🔗 Share this article

Following my time with in excess of 200 recent games this year, I'm formally turning the page on 2025. My year-end list is live, and I feel content with the final results, even knowing numerous fantastic releases may have dropped under the radar. At this point, it's job is to but sit back, disconnect briefly, and perhaps take a nice walk in the— oh no, discovered one more amazing experience. And just like that, goodbye to my peaceful respite!

A Premature Front-Runner Appears

In my more laid-back sessions, typically earmarked for a selection of unusual games, I've encountered what might become my first favorite game of 2026. Sol Cesto is an unusual procedural dungeon crawler for Windows PC that deconstructs a traditional dungeon crawler into a probability-fueled game of major consequence peril and prize. Take this as an early adopter's heads-up: If you relish in knowing about a game before it's popular, give Sol Cesto a try so you can make a dent in your gaming budget.

A Calculated Dungeon-Crawling Innovation

Sol Cesto is a thought-provoking procedural game that's a departure from all I've previously experienced. The concept is that you need to explore a dungeon, descending floor after floor in search of the sun, which has gone missing from the fantasy world. When you play, this results in some standard crawl progression. Choose an adventurer who has stats and abilities, defeat enemies on every stage of enemies, acquire some stat improvements (represented as teeth), and overcome a few area guardians. Simple enough!

The Unique Central System

The method by which you actually clear a chamber, though. Each instance you start another stage, you're shown a 4x4 grid of boxes. All spaces features a monster, a reward cache, a trap, or a healing strawberry. To make a move, you just select on one of the four rows, but the specific tile you end up on is determined by luck.

You could encounter a row with two monsters, a strawberry, and a treasure chest in it. You initially will have a quarter likelihood of landing on a particular space in a row.

After that, the odds shift. So do you go for it, or do you choose on a safer line first and try to make safer moves early? That's the risk-reward dynamic at play in Sol Cesto, and it's captivating when you acquire its rhythm.

Manipulating Probability

The procedural hook is that your percentages can be shaped over the course of a session by gathering teeth that modify the types of squares you're more attracted to. As an instance, you may obtain a perk that will decrease your odds of hitting a trap, but will concurrently lower the odds of finding a treasure chest too.

• Developing a strategy is about manipulating math as best you can to have a higher chance at landing where you want.
• During one attempt, I invested my power boosts toward melee prowess and chose every teeth possible that would increase my odds of being drawn to monsters aligned with that strength.
• On a different attempt, I developed my adventurer around loot caches and combined that with a perk that would weaken adjacent enemies each time I opened a chest.

The customization choices are limited, but it provides ample to engage with to let you manipulate the odds the way you want.

An Ever-Present Gamble

Naturally, it remains a game of chance. There's always the risk that you have a high probability to hit the square you want but end up landing on an enemy that would take out your remaining life. All selections is a gamble, so there's a constant tension as you work through a stage and decide when to continue selecting or when to move on to the following level instead of testing fate.

Consumables including enemy-killing bombs help cut down the chance, as do some special skills. A particular character's signature move, powered up by clearing four squares, enables you to click on a column rather than a row on a turn. If you play this strategically, you can reserve that option for the right moment to sidestep a dangerous choice. There's a shocking degree of depth in the simple act of clicking.

Looking Ahead

Sol Cesto is remaining in early access, and it has another update scheduled before the full version is unleashed. A new character and a additional end-level foe are expected to drop by the end of January. The full launch may not be much later, but the game's developers haven't set a specific release window yet.

A Parting Endorsement

No matter when the complete game arrives, you might want to put Sol Cesto in your sights. I have been thoroughly captivated with it, finding all of hidden nuances and storing my run rewards per attempt to access a constant flow of permanent unlocks, such as new characters and items purchasable mid-attempt. I still haven't completed the dungeon, and I suspect I'll still be pursuing that objective when 1.0 finally hits. I'm committed for the complete journey.