Off the AppStore: Salamancer challenges you to defend your master from an army of frogs

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.

Videogames have brought us many an unexpected animal-kingdom rivalry over the years, although perhaps none as standout as Angry Birds' birds vs pigs. It turns out, though, that Salamanders have a bit of a fued going on with frogs - at least, one salamancer does.

In Salamancer you're a protective fireball summoned by the titular salamancer. They've clearly perturbed the local frog populace and as a result they're out for blood. You bounce around a chamber defeating waves of enemies; First marching, then jumping and flying.

Its a simple, free game, but I quite like the pace that it ramps up, and the endless mode is incredibly tricky to get more than a few minutes into. You'll have to master the forced bouncing and dash-attacks, not least to simply deal enough damage to stop the larger enemies before they hit your master, but also to be able to dodge the bullets being fired by (presumably frog-piloted) strafing aircrafts.

As with most of the games we highlight in this series, its a Pico8 engine game. This means you'll want to put it into full screen mode if you're playing in browser, however it also means that the handy Gameboy-esque digital controller will be there from the moment you hit go.

You can play Salamancer for free on its itch.io page.