I Think I've Already Found Top Pick of 2026.
Having experienced in excess of 200 new releases this year, I'm formally closing the book on 2025. My year-end list is out in the world, and I am at peace with the ultimate rankings, despite being aware numerous excellent games probably slipped by the wayside. Now, there's job is to but sit back, take a short break, and maybe enjoy a nice walk in the— well, shoot, found another amazing experience. There go my intentions!
A Surprising Favorite Surfaces
With my off-hours play, typically earmarked for a few oddball curiosities, I've encountered what might become my first favorite game of 2026. Sol Cesto is an unusual roguelike for Windows PC that breaks down a conventional labyrinth explorer into a chance-driven game of high stakes danger and payoff. Consider this a hipster's insider tip: If you take pride being aware of a game before it's popular, sample Sol Cesto so you can burn a spot in your indie credit card.
A Tactical Dungeon-Crawling Innovation
Sol Cesto is a strategy-focused dungeon crawler that's different from everything I've ever played. The premise is that you are tasked with descending into a dungeon, descending floor after floor to find the sun, which has vanished from the fantasy world. When you play, this results in some familiar roguelike structure. Select a character possessing unique parameters and powers, fight through each level of monsters, pick up some passive buffs (which are teeth), and defeat a few stage-ending champions. Simple enough!
The Distinctive Central System
How you truly navigate a chamber, though. Every time you begin a fresh level, you see a sixteen-square board of boxes. All spaces holds a monster, a reward cache, a trap, or a health-restoring fruit. To explore a room, you just select on one of the horizontal lines, but which square you land in is a matter of probability.
You could encounter a row with a pair of enemies, a strawberry, and a reward box in it. You start with a 25% chance of selecting a particular space in a row.
After that, the chances are recalculated. The question becomes: Do you go for it, or do you click on a alternative option first and aim for more cautious selections early? That's the risk-reward dynamic in action in Sol Cesto, and it's captivating once you get a feel for it.
Influencing Chance
The roguelike twist is that your odds can be manipulated over the course of a session by collecting teeth that alter which objects you're drawn toward. For example, you might get a perk that will lower your chances of hitting a trap, but will similarly reduce the odds of getting a reward too.
- Developing a strategy is about tweaking the numbers as best you can to have a better shot at landing where you want.
- On a particular session, I focused my stat upgrades toward melee prowess and selected all the teeth I could that would improve my probability of landing on monsters aligned with that strength.
- During a separate session, I built my character around reward boxes and paired that with a perk that would weaken adjacent enemies every time I opened a chest.
The customization choices are somewhat constrained, but it provides ample to engage with to let you manipulate numbers the way you want.
An Ever-Present Tension
Unsurprisingly, at its heart, it's a game of chance. You constantly face the chance that you have an 80% chance to select the preferred space but wind up hitting a monster that would take out your final hit point. All selections is a gamble, so a persistent nervousness exists as you navigate a level and determine if to keep clicking or to proceed to the subsequent stage rather than pushing your luck.
Tools such as explosive devices aid in reducing the chance, as do some special skills. A particular character's signature move, powered up by clearing four squares, allows players to select a column instead of a row on a turn. Should you use this strategically, you can reserve that option for a crucial point to circumvent a perilous selection. You'll find an astonishing amount of nuance in the simple act of clicking.
The Road to 1.0
Sol Cesto is remaining in early access, and it has another update scheduled before the final game is released. Another playable adventurer and a fresh guardian are scheduled to arrive by the end of January. The 1.0 release likely won't be far behind, but the studio haven't committed to a concrete launch day yet.
A Concluding Thought
Whenever the complete game arrives, you ought to put Sol Cesto on your wishlist. I have been positively obsessed with it, discovering its little secrets and banking my earned gold every session to reveal a continuous trickle of meta progression rewards, featuring new characters and items I can buy during a run. To this day, I have not found the deepest level, and I get the feeling I'll continue working on that task when 1.0 finally hits. I'm committed for the long haul.
