YMMV / Devil Engine

• It's Hard, So It Sucks!: Those not put off by the controversy surrounding the rights to the game and its assets find that the game has a lot of cheap shots that mandate memorization, not helped by the game explicitly insulting the player for picking Easy difficulty.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: Starting in late 2019, Devil Engine became the center of a controversy with the publisher Dangen Entertainment, with allegations of abuse on the part of the CEO, Ben Judd and the lead programmer Sinoc being one of his victims. It seemed as if the smoke would clear out the following year with Protoculture finally and peacefully breaking ties with Dangen to self-publish the game, but immediately afterwards, a new scandal broke out revealing that Sinoc was allegedly withholding payment from the Bailey brothers, who had made the art and music assets for the game. Nowadays, Devil Engine is known less for being a love-letter to 90s console shmups and more for being the centerpiece of publisher-developer relations gone wrong and struggles within the development team, and many people who were previously sympathetic for the developers now refuse to buy it if they haven't done so already.
• Scrappy Mechanic: The stage select only lets you play up to the furthest stage you completed, and on your first credit, no less. If you reached the stage but didn't complete it, or you had to use a continue in it, it does not count.
• That One Attack: The Stage 4 boss's second attack, in which various blades open from portals and strike at your ship, likely getting you killed at least once due to the pseudo-random spawns of the portals. Even the world-record holder just spams bombs through the attack.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: Shortly after taking out the Stage 5 midbosses, the parallax scrolling shifts to give the impression of a camera panning effect. It's subtle, but a very breathtaking touch nonetheless.

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