Sol Cesto is a ravishing roguelite of risk, reward and really weird art

David Staffell, 21 April 2026

I’m ashamed to say I didn’t catch all of the 3rd Annual Thinky Awards earlier this year, so I only recently discovered that Sol Cesto had won the award for Best Art Direction. I had heard about the game from my roguelite-pilled friend a while back, but the extent of my looking into it at the time involved seeing some cover art, thinking it was a game about a bizarro grown-up Astro Boy, and then promptly forgetting about it.

Fast forward a few months and, as I descended into the depths for the first time, all I could think was, “The blue meanies are coming, the blue meanies are coming!” If you’re lucky enough to get that reference, you’ll understand me when I say this game is reminiscent of a time when drugs were as widely taken as the animation on TV was immaculately hand-crafted. (If you haven’t seen The Beatles’ infinitely weird masterpiece Yellow Submarine, you really need to rectify that). Mix in a bit of Monty Python, some early Disney, and a dash of Aztec, and it goes some way towards describing the art of this game; it just oozes style.

I’m getting ahead of myself though! Firing up the game for the first time, you’re faced with the following scene: a selection of six characters, all silhouetted bar one, standing outside a cave entrance beneath a mysterious starry sky full of question marks and numbers. One character is The Peasant: a sorry-looking individual who is very clearly supposed to make you think he is utterly useless until later, when he actually turns out to have the most OP special ability in the game. At the time of writing, I have unlocked two others, the Warrior and the Wizard, each with their own unique special ability. I would hazard a guess that the remaining characters follow standard fantasy tropes. Well, except for that bipedal-looking beast nesting in the tree. I have no idea what that might be…

The core game loop of Sol Cesto is deviously simple: The bulk of the gameplay consists of conquering what I shall henceforth refer to as The Grid: a 4x4 grid of spaces, each one containing one of four possible encounters: a chest, a strawberry, a trap, or an enemy. Of the encounters you actually want, chests give you coins, and strawberries heal you by one point. The less desirable ones involve traps to hurt you and enemies.

Enemies appear with one of two possible attacks, magical or physical, with a damage rating that you must at least match, or surpass, if you want to remain unhurt. You can always kill an enemy, but whether or not you take damage in return is dictated by your own damage rating. 

When you hover over The Grid, each of the four spaces in that line flashes up a percentage chance of “visiting” that space. Clicking on that row sends your character on their merry little way, either to reap the rewards or to discover a world of pain, depending on the roll of the proverbial dice. (Note: the tutorial says clicking will make your character “fall” on a space, but I’m wondering if that’s a weird translation thing, because no falling ever occurred.)

A successful visit rewards you with one point towards your goal of unlocking the next level. Gain enough points, and a door opens, allowing you to progress. The base requirement is five, but that number can be manipulated depending on the various items and events you encounter throughout your journey.

At the beginning of the game, you have a 25% chance of visiting each of the sixteen spaces on The Grid, but this percentage can change depending on which teeth you have collected. Yes, teeth. How do you collect these teeth, you ask? By pulling them from the various statues you encounter on your travels, of course. Indeed, while the majority of rooms will have you facing The Grid, you will periodically come across statues adorned with a selection of teeth to choose from, which, when forcibly extracted, become part of your own collection, incrementally manipulating the odds in your favour. Believe me when I say my childhood teeth-themed nightmares have never felt so real.

Statues are just one of the special rooms you’ll find that aid you on your quest. You’ll also come across shops where you can buy a wide variety of items, a pool to fish in for free items, and the most important one—the winchable bucket. You see, the bucket is the vehicle through which Sol Cesto gains its roguelite status: Deposit your hard-earned coins and winch them to the surface, ready to take advantage of the next time you die. Remember that starry sky I mentioned at the start? That’s where you spend your coins to permanently unlock new characters, abilities, and various upgrades connected to the special rooms you come across.

Donning my Thinky cap for a moment, I can’t say there’s a massive amount of deep strategy involved in the game. More often than not, I felt like I was a real slave to the RNG, just going through the motions until my inevitable demise rather than carefully planning my next move. Also, the core game loop also doesn’t offer a tonne of variety, and I would have liked to see some variation on the 4x4 grid layout. Some other QOL elements I would have loved to see: the ability to deposit all my coins in the bucket instantly rather than clicking and holding, as well as an automatic clear if my character were powerful enough to vanquish all the enemies upon arrival at The Grid.

All this being said, Sol Cesto is such a wonderfully charming game. The art style is completely my vibe, and it’s enough of a uniquely fresh take on the roguelite formula that, despite my criticisms, I still feel compelled to keep returning to it. If you’re looking for a stylish, push-your-luck, “just another run” kind of game full of whimsy and gorgeous art, you can’t go wrong with this one.

Oh, and I almost forgot the hidden secrets! Without giving anything away, Sol Cesto is absolutely chock full of them, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll have a blast hunting them down.

And one more thing: if you haven’t already, please make time to go watch Yellow Submarine, you’ll be glad you did.