Even if you don't like shmups, you might just end up liking this one because of how accessible it is. The enemies telegraph almost all attacks, giving you a chance to dodge them, meaning that you don't need to memorize all bullet and attack patterns to progress or get higher scores. Very appealing graphics, music and sound, it's not leaning on retro sound and graphic design, more on the early 2000's vibe. It also has no unnecessary gimmicks, just one ship with two attack modes, one spread shot that's weaker, but you have more range and move faster and one attack mode that's stronger but have less range and move slower. Meaning you are constantly choosing which is a better choice, making your choice more meaningful than a shmup where you have so many attack options that all just overlap.

The difficulty is also sublime. You can choose the easiest difficulty that gives you a one time use shield that can be replenished a couple times throughout the stages. It also auto uses your screen clearing bomb attack that also gives you a shield if you lost it, which also can be replenished a couple times. On normal you no longer have the auto use of the bomb and have to manually use it to get a shield, adding a layer of strategy of when to use it. On hard your bombs don't give you a shield anymore. On Inferno (highest difficulty) you don't get any shields and bombs.

If the game is too easy for you, you can focus on getting a higher score instead of surviving. You do that by getting close to the enemy, the closer you are when you kill the enemy, the higher the score, giving you that high risk high reward deal. The game also has this added mechanic that;s called berserk mode, when you activate it, the enemies get more health but you also get more points. The points can also add an extra life.

Lastly there is a shop where you can spend coins that you earn. The best thing to buy in the shop is the retro version. You can also buy things like continues and wallpapers.

Really can't find and faults, I just wish it had more stages and maybe some more ships to choose from for some variety (if even it was just a color swap).

Not exactly what I wanted.
Its a good shmup dont get me wrong, but after playing it, I just realized how much I want to play Aleste Musha again, and how much it pisses me off with how much ''Sega Genesis collections'' were re-re-released to have the same bloody games on it, like how many Altered Beasts do we need?!

So Devil Blade, a pretty accessible shmup, that doesnt melt your eyes like some bullet hells, with a pretty good ost.