The Video Games And More You Should Play This Weekend – July 31, 2026

If you are even casually familiar with anime broadly, then you know about isekai, which is a genre where a typically contemporary person gets transported to an alternate, typically magical world. The actual getting transported part doesn’t matter as the bulk of the story is about coming to terms with being in a fantasy setting and all that entails technically and emotionally. The recurring, noncommittal hand-wave explanation for why a person ends up in a new world, for some inexplicable reason, is usually related to getting hit by a delivery truck. There are probably research papers about why this is a recurring story trope that can explain the exact moment its repetition became a parody, but I am not familiar with why, and similar to the plot reason for why someone gets isekai-ed (to use it as a verb), it really doesn’t matter.

What does matter is the well-titled video game, Truck-kun is Supporting me From Another World?!, is out this week, and in it you play as the rarely, if ever, characterized truck driver who isekais a young woman into another world right before she is set to get a big raise. She can still communicate with you, though (and is mad) and tasks you with isekai-ing as many people as possible with your truck to help her in the alternate world and eventually get her home.

It’s a great premise ripe for jokes, and the gameplay’s closest comparison is Crazy Taxi. You have a short period of time to drive around a small city, deliver packages, and hit as many people with your truck as possible. It’s arcade-y, bombastic, and funny. I wish it ran a little better (I am playing it on Steam Machine, so maybe it just needs a few performance updates to sync with Valve’s new platform), but I am finding the whole experience pretty dang charming.

The game is also available on Xbox.

This surprising adventure game caught my eye for the same reason it likely will yours: its embroidered art direction. As in, each frame of the game’s characters was literally stitched into fabric and animated, lending Scarlet Deer Inn a unique (and painstakingly created) aesthetic. As Elise, you’re the widowed owner of a medieval village inn, but your two young children go missing. Her search uncovers a shocking secret I won’t spoil, but it tips the game’s surprisingly dark hand. While exploring the town can be confusing and tedious, and the platforming and combat are simple at best, getting to the bottom of what terror befell Elise’s children has me hooked. Here’s hoping the story can stick – or, better yet, stitch – the landing.

I’m sad to say I missed out on the 1.0 launch of Town to City a few weeks back, but it’s an easy recommendation for anyone looking for a cozy town-development simulation. Players take on the role of the mayor of a small burgeoning town in the countryside, helping to gradually build it from hamlet to teeming (but still beautiful) metropolis. More than many simulation games within the genre, Town to City focuses on crafting beautiful spaces filled with flowers and trees, keeping your citizens happy by responding to their requests, and more broadly, a low-stress experience of gradual and satisfying growth. The game features a particularly attractive voxel art style, and a winsome, welcoming original game soundtrack that feels like it might be at home in a gentle romantic comedy set in the French countryside. It’s a lovely, relaxing gaming experience that you can take at your own pace – the perfect panacea if you’re coming off some frantic or tense action or shooter game.

This revision and update of one of my favorite dexterity games is a wonderful way to bring the family together, with simple rules but tons of replayability. Junk Art Revolution challenges players to stack and arrange wooden pieces that come in a variety of unusual shapes, creating artistic displays that target specific objectives for that session.

You might build for height, or in a different game mode, work on a shared sculpture with the other players. The variety of play and the tactile nature of the colorful pieces is the winning element here – not some incredible strategic depth (of which there is little). Junk Art Revolution is a triumph of delivering tabletop fun to virtually any player who sits down to give it a try, and it’s always nice to have a few titles like that in your board game collection.