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Having experienced more than 200 recent games this year, I'm formally wrapping things up on 2025. My annual roundup is live, and I'm satisfied with the concluding selections, despite being aware a host of fantastic releases may have dropped through the cracks. Now, there's nothing for me to do but sit back, disconnect briefly, and maybe enjoy a refreshing hike in the— oh no, discovered one more great game. And just like that, goodbye to my intentions!

A Premature Favorite Surfaces

During my laid-back sessions, usually reserved for a selection of unusual games, I've come across what might become my first favorite game of 2026. Sol Cesto is a distinctive procedural dungeon crawler for Windows PC that breaks down a conventional labyrinth explorer into a luck-based game of significant risk peril and prize. Consider this a preview for the in-the-know: If you enjoy in knowing about a game before it hits the mainstream, give Sol Cesto a try so you can burn a spot in your wallet for unique titles.

A Strategic Genre Subversion

Sol Cesto is a strategy-focused dungeon crawler that's unlike anything I'm familiar with. The premise is that you are tasked with descending into a dungeon, progressing deeper and deeper in search of the sun, which has gone missing from its world. When you play, that makes for some recognizable genre framework. Choose an adventurer possessing unique stats and abilities, fight through each level of monsters, collect some permanent upgrades (in the form of teeth), and overcome a few biome bosses. Simple enough!

The Novel Central System

The way you actually clear a chamber, though. Every time you begin a fresh level, you see a four-by-four matrix of boxes. Every tile holds a monster, a loot box, a trap, or a healing strawberry. To explore a room, you just select on one of the horizontal lines, but the exact space you select is up to chance.

You could encounter a row with a pair of enemies, a strawberry, and a treasure chest in it. You start with a one-in-four probability of hitting any given square in a row.

After that, the chances are recalculated. The question becomes: Do you take the risk, or do you click on a alternative option first and attempt some safer moves early? This is the tension between chance and safety in action in Sol Cesto, and it's engrossing after you develop a feel for it.

Influencing Chance

The meta-layer is that your percentages can be shaped through a run by collecting teeth that modify the types of squares you're more attracted to. For example, you might get a perk that will lower your chances of hitting a trap, but will also decrease the odds of landing on a reward too.

• Creating a build is about influencing the statistics as best you can to have a higher chance at getting your desired outcome.
• During one attempt, I put all my power boosts toward melee prowess and picked as many teeth I could that would boost my chances of being drawn to monsters of that variety.
• On a different attempt, I developed my adventurer around reward boxes and paired that with a perk that would weaken adjacent enemies each time I claimed a reward.

The build options are limited, but they are sufficient to work with to allow you to tweak probabilities the way you want.

An Ever-Present Tension

Of course, it remains a game of chance. You constantly face the chance that you have an 80% chance to hit the preferred space but wind up hitting a monster that would deplete your final hit point. Every move is a gamble, so a persistent nervousness exists as you navigate a level and determine if to continue selecting or to advance to the next floor instead of pushing your luck.

Tools such as enemy-killing bombs help cut down the chance, just like some hero powers. One hero's unique ability, activated once making four moves, lets gamers to click on a vertical line rather than a horizontal row during that action. If you play this strategically, you can reserve that option for the right moment to circumvent a perilous selection. There's a shocking degree of depth in the simple act of clicking.

Future Development

Sol Cesto is still in early access, and it has a final update planned before the full version is unleashed. An additional hero and a fresh guardian are scheduled to arrive sometime in January. The official version may not be much later, but the creators haven't set a concrete launch day yet.

A Parting Endorsement

Regardless of when the complete game arrives, you should consider put Sol Cesto on your wishlist. For the past week, I've been completely engrossed with it, uncovering each of little secrets and storing my run rewards every session to reveal a continuous trickle of persistent upgrades, such as additional heroes and items purchasable mid-attempt. As of now, I am yet to completed the dungeon, and I have a sense I will remain attempting that goal when the full version launches. I'm committed for the complete journey.