Without a doubt the hardest "indie" shmup ever made. Devil Engine will absolutely destroy you and doesn't even pretend to be fair for a single second. Things get more manageable once you learn how the bullet-cancelling burst mechanic works but there's a limit to how much that will help with the onslaughts of instant-screen flooding enemies and imperceptably fast untelegraphed lasers that you'll be up against.

I've only ever 1cc'd the game on easy mode. On very hard (the game's equivalent of a "normal" difficulty) I routed the game up to the last boss before things got too much to handle for me. It's a good thing that the game lives up to the Thunder Force games that clearly inspired it, and has engaging levels and setpieces throughout. The soundtrack also slaps.