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Having experienced more than 200 recent games this year, It's time to wrapping things up on 2025. My annual roundup is published, and I am at peace with the concluding selections, despite being aware a host of fantastic releases likely fell through the cracks. At this point, it's job is to except relax, unplug a little, and maybe enjoy a pleasant stroll in the— oh no, stumbled upon a great game. So much for my plans!

An Early Front-Runner Appears

In my more off-hours play, often set aside for a few oddball curiosities, I've come across what might become my initial top game of 2026. Sol Cesto is an unusual roguelike for Windows PC that deconstructs a traditional dungeon crawler into a probability-fueled game of major consequence peril and prize. 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 gaming budget.

A Strategic Roguelike Twist

Sol Cesto is a strategy-focused dungeon crawler that's different from everything I've ever played. The concept is that you must venture into a dungeon, progressing deeper and deeper on a quest for the sun, which has vanished from this mythical realm. In practice, that makes for some recognizable genre framework. Select a character who has attributes and skills, clear floor after floor of enemies, pick up some permanent upgrades (represented as teeth), and overcome a few biome bosses. Easy to grasp!

The Unique Central System

How you effectively complete a dungeon room, is unique. Whenever you enter a new floor, the game presents a four-by-four matrix of boxes. Each square holds a monster, a loot box, a trap, or a health-restoring fruit. To proceed, you just select on one of the four rows, but which square you select 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 25% chance of hitting any given square in a row.

Then, you'll odds shift. So do you go for it, or do you opt on a alternative option first and aim for more cautious selections early? That's the tension between chance and safety on display in Sol Cesto, and it's captivating when you acquire an understanding of it.

Influencing Chance

The meta-layer is that your odds can be manipulated through a run by collecting teeth that change what things you're more likely to land on. As an instance, you might get a perk that will decrease your odds of hitting a trap, but will similarly reduce the odds of getting a treasure chest too.

• Developing a strategy is about manipulating math optimally to have a better shot at landing where you want.
• During one attempt, I focused my power boosts toward brute force and chose every teeth possible that would boost my chances of being drawn to monsters aligned with that strength.
• During a separate session, I constructed my hero around treasure chests and combined that with a perk that would reduce the power of surrounding monsters every time I claimed a reward.

The build options are not endless, but there's enough to work with to enable you to influence probabilities according to your strategy.

A Persistent Risk

Unsurprisingly, it remains a game of chance. There's always the possibility that you have a high probability to land on the square you want but ultimately choose a monster that would deplete your remaining life. Every move is a gamble, so there's a constant tension as you clear a floor out and decide when to press onward or to proceed to the subsequent stage as opposed to risking it all.

Tools such as enemy-killing bombs help cut down the chance, as do some character abilities. One hero's unique ability, powered up by selecting four tiles, enables you to select a vertical line rather than a horizontal line for that move. If you play this strategically, you can save that move for the right moment to circumvent a perilous selection. You'll find an astonishing degree of depth in the simple act of clicking.

Future Development

Sol Cesto is still in its preview phase, and it has a final update planned until the complete edition is unleashed. A new character and a fresh guardian are expected to drop sometime in January. The official version may not 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. For the past week, I've been completely engrossed with it, finding all of little secrets and banking my earned gold every session to reveal a continuous trickle of persistent upgrades, featuring fresh adventurers and items available for acquisition mid-attempt. I still haven't reached the bottom, and I get the feeling I'll still be working on that task when the full version launches. Sign me up for the entire experience.