Dean Hall launches Brutal as a free framework after criticism of Unreal and Unity

• Hall’s criticism is aimed squarely at Epic’s Unreal and Unity, and he ties it to the launch of Brutal, a free, open-source game-making framework.
• According to the description shared with the announcement, Brutal can also be used commercially as long as attribution is included, and no royalties are charged.

What happened

Dean Hall has sharply criticized the games industry, singling out major engine makers such as Epic and Unity. In the coverage, his stance is summarized as an attack on the “greed” that he believes is eating away at the industry from within. Hall is best known to players as the creator of DayZ and Icarus, and he is also linked here to Kitten Space Agency. The source emphasizes his long experience as a developer and frames his comments as coming from someone who has seen firsthand how major companies shape the market.

At the same time, Hall introduced his own alternative: Brutal. The project is described as an open-source, free game-making framework, not a full game engine. According to the provided description, the source code is available and Brutal may be used in commercial games as long as attribution is given. The video description included with the source also states explicitly that Hall is making the framework publicly available, including the source code, and that no royalties are owed. It also says Hall does not want a cut of revenue.

The source information also says RocketWerkz has already used Brutal for Kitten Space Agency. In the same source, Ludeon is mentioned as having used Brutal together with its Waylith engine. That makes clear Brutal is not just an announcement, but something already applied in existing projects. The reporting connects those examples directly to Hall’s broader criticism of dependence on large commercial engines and the control held by a small number of companies.

The timing of the announcement matters too. The source is dated 15 October 2026 and places Hall’s criticism and the introduction of Brutal in the same publication. That frames his message as a direct response: not just a complaint about the industry, but a concrete alternative that is described as free, open, and commercially usable. The source also suggests Hall sees the industry’s problems as structural rather than something newly caused by AI or agentic tools.

Background

Dean Hall is identified in the source as the creator of DayZ, Icarus, and Kitten Space Agency. His criticism targets the concentration of power among large companies in the games industry, with Epic and Unity named as explicit examples. The reporting presents that criticism as a response to a market in which developers are increasingly dependent on a small number of dominant players. In that framing, Brutal is not just a technical project, but also a response to how tools, distribution, and business models are organized in the sector.

The available information also suggests Hall does not see the industry’s problems as something that only emerged with AI or agentic tools. In the source, his new framework is presented as a response to long-standing structural issues around control, access, and monetization. That matches the way the source summarizes his remarks: not as a one-off complaint about a single product, but as a broader indictment of the industry’s economic relationships.

Brutal itself is described as a framework rather than a full engine. That distinction matters, because the reporting makes clear Hall is not claiming to have built a direct replacement for Unreal or Unity, but an alternative meant to give developers more freedom. The source also explicitly says the software is open-source and that commercial use is allowed with attribution, without royalties. That positions Brutal as a more accessible model than the major commercial engines Hall is criticizing.

The source also names concrete users of the framework. RocketWerkz is linked to Kitten Space Agency, and Ludeon is mentioned in connection with Waylith. Those examples give the announcement more weight, since they show Brutal has already been used in production contexts. At the same time, questions remain about the exact license terms, the technical scope of the framework, and Brutal’s precise role in the projects mentioned. The available source information mainly confirms Hall’s public positioning and the framework’s first uses.