biome bosses. Straightforward, right!

The Distinctive Gameplay Loop

The method by which you effectively complete a area, though. Whenever you begin a fresh level, the game presents a sixteen-square board of boxes. Each square either contains a monster, a loot box, a trap, or a healing strawberry. To make a move, you simply click on one of the four rows, but the specific tile you end up on is up to chance.

You may face a row with two monsters, a strawberry, and a reward box in it. You start with a quarter likelihood of landing on any given square in a row.

Subsequently, your odds shift. So do you go for it, or do you click on a different row first and aim for more cautious selections early? That's the push-your-luck gameplay on display in Sol Cesto, and it's absorbing after you develop an understanding of it.

Manipulating Probability

The procedural hook is that your percentages can be shaped through a run by picking up teeth that alter which objects you're more attracted to. To illustrate, you could acquire a perk that will decrease your odds of landing on a trap, but will concurrently lower the odds of getting a treasure chest too.

• Crafting a loadout is about influencing the statistics as best you can to have a improved likelihood at landing where you want.
• During one attempt, I invested my stat upgrades toward melee prowess and picked as many teeth I could that would boost my chances of landing on monsters with that damage type.
• During a separate session, I developed my adventurer around treasure chests and coupled it with a perk that would reduce the power of surrounding monsters whenever I opened a chest.

The build options are somewhat constrained, but there's enough to work with to allow you to tweak the odds according to your strategy.

A Constant Risk

Unsurprisingly, it remains a game of chance. You constantly face the chance that you have an 80% chance to hit the desired tile but ultimately choose a monster that would deplete your last bit of health. All selections is a gamble, so you feel ongoing pressure as you work through a stage and determine if to keep clicking or to advance to the next floor instead of testing fate.

Consumables including enemy-killing bombs assist in minimizing the chance, just like some special skills. One hero's unique ability, charged after clearing four squares, allows players to click on a vertical column rather than a row during that action. If you play your cards right, you can hold that ability for an optimal time to avoid a risky decision. You'll find an astonishing degree of depth in the simple act of clicking.

The Road to 1.0

Sol Cesto is currently in early access, and it has at least one more update to go before the full version is unleashed. A new character and a new boss are expected to drop by the end of January. The official version may not be long after, but the studio haven't set a final date yet.

A Concluding Endorsement

No matter when it's fully released, you should consider put Sol Cesto on your wishlist. I have been positively obsessed with it, discovering its small details and banking my earned gold per attempt to reveal a continuous trickle of permanent unlocks, featuring fresh adventurers and items I can buy during a run. As of now, I am yet to reached the bottom, and I get the feeling I'll continue pursuing that objective when the full version launches. Sign me up for the long haul.