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After playing well over 200 new releases this year, I am officially turning the page on 2025. My best-of compilation is out in the world, and I feel content with the ultimate rankings, even knowing a host of fantastic releases likely fell through the cracks. At this point, it's nothing for me to do but sit back, disconnect briefly, and perhaps take a pleasant stroll in the— oh no, stumbled upon a great game. And just like that, goodbye to my peaceful respite!

A Surprising Contender Emerges

In my more casual gaming time, typically earmarked for a few oddball curiosities, I've come across potentially my earliest beloved game of 2026. Sol Cesto is an unusual procedural dungeon crawler for Windows PC that breaks down a classic dungeon crawler into a probability-fueled game of significant risk peril and prize. Take this as an early adopter's heads-up: If you relish being aware of a game before it hits the mainstream, sample Sol Cesto so you can make a dent in your wallet for unique titles.

A Tactical Genre Subversion

Sol Cesto is a thought-provoking procedural game that's unlike anything I've ever played. The setup is that you must venture into a dungeon, progressing deeper and deeper in search of the sun, which has vanished from this mythical realm. When you play, that makes for some recognizable genre framework. Select a character with their own parameters and powers, defeat enemies on every stage of enemies, collect some passive buffs (represented as teeth), and vanquish a few area guardians. Easy to grasp!

The Unique Gameplay Loop

How you effectively complete a area, though. Every time you begin a fresh level, you're shown a sixteen-square board of boxes. Every tile features a monster, a treasure chest, a trap, or a health-restoring fruit. To make a move, you simply click on one of the horizontal lines, but the exact space you end up on is up to chance.

You might see a row with a pair of enemies, a strawberry, and a treasure chest in it. You start with a one-in-four probability of selecting a specific tile in a row.

After that, the chances are recalculated. So do you take the risk, or do you choose on a different row first and attempt some safer moves early? That's the tension between chance and safety at play in Sol Cesto, and it's captivating once you get a feel for it.

Shaping the Odds

The procedural hook is that your percentages can be shaped during an attempt by collecting teeth that alter which objects you're more likely to land on. To illustrate, you may obtain a perk that will decrease your odds of hitting a trap, but will also decrease the odds of landing on a reward too.

• Developing a strategy is about manipulating math as best you can to have a improved likelihood at getting your desired outcome.
• During one attempt, I invested my attribute improvements toward brute force and chose every teeth I could that would increase my odds of attracting me toward monsters with that damage type.
• On a different attempt, I built my character around treasure chests and paired that with a perk that would weaken adjacent enemies whenever I secured loot.

The strategic possibilities are somewhat constrained, but it provides ample to experiment with to let you manipulate the odds the way you want.

A Constant Tension

Of course, it remains a game of chance. There remains the possibility that you have an 80% chance to select the desired tile but ultimately choose on an enemy that would deplete your remaining life. All selections is a gamble, so there's a constant tension as you navigate a level and determine if to keep clicking or to proceed to the following level instead of testing fate.

Consumables including explosive devices aid in reducing the chance, just like some special skills. One hero's signature move, activated once selecting four tiles, allows players to click on a vertical column instead of a horizontal row on a turn. If you play this move wisely, you can reserve that option for a crucial point to circumvent a perilous selection. You'll find an astonishing amount of nuance in the seemingly straightforward task of clicking.

The Road to 1.0

Sol Cesto is currently in early access, and it has another update planned before the final game is launched. An additional hero and a additional end-level foe are planned for release by the end of January. The 1.0 release likely won't be far behind, but the studio haven't set a specific release window yet.

A Parting Endorsement

Regardless of when the complete game arrives, you should consider put Sol Cesto on your wishlist. I've been completely engrossed with it, discovering its hidden nuances and storing my run rewards per attempt to unlock a steady stream of meta progression rewards, such as new characters and items purchasable during a run. I still haven't completed the dungeon, and I have a sense I'll continue pursuing that objective when 1.0 finally hits. I'm committed for the complete journey.