Off the AppStore: The Legend that is Jacob is a classic adventure set between Tucson and Vegas

Welcome to Off The AppStore, a weekly feature with a twist. Namely, that while these - as with all the games we cover here - are games that you can play on your phone, they're ones that operate outside of the realms of the big two ways to play: The Google Play Store and the Apple AppStore.

That means that there might be a bit of work required in downloading alternative AppStores or APKs, or that the games can simply be played in your phone browser. We'll make sure to detail that for each game though. Anyway, read on to find a new game or experience to play Off The AppStore.

In The Legend that is Jacob you're mere meters away from Las Vegas when your desert bus is suddenly hit by a flying bug, worse yet, another swoops down and plucks one of your companions from the wreckage. You, as Jacob, have to set out in classic adventure style, dodging or fighting monsters and exploring the world (well, a twisted version of the world from Vegas to Tucson) to save your friend and help your companions.

It's running on Pico8, the ever-fantastic fantasy console, which happens to have full mobile support due to the in-built Gameboy-style overlay that pops into place when you play on a mobile resolution browser. 

As you might have gathered from the description above, The Legend that is Jacob is quick closely inspired by The Legend of Zelda, and most certainly the older one - and, although its quite a short game, it does manage to bottle up some of that classic 'adventure' genre magic.

There's some very clever stuff going on here, including a pathfinding puzzle (exit the screen in a certain pattern) and a puzzle in the single-room representation of Vegas. Ultimately though, the charming thing for me is that its in that kinda pseudo-real world setting - like Earth, but a bit weird - that kind of psuedo-America setting that enamoured people with games like Earthbound. 

Impressively, it was all made within six days as part of the fantastic Desert Bus for Hope 2024 Game Jam.

You can play The Legend that is Jacob for free on its Itch.oo page.