Off the AppStore: Back and forth tower tactics in Feudal Foes!

• Pixel tower defense, where you defend and attack
• Different regions mean different rules, so adapt your forces
• Real-time tower-defense strategy battles against opponents

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.

We'll always come back to the stable doorstep of the tower defence because we know what we're getting. Even though the definitions of tower and defence have gone on to include all manner of themes and genres, it's still about protecting your stuff from jerks who want to take it or break it. With Linzo adding to the genre's library, we now have a new offering, Feudal Foes. You can probably guess which era we'll be visiting for this adventure, but know that it won't be an easy trip and that your tower will rely on you and your deployment.

Feudal Foes takes you back to the feudal age as seen through the kaleidoscope of pixel art, where all races seem happy being bouncy squares and rectangles. You'd expect to protect your tower from the foes emerging from the wilderness or other far-off locations, but not this time. Your kingdom and all the others follow the Wild West credo of said town not being big enough for the two of them. Each region will have your kingdom's tower and another in the same plot of land. Rather than resolve things peacefully, war is the only thing on the table, and your soldiers are raring to go.

When the battle begins, your soldiers will start emerging from the castle and travelling along the neatly laid dirt path to ransack the enemy tower. However, the enemy towers have the same idea, and so defence must be arranged. Not every soldier is made for marching, and those who aren't must be set up along the enemy's route to stop them from getting too close. As expected, each defender has its own speed, damage, range, and effects based on whether they use weapons or magic. As they slay your foes, you can collect their pocket gold, which can be spent on upgrades for your defences.

If you're feeling generous, you can throw some gold at your marching soldiers to give them better equipment or hire different folks to march for you. They'll also have differing stats in terms of speed and health, in the end coming down to diversity. Of course, Feudal Foes will require you to mix up your armies to overwhelm and weave through the defences the enemy towers have arranged. What's more exciting is that the One Player option implies that there will be a multiplayer option in the future where you and a friend (or not) can tackle towers to see who truly owns this town.

Feudal Foes can be played on its itch.io page!