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Having experienced more than 200 new releases this year, It's time to wrapping things up on 2025. My best-of compilation is live, and I feel content with the final results, accepting that plenty of stellar titles likely fell through the cracks. At this point, it's job is to but sit back, take a short break, and perhaps take a nice walk in the— well, shoot, found another great game. So much for my peaceful respite!

A Surprising Favorite Surfaces

In my more off-hours play, often set aside for a handful of quirky titles, I've discovered what could be my initial top game of 2026. Sol Cesto is a distinctive roguelike for Windows PC that deconstructs a conventional labyrinth explorer into a probability-fueled game of major consequence danger and payoff. Take this as a hipster's insider tip: If you enjoy in knowing about a game before it hits the mainstream, give Sol Cesto a try so you can make a dent in your wallet for unique titles.

A Calculated Roguelike Twist

Sol Cesto is a tactical roguelike that's different from everything I'm familiar with. The concept is that you need to explore a dungeon, descending floor after floor on a quest for the sun, which has disappeared from this mythical realm. In practice, that makes for some familiar roguelike structure. Pick a hero who has stats and abilities, clear floor after floor of monsters, pick up some stat improvements (which are teeth), and overcome a few stage-ending champions. Simple enough!

The Unique Gameplay Loop

The way you truly navigate a area, though. Every time you begin a fresh level, you're shown a four-by-four matrix of boxes. All spaces either contains a monster, a loot box, a trap, or a life-giving berry. To make a move, you choose on one of the four rows, but which square you end up on is up to chance.

You may face a row with a pair of enemies, a strawberry, and a reward box in it. You start with a 25% chance of hitting a particular space in a row.

Then, you'll chances are recalculated. The question becomes: Do you take the risk, or do you click on a alternative option first and aim for less risky choices early? This is the risk-reward dynamic in action in Sol Cesto, and it's captivating when you acquire an understanding of it.

Influencing Chance

The roguelike twist is that your percentages can be shaped through a run by picking up teeth that alter which objects you're drawn toward. As an instance, you might get a perk that will reduce the probability of encountering a trap, but will concurrently lower the odds of finding a reward too.

• Creating a build is about manipulating math to the utmost to have a better shot at landing where you want.
• During one attempt, I invested my stat upgrades toward melee prowess and chose every teeth I could that would increase my odds of being drawn to monsters with that damage type.
• In another run, I constructed my hero around reward boxes and coupled it with a perk that would reduce the power of surrounding monsters every time I claimed a reward.

The customization choices are limited, but it provides ample to work with to enable you to influence numbers to your preference.

A Constant Gamble

Of course, it remains a game of chance. You constantly face the risk that you have a high probability to select the desired tile but wind up hitting a monster that would deplete your final hit point. Each click is a gamble, so you feel ongoing pressure as you work through a stage and decide when to keep clicking or to proceed to the subsequent stage rather than pushing your luck.

Tools such as enemy-killing bombs help cut down the chance, as do some special skills. A particular character's special power, charged after clearing four squares, allows players to choose a vertical line rather than a horizontal line during that action. Should you use this strategically, you can reserve that option for a crucial point to avoid a risky decision. There's a shocking level of strategy in the simple act of clicking.

Looking Ahead

Sol Cesto is remaining in development, and it has a final update to go before the full version is released. An additional hero and a fresh guardian are expected to drop by the end of January. The full launch probably isn't long after, but the creators haven't committed to a specific release window yet.

A Parting Thought

No matter when it's fully released, you ought to put Sol Cesto in your sights. For the past week, I've been completely engrossed with it, discovering its little secrets and storing my run rewards in each run to unlock a steady stream of permanent unlocks, including new characters and items I can buy mid-attempt. I still haven't reached the bottom, and I get the feeling I'll still be pursuing that objective when the official release drops. I'm committed for the long haul.