Devil Engine Progress Thread

[PunisherXD]

Since I want to give updates on my progress with this game as I continue playing it for fun, alongside insight on how I got said progress, I figured I might as well make a progress thread for this game. This way maybe others will pick up this gem too, which I recommend doing so if you're looking for a shmup to play, this game is amazing.

 

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 I'm only missing Boudicca's Extra Stage 1CC and then I'm fully done with Extra Stage but it's really hard 🤣. Scathach's 1CC was probably a 7-8/10 for me despite it only being 3 minutes. I saved my run on YouTube if people need referencing for it, although it's going to come down to formulating your own route. https://youtu.be/G4Dlo_qQKQs

🙃

This was the last update I gave a day ago, which was to do with my Extra Stage 1CCs. As I'm typing this, I'm uploading my video for the "What's next?" trophy, which is for clearing all the challenges. You unlock these through the lifetime score unlocks, and I managed to clear them all, with most of the hard ones being done today. There was only one video to go off of on YouTube but luckily it gave me an idea of a route for most of them. there were a couple where I formulated my own strategies (2nd-4th, 6th and 7th).

Video link here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVj63khEMEw

 

 

 

Next up for me is most likely the "Perfect System" trophy, for doing a Very Hard 1CC with Andraste (red ship). I managed to do a 1CC up until Stage 4 so I already have some solid progress but the overall run seems really brutal. Soooo much memorisation and routing involved, I'm estimating an 8-9/10 difficulty but can't confirm anything yet haha.

 

But as I said, hopefully this thread can encourage a few people to pick up the game and share their own progress, maybe share strategies and routes with each other etc. as whoever is going to aim for the plat on this will need some resources to go off of.  

Edited December 18, 2023 by PunisherXD2006

[Thedah]

This sounds like a crazy game. If a Very Hard 1CC run is a 8-9/10 then 3 Expert 1CCs in a row sounds like a 15/10 lol. Looking forward to reading about your progress. Harder than Crypt?

[PunisherXD]

1 minute ago, Thedah said:

This sounds like a crazy game. If a Very Hard 1CC run is a 8-9/10 then 3 Expert 1CCs in a row sounds like a 15/10 lol. Looking forward to reading about your progress. Harder than Crypt?

Yeah this game is ridiculous in terms of the difficulty it hits. I'm not in the right to compare Crypt and this as I don't have significant progress in either, but I want to think that if pause-exploiting the game doesn't work well then it'll definitely be up there haha.

I'm not sure how much of this I'll be playing or how far I'll get, there's 2 trophies I can still get relatively easily, but outside of that there's one grind (absorb 100,000 bullets) and the rest is all really difficult stuff. 😅

[PunisherXD]

I got another trophy! I picked the game back up a few days ago, figured I'll play it on the side whilst trying to power through the misery that Spelunky is putting me through 😆

 

Boudicca is a weird ship to play as, as it's much more complex than the other two, and so anything with this ship is just naturally harder. The Extra Stage 1CC wasn't too bad, I'd put it on the same level as Scathach's 1CC. Now that I got that done, I have no more easy trophies left. There's 2 glitched ones, a grindy one that I'll get naturally, and all the hard ones left 🫠

 

If anyone needs referencing for the Boudicca Extra Stage 1CC here's my video, I'm fairly sure it's the only footage of this run on Youtube lmao.

 

Next step should be the Very Hard 1CC runs, which as I mentioned in my last update I'm estimating to be an 8-9/10 difficulty, and the run is 25 minutes long rather than 5, so it'll take much more learning/practice to pull it off with any ship.

[CelestialRequiem]

This is your Sol Cresta.

[HamSandwichOnRye]

Has there been any confirmation through developer dialogue whether or not they will patch the glitched trophies? I would love to play this but do not want to risk unobtainable trophies. 

[PunisherXD]

On 3/8/2024 at 10:18 PM, HamSandwichOnRye said:

Has there been any confirmation through developer dialogue whether or not they will patch the glitched trophies? I would love to play this but do not want to risk unobtainable trophies. 

I haven't seen any news of a patch coming sadly. Gotta wait and see I guess, I have a bad feeling it'll be a while before a patch drops though, if at all. It's a shame, the game is great. 😅

[ruexnimbus]

I've been dying to try this game out for a few months and finally was able to get started this week. It's certainly a very difficult game; very unfriendly, perhaps even a little sadistic to newcomers. It's very tough but fair.

I agree the best route to start with is to first finish the game with the 3 ships using continues. This will give a good introduction on what you're in for. After those 3 bronzes, there's a good chance all the challenges and the extra stage will be unlocked. The challenges are an excellent place to pick up and practice the skills necessary to survive difficult situations. There's a lot of experience to gain here. After the challenge gold I would recommend testing out those challenge skills on some live missions for the 3 extra stage 1cc trophies.

Next up is 1cc Andraste VH, but I haven't been able to get past stage 2 yet so I've got a ways to go.

Some things about the extra stage:

• Scoring is very important to getting an extend at 50,000 points with each ship. You should aim to finish the stage with at least 1 extend.
• Scathach and Boudicca: There is a big safe zone above the boss, behind its shell in the first phase. I think there's only 2 or 3 patterns during this phase which can strike you while in this safe space and it's relatively easy to get out and back in to dodge those patterns. Phases 2 and 3 you must face the boss head-on.
• The boss fight has a time limit. On my Boudicca run my damage output was very bad while using the safe space exploit mentioned above. I wasn't able to get the boss to exit phase 1 but after maybe a couple minutes of dodging patterns the boss just exploded and I won.

A couple things about the challenges:

• The pacifism defect challenge where you can't kill anything still requires you to build score using the bursts to absorb bullets. If you pass the challenge with a poor score, you'll rank E and it won't count.
• The devil's incantation challenge where you need to survive for 90 seconds has a major weakness in all the small bullets weaving around like threads. If you can scoop up a bunch of those small bullets you'll gain a lot of combo for big bursts. There is only 1 attack aimed at you during this challenge which will come at increasing frequency. The trick is to time your bursts with the frequency of this 1 attack to absorb all the bullets around you. If you can stay close enough to scoop up those little bullets each time you'll have a big advantage.

[PunisherXD]

4 hours ago, ruexnimbus said:

I've been dying to try this game out for a few months and finally was able to get started this week. It's certainly a very difficult game; very unfriendly, perhaps even a little sadistic to newcomers. It's very tough but fair.

Next up is 1cc Andraste VH, but I haven't been able to get past stage 2 yet so I've got a ways to go.

Hey, I'm really happy to see someone else playing this game, hopefully you're enjoying it as much as I am!  

Looks like we're at the same stage, congrats on doing it so quickly haha. Although, I've put the game on hold, there's just so many other games I want to play so I personally feel satisfied with waiting to get back onto it and see if they ever patch the two glitched trophies I have mentioned somewhere in the game forums here.

 The information you mentioned about the challenges and the extra stage 1CCs is accurate and I agree with all of it. In fact, I didn't even know the extra stage boss has a timer, that's really interesting. Makes me wonder if the main bosses have a timer tied to them as well 🤔

The Very Hard 1CCs are definitely a step up in terms of difficulty compared to everything before it, I agree. Max I ever got to myself with Andraste on a 1CC was Stage 4, but not any further😆. Only thing that helped me get to that point was just muscle memory and finding some neat tricks for the Stage 2 and 3 bosses. For the stage 2 boss, IIRC, you can stay just below the flamethrower for a large part of the beginning attacks and get some solid damage in. as for the 3rd boss, I believe staying on top of it helps a lot with avoiding all of its attacks until the second phase, but you might have to use the Hunter weapon to make it work.

 

[ruexnimbus]

Yes, I'm really enjoying this game. I've been doing lots of practice and experimentation and found some interesting things. 

• I confirmed that all bosses can be defeated with the timer. The game calls this "pacifism" and there's actually some flavor text during the demo screens that says something like, "there are unique rewards for completing the game in true pacifism." I'm wondering if 'unique rewards' means bullet colors and filters. I can't think of what else it would be.
• Scathach VH 1cc is actually a lot easier than Andraste due to Scathach's ability to build score using its subshot (R1). The more enemies on the screen, the more score Scathach can build using subshot. Andraste's limited ability to generate score makes it harder to get extends but Scathach can build extra lives much faster.
  • If you can tolerate not having a burst on demand then I would recommend Scathach as a starting ship. Using focus (L1) to slow the ship down and dodge bullets is great practice overall and makes playing Andraste much more tolerable when you switch over.
  • Scathach's subshot does more damage than the guns (X) but the guns generates combo gauge faster. I would recommend using the guns until combo gauge is at least x1 and then using subshot. This way you can protect yourself a little bit while keeping damage up.
• Going back and forth between Boss Rush and Very Hard has been a good way to practice without having a dedicated training menu. The bosses end up being the most troublesome during a Very Hard 1cc but practicing Boss Rush helps to find those gimmicks needed to survive the boss fights and preserve your lives.

I've been able to reach stage 4 consistently but had trouble with the mid-boss and stage boss. I'm using Boss Rush as practice and going back and forth between the 1cc and Boss Rush trophies. I may finish with Scathach first and then try Andraste, I think there's a lot to learn using the Scathach now. If I find any useful strategies to share I may be able to record a video instead of trying to explain it.

[PunisherXD]

27 minutes ago, ruexnimbus said:

• I confirmed that all bosses can be defeated with the timer. The game calls this "pacifism" and there's actually some flavor text during the demo screens that says something like, "there are unique rewards for completing the game in true pacifism." I'm wondering if 'unique rewards' means bullet colors and filters. I can't think of what else it would be.

That's really interesting. I have 45/45 unlocks according to the in-game tracker, so I just accepted it being glitched, especially once I tried speed-running the unlocks on a fresh file and getting the same result. It could be worth checking that out though 🤔

Scathach seems pretty reliable overall, although the advantage with Andraste is being able to spam bombs on the bosses before they have a chance to damage you. Otherwise it looks like you're making solid progress, makes me want to get back to it haha. Any videos of this game would be helpful considering there's little to no resources online, so feel free to share some if you make any later on 👀

[ruexnimbus]

I completed the Scathach VH 1cc run today. I trained for several hours on the Boss Rush mode to get familiar with how to handle each boss first. I was able to defeat the first 10 random bosses only to find out there's another 3 bosses to defeat afterwards. After I was familiar with the randomized bosses I decided to train a bit on stages 3, 4, 5 and finally 6 to minimize lives lost. After some training I was feeling confident for a live run and it worked out in the end.

Scathach is probably my type of ship, however I do feel a lot of the same tricks won't cut it for Andraste. I think each ship will have a very different play style to adapt to. I still believe Scathach is a good ship for beginners because it forces you to dodge a bit but it has a great focus effect (L1) to assist with that. The hitbox is smaller than Andraste so dodging can be a little easier and this game really won't let you get away with too many gimmicks so it's good learning material. Now having completed this I may continue trying at the Scathach Boss Rush or try out Andraste a bit for contrast.

 

I've attached a recording of my run. If I find anything else out I'll try my best to share it.

 

 

[PunisherXD]

8 minutes ago, ruexnimbus said:

I completed the Scathach VH 1cc run today. I trained for several hours on the Boss Rush mode to get familiar with how to handle each boss first. I was able to defeat the first 10 random bosses only to find out there's another 3 bosses to defeat afterwards. After I was familiar with the randomized bosses I decided to train a bit on stages 3, 4, 5 and finally 6 to minimize lives lost. After some training I was feeling confident for a live run and it worked out in the end.

Wow dude, serious congrats. I can imagine you spent a lot of time practicing and pulling off the run, as you mention how much you practiced. Yeah each ship has very differing playstyles, and whilst I prefer Andraste, I can tell why you prefer Scathach. Your Stage 4 Boss and TLB was great as well, I'll have to take those strats when I get back on the game 😆
How hard do you think the game is so far, compared to other shmups you've done at least? I'm curious as this is uncharted territory for me now 👀

[ruexnimbus]

31 minutes ago, PunisherXD said:

How hard do you think the game is so far, compared to other shmups you've done at least?

I don't have a lot of experience with a variety of shmups but in terms of difficulty it reminds me a lot of Deathsmiles II specifically. Going for the Merry Christmas trophy all stages at level 3 is just an insane amount of bullets and junk flying around both spread shots and shots coming at you. The first 6 stages basically was trying not to take any hits because when it gets really hard at the amusement park and then Santa's Chateu afterward is when you'll need all the extra lives. Devil engine is a lot like that because I was prepared for the worst of it entering stage 5 before you reach the mid boss and then navigating the tunnel to reach the stage boss.

[ruexnimbus]

I completed the Andraste VH 1cc run today. The Andraste fighter needed much more aggressive tactics to make it through. There was a lot more strategy needed with power ups, the speed modulator and recovering after taking a bullet. I've attached a recording of my run.

Next up is the Boudicca fighter. I haven't done much at all with Boudicca yet so this may take some time. If I succeed with Boudicca I'll write up a strategy guide for each ship either in this thread or a new one.

 

 

[PunisherXD]

7 hours ago, ruexnimbus said:

Next up is the Boudicca fighter.

Big congrats on another 1CC! I think Andraste is generally more fun imo, due to that more aggressive playstyle it offers. It'll probably be the first VH 1CC I do if (and when) I get back onto the game. Which of the two do you think is easier to pull off? 🤔

 

I'm also excited to see the Boudicaa run, it's definitely toughest of the three to get good at from my experience. Oh, and I believe after the VH 1CCs, doing the Boss Rush clears seems like the next logical step difficulty-wise.

[ruexnimbus]

Thank you, it was a lot of effort. Much trial and error.

 

5 hours ago, PunisherXD said:

Which of the two do you think is easier to pull off?

 

I think it may depend on the type of STG player. I'm more the defensive type where I like to chill back and watch the patterns to look for openings. Scathach is equipped very well for the defensive style using auto-tracking subshots to build score and get extends. The hitbox of Scathach is maybe a quarter the size of Andraste and I could really feel the difference in making the switch. Having the Focus (L1) ability on toggle was very helpful to navigate patterns but having the combo abilities on-hand was important in a pinch.

 

For Andraste I had to pretty much change my way of thinking. There was a lot more to be mindful of with the picking up shot types you wanted and then avoiding the ones you don't. Andraste must destroy ships to build score and get those extends so it's necessary to put yourself at risk. Fortunately, the burst absorption is designed to perform its best when in the most extreme situations. Getting up close to the bullet source and bursting it is really the safest option. The way the speed modulator only moves forward in gears requires some practice in picking the right speed for each encounter.

In general, for Scathach I didn't have a strategy in mind but Andraste I needed to pay attention and know the script. I kind of just thugged my way through Scathach; build score with subshots and dodge bullets. In Andraste I had to know the script on stages 2 and 3, had to know which shot types worked best for each situation. Picking up the wrong shot type by mistake can be the end of the run. For both ships the way to succeed is to save as many lives for the end as possible. Taking a bullet at any stage can end the run because so much power gets lost. Learning to recover the power up or option is key to survival.

 

6 hours ago, PunisherXD said:

doing the Boss Rush clears seems like the next logical step difficulty-wise

 

Yes, if I succeed with Boudicca I think the Boss Rushes need to be done next. I'm very worried about the Boss Rushes to be honest. It's 10 randomized stage bosses then the 2 stage 6 bosses and finally the Extra Stage boss, with pretty much 3 lives and no bombs. Realistically on the path to platinum the 3 VH 1cc trophies are just the beginning. If I can clear the Boss Rushes then maybe I'll have a real chance at Expert and Ignition.

[ruexnimbus]

I completed the Boudicca VH 1cc run today. The Boudicca fighter has got a lot going on. Lots of firepower with tons of options. The hardest part of the ship was not flying into stuff because it's pretty much at full throttle all the time. I used a modified version of my Andraste strategy so it was overall aggressive I felt. I was able to figure out how its chain combo exceeds connect with scoring and supply energy for attack. It can supply itself with almost endless max power attacks, with a catch. As the combo chain goes higher, it becomes harder to exceed the chain to resupply. 

What next? I've done a ton of Boss Rushes already. They're short and to the point which is great but I think for the sake of time I'd like to dabble a bit in Ignition. It's pretty much a new game with new bosses. Since the one gold trophy requires 3 clears of Expert, I think I'll save that for last as I'll probably be spending most of the end game there regardless.

 

I've attached a recording of my run. At this point I'd like to take a little time to collect my thoughts and write up a strategy guide for the ships to explain some ways to make things easier.
 

 

[PunisherXD]

5 hours ago, ruexnimbus said:

I completed the Boudicca VH 1cc run today. The Boudicca fighter has got a lot going on. Lots of firepower with tons of options. The hardest part of the ship was not flying into stuff because it's pretty much at full throttle all the time. I used a modified version of my Andraste strategy so it was overall aggressive I felt. I was able to figure out how its chain combo exceeds connect with scoring and supply energy for attack. It can supply itself with almost endless max power attacks, with a catch. As the combo chain goes higher, it becomes harder to exceed the chain to resupply. 

What next? I've done a ton of Boss Rushes already. They're short and to the point which is great but I think for the sake of time I'd like to dabble a bit in Ignition. It's pretty much a new game with new bosses. Since the one gold trophy requires 3 clears of Expert, I think I'll save that for last as I'll probably be spending most of the end game there regardless.

Yeah Boudicca seems very complex for me, I was struggling to get the hang of it for the Extra 1CC haha, nice to see you have all the VH 1CCs done though. Have fun with
Ignition! It really is much more than an "Arrange Mode", it's a blast to play if you can survive through the army of enemies/bullets being sent at you 😆. The gold trophy you're mentioning is definitely the hardest part of the game, so probably would be best to save stuff related to that for last yeah.

[ruexnimbus]

I cleared the Boudicca Boss Rush today. When I saw my first opponent was Legendary Warrior Albiorix I was ready for the run to end quickly. Entering the second match against Sanctum Guardian Argiope with 1 life left I was sure it would end here. Somehow I was able to persevere and replenish my stock of lives to take it all the way. I feel a little shitty about timing out the Invader Daimyo but whatever; I tried to break phase 1.

 

I've attached a recording of my run.

 

 

[ruexnimbus]

I picked up a HORI fight stick mini for this game a week ago and it's been a lot of fun. I've been having trouble with the thumbstick and a mushy R2 trigger using the PS5 controllers. I was considering to get the Dual-Sense Edge controller to have an R2 trigger I could lock down but didn't want to spend that much cash on something I could potentially drop.

 

It's very noisy to use but you can clearly hear the 8-directional actuators for the movement stick which is very useful for careful movement in this type of game. The button layout is more stylized for games like Street Fighter so it's been a little awkward getting used to it. It will probably take another month or two to retrain using it but in the long run I think it will make the game a little easier.

 

[zZ-Draconiain-Zz]

I was gonna pick this up as im a fan of shmups but Truetrophies has this game listed on their broken/unobtainable trophy lists is that really the case? The trophies in question are a new look on life, a new look on death and the plat. 

It's a bit disappointing that yet another game by limited run is broken but hopefully it gets fixed like jurassic park did.

[PunisherXD]

1 hour ago, zZ-Draconiain-Zz said:

I was gonna pick this up as im a fan of shmups but Truetrophies has this game listed on their broken/unobtainable trophy lists is that really the case? The trophies in question are a new look on life, a new look on death and the plat. 

It's a bit disappointing that yet another game by limited run is broken but hopefully it gets fixed like jurassic park did.

yeah sadly it's indeed the case, the two trophies you mentioned are probably glitched. I've gotten 45/45 in-game unlocks, twice, and neither of the trophies popped. Unless there's some super secret unlocks that we're yet to find it's safe to assume that it's glitched, although even if it did have said unlocks, it wouldn't match up with steam achievements rarity percentages 😅

[ruexnimbus]

Indeed the game has a lot of glitches even during regular gameplay. I looked at the patch notes on Steam and a lot of the stuff they talk about being patched on PC is happening on the PS5. Scores get put in the wrong leaderboards, scores are not sorted correctly on the boards, sometimes bullets that are supposed to be indiscriminate come directly at you, sometimes a boss will vanish off the screen but still shoot at you, chain deaths on collision with terrain or ships at frame 1 et cetera.

 

I've got a lifetime score of >101M and still no more filters or bullet colors. The trophy for hot blooded triggers only from enabling it on the menu; you don't even need to start a game. I thought I could maybe trigger the filter or bullet color trophies by using them or something but no luck. I've tried everything.