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Following my time with well over 200 new releases this year, I am officially wrapping things up on 2025. My best-of compilation is out in the world, and I am at peace with the final results, despite being aware numerous stellar titles likely fell under the radar. Currently, my only job is to but sit back, take a short break, and perhaps take a refreshing hike in the— ah crap, discovered one more great game. There go my plans!

A Surprising Front-Runner Appears

With my off-hours play, typically earmarked for a selection of unusual games, I've encountered potentially 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 luck-based game of major consequence danger and payoff. Take this as a hipster's insider tip: If you relish discovering a game before it's cool, test out Sol Cesto so you can punch a hole in your indie credit card.

A Strategic Genre Subversion

Sol Cesto is a strategy-focused dungeon crawler that's a departure from all I've previously experienced. The setup is that you must venture into a dungeon, descending floor after floor in search of the sun, which has vanished from its world. Mechanically, this results in some familiar roguelike structure. Select a character with their own parameters and powers, defeat enemies on every stage of foes, collect some passive buffs (represented as teeth), and vanquish a few biome bosses. Simple enough!

The Distinctive Central System

The method by which you actually clear a chamber, is unique. Whenever you enter a new floor, you're shown a four-by-four matrix of boxes. All spaces features a monster, a loot box, a trap, or a life-giving berry. To proceed, you choose on one of the four rows, but the specific tile you land in is up to chance.

You might see a row with two monsters, a strawberry, and a reward box in it. You initially will have a quarter likelihood of hitting any given square in a row.

Then, you'll probabilities change. So do you take the risk, or do you click on a alternative option first and aim for less risky choices early? Herein lies the push-your-luck gameplay on display in Sol Cesto, and it's engrossing when you acquire its rhythm.

Shaping the Odds

The procedural hook is that your probabilities can be influenced through a run by picking up teeth that change what things you're drawn toward. As an instance, you may obtain a perk that will lower your chances of encountering a trap, but will similarly reduce the odds of landing on a reward too.

• Crafting a loadout is about influencing the statistics as best you can to have a higher chance at landing where you want.
• On a particular session, I put all my attribute improvements toward brute force and selected all the teeth possible that would improve my probability of being drawn to monsters aligned with that strength.
• On a different attempt, I built my character around treasure chests and coupled it with a perk that would debuff nearby foes each time I secured loot.

The customization choices are limited, but they are sufficient to engage with to let you manipulate numbers to your preference.

A Persistent Tension

Of course, at its heart, it's a game of chance. There's always the chance that you have an 80% chance to land on the preferred space but end up landing a foe that would eliminate 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 continue selecting or to proceed to the following level rather than risking it all.

Consumables including explosive devices aid in reducing the chance, similar to some special skills. An adventurer's unique ability, charged after selecting four tiles, lets gamers to select a column rather than a horizontal line on a turn. Should you use this move wisely, you can hold that ability for an optimal time to avoid a risky decision. You'll find an astonishing level of strategy in the seemingly straightforward task of clicking.

Looking Ahead

Sol Cesto is still in its preview phase, and it has at least one more update scheduled before the complete edition is released. Another playable adventurer and a additional end-level foe are scheduled to arrive before the conclusion of January. The full launch likely won't be far behind, but the creators haven't announced a concrete launch day yet.

A Final Thought

Regardless of when it's fully released, you should consider put Sol Cesto on your radar. I've been completely engrossed with it, finding all of small details and storing my run rewards every session to access a constant flow of permanent unlocks, such as new characters and items available for acquisition mid-attempt. As of now, I am yet to found the deepest level, and I have a sense I'll continue pursuing that objective when the official release drops. Count me in for the long haul.