What to Play This Weekend, July 25–26: TOP 9 VGTimes Editors' Picks

This week, Steam is running its Train Fest 2026. A lot of games tied to railway management have gone on sale, including Train Simulator Classic, for instance. If you've been meaning to pick up something like this for a while, now's the time. And if you're after fresh releases instead, check out our roundup.

The new Splatoon isn’t an online shooter like the previous installments, but rather an action RPG with roguelike elements and a full-fledged story campaign. In Splatoon Raiders, players battle hordes of monsters, gather resources, and combine gadgets to create complex builds. A variety of missions encourage you to constantly change your gear and tactics, and you can complete the entire campaign either solo or in online co-op with up to four players.

The game takes place in the same universe as The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante. This time, you're deciding the fate of the crown prince of the Great Arknian Empire. You'll follow his journey from a carefully sheltered child to the ruler of a major state. The decisions you make will directly shape the country and its people. You'll need to balance the interests of the clergy, the aristocracy, and the commoners, keep an eye on the treasury, and choose who to bring closer to the throne and who to send into exile. The cost of a mistake is high — under certain circumstances, an uprising can break out and spiral into a full civil war. Gameplay-wise, this is once again an RPG with visual novel elements, styled to look like an illustrated book.

A horror game that supports co-op play. According to the story, you work night shifts at a gas station. First and foremost, you need to handle the day-to-day duties — keeping the place clean, monitoring inventory, and serving customers. But keep in mind that some of them are only pretending to be human. It's best to deal with these doppelgangers ahead of time, or they might attack you when you least expect it. To avoid mistakes, it's important to run checks — cross-reference data on the computer, ask questions, and watch how customers behave. It's hard not to draw comparisons to the buzzy No, I'm not a Human. You'll find more creepy games you can play with a friend in our list of best co-op horror games — the scariest titles to play with a friend.

Technically, Scarlet Deer Inn falls under the platformer genre, but in spirit it's closer to an adventure game. At the center of the story is a young mother who runs into the terrifying secrets of her home village and sets out to uncover the truth behind what's happening. Scarlet Deer Inn stands out for its look, styled after embroidery, along with its quality animation and pleasant music.

An action game set in the near future has entered early access. You take the controls of a futuristic aircraft loaded with various weapons and deal with the local criminal element using the most radical methods available. Besides the main story, the game offers plenty of other activities — bounty hunting, hunting for valuable artifacts, racing, and much more. Completing side quests earns you valuable resources needed to upgrade your combat vehicle. Available upgrades include AI-controlled drones, stealth modules, powerful missiles, and more. If you'd like, you can play through G-Rebels in a VR headset.

Fans of classic adventure games should check out the second Tormentum. It's a journey through a surreal world that looks like the set of a nightmarish horror film. The story follows a man who built a realistic simulation, only to end up trapped inside it himself, now searching for a way out of the virtual world. He visits places he already knows, as well as entirely new levels he has no connection to. If you're into adventure games, check out our list of 120 best adventure games on PC, PS5, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch.

A short but eventful survival horror game with a solid story. Think of it as a hybrid of the original Silent Hill and Twin Peaks, with thick atmosphere, mysterious murders, and unimaginable horror lurking in dark waters. Visually, Foghorns Drown is styled after games from the original PlayStation era. If you like genuinely scary horror games, this one's worth a shot.

An adventure game with quest elements done in an anime style. The protagonist, Verita, has to untangle secrets from the past, which means talking to people, studying documents, and gathering clues before drawing the right conclusions. Mistakes will steer the story in a different direction, but that's the only way to unlock an alternate ending. If you enjoy running investigations, check out our list of 19 best detective games on PC and consoles: murder mysteries, deduction puzzles & detective sims.

Worth recommending to anyone looking for something a bit different. It's a set of puzzles at varying difficulty levels, and solving them requires making smart use of the protagonist's abilities. Helix also comes with a few unique quirks of its own. For instance, the visuals aren't in color — they're black-and-white and high-contrast, like a 90s manga. Through its visuals, the game speaks to the player about heavy topics: human relationships, loneliness, and the role of the individual.

An intriguing hybrid of action and roguelike has entered early access. To clear the land of the enemy, you'll need to take part in massive battles against hordes of occupiers. Winning means finding valuable artifacts that grant your hero special powers, as well as building up your squad. Over time, your squad grows larger, and its fighters gain unique abilities. If you'd like, you can defend your home island in Tears of Metal together with friends. Fans of co-op playthroughs should check out our list of best co-op games 2026: 290+ picks for PC, PS5, Xbox & Switch.

DragonSword: Awakening is an anime-style action RPG that many compare to Genshin Impact. The game is paid, but it doesn’t feature gacha mechanics, so the main content is accessible without additional spending. A massive adventure through a fantasy world awaits you, accompanied by your companions. To defeat enemies, you’ll need to combine various skills and apply debuffs. If you wish, you can play through the game in co-op mode.

Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game is a fighting game made for fans of Avatar. In it, you can pit Korra, Azula, Katara, and other characters from the universe against each other. Fair warning, though: the game is fairly complex and takes some time to learn its basic mechanics.

Dinoblade is a soulslike set in a prehistoric world. You play as a spinosaurus, traveling across various biomes and fighting your own kind, including ferocious alpha predators, who stand in as this game's bosses. Your ultimate goal is to save your species from extinction. This might be a solid pick for anyone who loves dinosaurs and has run out of patience waiting for a Dino Crisis remake.

What are you playing this weekend? Let us know in the comments!