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Dean Hall and the teams at Ahwoo and RocketWerkz released BRUTAL as open-source software in Auckland on 15 October 2026. BRUTAL is a free C#/.NET framework, not a ready-made game engine: developers can run a game on its systems or use them as the foundation for an engine they design themselves.
That distinction makes BRUTAL attractive to experienced programmers who want control over memory, architecture and native APIs, but it also means taking responsibility for the editor, renderer, tooling and debugging systems that integrated engines normally provide.
What BRUTAL provides
BRUTAL’s core is an interop layer between modern C#/.NET code and native APIs and high-performance C and C++ libraries, including Vulkan. Supporting libraries handle mathematics, memory management, strings, collections, job scheduling, logging and localisation.
The Tool Desk
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That makes the most accurate description “a low-level game-development framework that can become part of a custom engine.” Calling it a Unity- or Unreal-style engine would imply tools BRUTAL does not include.
Why Dean Hall says the release matters
The project is built around technology ownership. Developers can inspect and modify the source instead of depending entirely on an engine vendor’s roadmap, and BRUTAL does not charge royalties on game sales. The repository’s guiding message is, “You are only as independent as your tools are.”
Hall, the creator associated with DayZ, described the goal more narrowly than “everyone should build an engine”: “I’m not suggesting everyone should make their own game engine. I’m suggesting every developer should have the option to do so, without having to spend four years building the foundations first.”
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BRUTAL therefore addresses a specific problem: giving an experienced team reusable low-level foundations without forcing it to adopt a complete, prescribed engine stack.
Games and studios using BRUTAL
The release announcement says BRUTAL currently supports six game projects across three studios. The named projects are:
- RocketWerkz: Kitten Space Agency, Art of the Rail and Torpedia.
- Ludeon Studios: the Waylith engine used for RimWorld.
- Floating Origin Interactive: Afterskies.
- Felipe Falanghe: a project by the creator of Kerbal Space Program, which was not named in the announcement.
The announcement also identifies RocketWerkz titles including ICARUS, Stationeers and Kitten Space Agency. RocketWerkz stated in 2026 that ICARUS had sold more than 3.3 million units; that sales figure is the studio’s statement, not an independent market estimate.
What the published performance results show
Ludeon has published results from its own tests after moving work from Unity to its Waylith technology. They indicate substantial gains in the tested scenarios, but they are not independent benchmarks of every BRUTAL project.
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| Test reported by Ludeon | Reported result | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|
| Unity-to-Waylith move | 2–4× performance improvement | A range from Ludeon’s comparison; workload and measurement conditions are specific to that project. |
| Late-game colony versus version 1.6 | 2.2× performance | Ludeon’s result for its late-game colony test, not a general engine claim. |
| Loading a 1,500-mod pack | Reduced from 14 minutes to 6 minutes | A reported loading-time result for Ludeon’s test setup. |
These figures illustrate why direct control over allocation, threading and native calls can matter for a complex simulation. They do not guarantee the same improvement for a different game, hardware configuration or workload.
Can you use BRUTAL in a commercial game?
Yes. The BRUTAL licence permits use, modification and distribution, including in commercial games, without royalties. It is based on the MIT licence, but the project says the licence has not yet received OSI approval and that third-party components keep their own licence terms.
| Requirement | What a commercial team must do |
|---|---|
| Copyright notice | Include the BRUTAL copyright notice in credits or an equivalent attribution. |
| Logo placement | Show the BRUTAL logo before gameplay. |
| NOTICE.txt | Ship a NOTICE.txt file as required by the project’s licence. |
| Third-party code | Review and comply with the separate licences of bundled dependencies. |
Teams should read the current licence and every dependency notice before shipping. “Free” removes a royalty cost; it does not remove attribution, notice or compliance work.
Supported platforms and a realistic starting path
Ahwoo lists Windows, Linux and macOS as targets, with those same three platforms available for every package. The framework’s low-level design means platform support is only one part of production planning: a team still has to build its rendering, asset, input, audio, UI, networking and content pipelines as needed.
- Review the official repository and package documentation to understand the current source layout, dependencies and licence notices.
- Install the required C#/.NET toolchain and choose the BRUTAL packages or source components your prototype needs.
- Build a small executable that exercises the interop layer and one native subsystem before committing to a full game architecture.
- Define ownership for memory, threading, resources, logging, crash handling and platform abstraction.
- Only then add a renderer, editor or scene/content workflow suited to the project rather than assuming BRUTAL supplies one.
Because no official one-size-fits-all editor or project template is part of the framework, there is no equivalent of creating a project and immediately placing objects in a scene. The exact setup depends on the stack a team chooses to build around BRUTAL.
Best Value
How difficult is BRUTAL to use?
BRUTAL is aimed at experienced programmers. It uses unmanaged memory and unsafe code where appropriate, offers few guardrails and leaves architecture, debugging and long-term maintenance to the team.
Rian Drake, BRUTAL’s Head of Engineering at Ahwoo, put the trade-off directly: “We do not believe this is the tool that everyone should use to make a game. There are no guardrails. You’re responsible for the systems you build and the mistakes you make, but you also have the control to put things right.”
- Good fit: teams with engine, systems or performance programmers; projects needing unusual runtime architecture; studios that want source ownership and predictable native access.
- Poor fit: beginners, small teams needing a finished editor and turnkey tools, or projects without capacity to maintain core technology for years.
- Main risk: time saved by reusing foundations can be lost if the team underestimates tooling, diagnostics, content workflows and platform maintenance.
BRUTAL compared with Unity, Unreal and Godot
| Decision axis | BRUTAL | Integrated engines such as Unity or Unreal | Godot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstraction level | Low-level C#/.NET framework and native interop. | Complete engines with editors, runtime systems and established production workflows. | Integrated open-source engine with editor and higher-level engine systems. |
| Architectural control | You build the stack and choose the boundaries. | Powerful but more prescribed engine architecture. | More source access than proprietary engines, with a defined engine architecture. |
| Performance control | Direct native/Vulkan access and explicit allocation and scheduling choices. | More abstractions and tooling between game code and the platform, traded for productivity. | Engine-level control is available, but projects still work within Godot’s systems unless they modify the engine. |
| Team burden | High: rendering, tools, debugging and maintenance are team responsibilities. | Lower for standard workflows because core systems and tools are supplied. | Lower than BRUTAL for standard workflows because an editor and runtime are supplied. |
| Commercial licensing | Commercial use without royalties, subject to attribution, logo, NOTICE.txt and dependency terms. | Subject to each vendor’s current licence and commercial conditions. | Subject to Godot’s current open-source licence and any included third-party terms. |
| Modding | No prescribed mod architecture; each game team designs it. | Tooling and runtime choices depend on the engine and game. | Mod support is likewise a project-level design decision. |
For mod-heavy games, Ludeon reports that moving RimWorld technology to Waylith preserved most existing mods. That is evidence that a custom framework can coexist with an established mod ecosystem when the game team deliberately maintains compatibility; it is not an automatic BRUTAL feature.
Is BRUTAL a practical Unity or Unreal alternative?
It is an alternative in the architectural sense, not a drop-in replacement. A team choosing BRUTAL is choosing to own more of the engine problem in exchange for source-level control, native performance options and no royalty payments. A team choosing an integrated engine is usually buying a faster path to common game features, editor workflows and established tooling.
The sensible choice depends on staffing and project requirements. BRUTAL is most compelling when a studio already has systems expertise, needs control that an integrated engine cannot provide, or intends to maintain its technology over multiple projects. It is difficult to justify for a first game or a team that primarily needs content-production tools.
Bottom line
BRUTAL gives experienced C# developers a royalty-free, source-available foundation for building a custom game runtime, while deliberately refusing to pretend that a framework is a finished engine. Its commercial licence and native access are significant advantages; the missing editor, renderer and guardrails are equally significant costs. The release expands the range of engine choices, but it does not eliminate the engineering work that a full engine normally hides.
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