I'm Convinced I Already Have Top Pick of 2026.
After playing more than 200 fresh titles this year, I am officially closing the book on 2025. My year-end list is out in the world, and I am at peace with the final results, despite being aware numerous fantastic releases likely fell under the radar. At this point, it's job is to except relax, take a short break, and maybe enjoy a nice walk in the— oh no, found another brilliant title. So much for my intentions!
An Early Favorite Surfaces
In my more casual gaming time, usually reserved for a few oddball curiosities, I've encountered what could be my first favorite game of 2026. Sol Cesto is an unusual procedural dungeon crawler for Windows PC that reimagines a conventional labyrinth explorer into a chance-driven game of major consequence danger and payoff. Take this as a preview for the in-the-know: If you relish being aware of a game before it's popular, sample Sol Cesto so you can punch a hole in your gaming budget.
A Strategic Roguelike Twist
Sol Cesto is a tactical roguelike that's a departure from all I've previously experienced. The concept is that you must venture into a dungeon, descending floor after floor on a quest for the sun, which has gone missing from this mythical realm. In practice, this creates some standard crawl progression. Choose an adventurer who has attributes and skills, clear floor after floor of enemies, acquire some permanent upgrades (in the form of teeth), and defeat a few biome bosses. Straightforward, right!
The Distinctive Central System
The way you actually clear a area, however. Every time you start another stage, the game presents a 4x4 grid of boxes. Each square either contains a monster, a reward cache, a trap, or a health-restoring fruit. To make a move, you choose on one of the four rows, but the specific tile you land in is a matter of probability.
You may face a row with multiple foes, a strawberry, and a treasure chest in it. You initially will have a one-in-four probability of landing on a specific tile 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 try to make less risky choices early? Herein lies the tension between chance and safety at play in Sol Cesto, and it's engrossing once you get its rhythm.
Influencing Chance
The meta-layer is that your percentages can be shaped during an attempt by gathering teeth that alter which objects you're more likely to land on. For example, you might get a perk that will lower your chances of hitting a trap, but will also decrease the odds of getting a treasure chest too.
- Developing a strategy is about tweaking the numbers optimally to have a improved likelihood at getting your desired outcome.
- In one run, I put all my power boosts toward melee prowess and selected all the teeth possible that would improve my probability of being drawn to monsters with that damage type.
- On a different attempt, I developed my adventurer around reward boxes and coupled it with a perk that would weaken adjacent enemies each time I secured loot.
The build options are limited, but they are sufficient to work with to let you manipulate numbers the way you want.
A Persistent Gamble
Unsurprisingly, it remains a game of chance. You constantly face the chance that you have a high probability to select the square you want but wind up hitting on an enemy that would take out your last bit of health. Each click is a gamble, so there's a constant tension as you navigate a level and decide when to press onward or when to move on to the subsequent stage rather than pushing your luck.
Consumables including destructive ordnance help cut down the chance, as do some special skills. One hero's unique ability, activated once making four moves, lets gamers to select a column instead of a horizontal row on a turn. If you play this strategically, you can save that move for the right moment to circumvent a perilous selection. It's a surprising level of strategy in the seemingly straightforward task of clicking.
Looking Ahead
Sol Cesto is currently in early access, and it has a final update planned until the final game is released. An additional hero and a fresh guardian are expected to drop by the end of January. The official version may not be much later, but the studio haven't set a concrete launch day yet.
A Concluding Recommendation
No matter when its 1.0 launch occurs, you might want to put Sol Cesto on your wishlist. For the past week, I've been thoroughly captivated with it, discovering its little secrets and banking my earned gold every session to unlock a steady stream of persistent upgrades, featuring additional heroes and items purchasable mid-attempt. As of now, I am yet to found the deepest level, and I suspect I'll continue pursuing that objective when the full version launches. Count me in for the entire experience.
