History YMMV / CrueltySquad

* {{Anvilicious}}: This game's not particularly subtle about its critique of capitalism and gig economies, showing the world as a dark, depressing, and incredibly unconventional place where capitalism is woven into every facet of life, including biology itself. To drive the point home, as a GoldenEnding, [[spoiler:the main character is even implied to have destroyed the universe when you beat [[BrutalBonusLevel Trauma Loop]], and is implied to be what Life itself wanted. The final piece of text shown is a scientific quote about how clinging to excess resources goes against the very laws of the nature and the universe.]]

** While it visually is certainly creepy, [[spoiler: The seemingly physical manifestation of Life you encounter in Cruelty Squad HQ actually gives the player character some life advice and encourages them to not waste their life.)]]

* {{Anvilicious}}: This game's not particularly subtle about its critique of capitalism and gig economies, showing the world as a dark, depressing, and an incredibly unconventional place where capitalism is woven into every facet of life, including biology itself. To drive the point home, as a GoldenEnding, [[spoiler:the main character is even implied to have destroyed the universe when you beat [[BrutalBonusLevel Trauma Loop]], and is implied to be what Life itself wanted. The final piece of text shown is a scientific quote about how clinging to excess resources goes against the very laws of the nature and the universe.]]

* ObviousBeta: When the game first launched, none of the protective augments actually gave you any armor - and by extension, none of the agility augments took away armor. This wouldn't be patched until May 2023, over two years after launch.

* BileFascination: PlayedWith; the game reviews very positively, but the graphical presentation it has has notably drawn in a lot of people to play it out of curiosity along the lines of "it looks awful, so why are so many people genuinely recommending it?" This is the reaction that ''WebVideo/Civvie11'' and ''WebVideo/ZeroPunctuation'' had with the game.

* GoddamnedBats: Fleshrats. All of the hallmarks are present; tiny, hard to hit, and they come in groups. Worst of all, taking a hit from them gives you the [[UniversalPoison Toxic status effect]], and unless you have the hidden Hazmat suit upgrade or eat the right kind of Berries in Bog Business (and only in Bog Business), you'll take ''a lot'' of damage from it. Woe be to anyone who gets caught by a Fleshrat while low on health.

* ObviousBeta: When the game first launched, none of the protective augments actually gave you any armor. This wouldn't be patched until 2023.

* CreepyCute: The Grid Crabs are among the scariest enemies in the game, being [[GiantEnemyCrab giant crabs]] with large, seemingly bloodshot BlackEyesOfEvil that can't be killed, stunned or harmed in any way, meaning all you can do is '''run like hell''' while they hunt you down at a slow but unstopping pace, killing everything that happens to be in their path. It's therefore pretty strange that they off all characters have easily the most appealing design in the game: they are a vibrant orange, their model is pretty much made out of orbs and the aforementioned large, black, shiny eyes do look weirdly adorable. If they appeared in some kids game, they would probably come off as all creepy and no cute, but they look downright huggable compared to '''everything else''' in this game, looking more like an enemy in a ''VideoGame/Kirby'' bootleg and less like the scariest acid trip in a ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' fan's life.

** The Parasonic D3 Scrambler, a silenced pistol that instant kills every non-heavy enemy without giving your position away regardless of where you actually hit them, meaning it's great for stealth as long as you don't miss.

* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: One of the levels takes place in your house, because someone has hired the company you work for to hunt ''you'' down. After fighting your way out and to their headquarters, you finish the level. Do you take down the gig economy mercenary group and strike it out on your own? Nope. Your handler tells you there as a clerical error with social security numbers and it's back to the grind as normal.

** '''DIVINE LIGHT SEVERED - YOU ARE A FLESH AUTOMATON ANIMATED BY NEUROTRANSMITTERS'''[[labelnote:Explanation]]The oddly striking message you get when you die and enter Flesh Automaton mode, accompanied by a bizarre, startling abstract portrait of a screaming man. It quickly became a source of edits for suffering or visually-distorted characters and generally one of the game's more iconic/quotable moments..[[/labelnote]]
** CEO Mindset. [[labelnote:Explanation]]The second ending found in Cruelty Squad HQ has your character meet... something that looks like a face labeled "LIFE", who proceeds to give you advice ending with this phrase (The full quote being "SET GOALS. HAVE A TEN YEAR PLAN. INVEST. WAKE UP EARLY. CEO MINDSET."). The term "CEO Mindset" quickly caught on, both as a term of favor (such as good gameplay) and as a satirical joke.[[/labelnote]]

* MemeticMutation: '''DIVINE LIGHT SEVERED - YOU ARE A FLESH AUTOMATON ANIMATED BY NEUROTRANSMITTERS'''[[labelnote:Explanation]]The oddly striking message you get when you die and enter Flesh Automaton mode, accompanied by a bizarre, startling abstract portrait of a screaming man. It quickly became a source of edits for suffering or visually-distorted characters and generally one of the game's more iconic/quotable moments..[[/labelnote]]