Off the AppStore: Mind your step, young Dungeon Squire

• The dungeon awaits, young squire, will you delve?
• The light you have gives insight into the strength of monsters in the dark
• Slay weaker foes, grow your strength, and find your way to the boss

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.

Hey, what's this? A dungeon? Well, I'm a young hero full of enthusiasm and energy; it's time to make my mark and dive right into the dark unknown without any regard for my own personal safety.

Yep, this is the type of thinking that gaming bestows upon us, and we take it gladly because it lets us take all the risks we want in hopes of discovering something new and wonderful. But sometimes we discover impossibly strong monsters who live only to make us cry like babies when they eat our inexperienced adventure bodies.

Still, Mvolution believes in our ability to make wise choices (with the right info) as shown in Dungeon Squire.

You are a young squire who is setting off to make a name for yourself in the kingdom as a valiant hero brave enough to delve into any depths. Well, your adventure begins by dropping you off in a dungeon ruled by a fiendish warrior or devilish monster that poses a threat as long as it draws breath.

Thus, it is your responsibility to take it down by finding its lair somewhere within the dungeon. However, you're nowhere near strong enough to best it right now, so you've gotta spend some time exploring, slaying weaker foes, getting stronger, and finding some loot that will increase your odds.

Right from the start, you know that it's all about the odds, but you can work around them. Following Minesweeper rules, the various tiles of the dungeon will have numbers that indicate the total strength of nearby monsters.

As long as their strength is the same or lower than your current HP, you can slay them. You'll only die if your health drops into the negatives, but every monster slain drops XP equal to its level, allowing you to level up and get stronger the more you slay.

You can also use tools like the sledgehammer to break through walls, torches to light the way, and various weapons to slay monsters from afar. Chests and health potions will keep you alive long enough to reach the strength necessary to beat the dungeon boss.

Dungeon Squire is a 2D top-down puzzle-adventure combining traditional RPG dungeon-crawling mechanics with Minesweeper gameplay. You've got everything you need to make it through and survive, but the numbers can still only tell you so much. If you get too comfortable with the speed of your levelling and the presence of potions, then you'll likely run into a super-powered beast or a mimic that is much stronger than you realise.

Either way, as a dungeon squire, you aren't expected to be the best - just try to be better next time.

Dungeon Squire is available to download and play from its itch.io page!