BRUTAL is a C# game-development framework created by Ahwoo in collaboration with RocketWerkz that underpins the new Waylith engine used by RimWorld and several other projects. It is not a full engine but a low-level foundation that currently powers six games across three studios, including RocketWerkz’s award-winning Kitten Space Agency and upcoming titles like Art of the Rail and Torpedia. Developers such as Felipe Falanghe (creator of Kerbal Space Program) have moved from Unity to BRUTAL, reporting initial difficulty but greater ownership and control over their code and systems. The framework’s engineering leads emphasize that teams can inspect and modify internals to address performance limits and implement bespoke systems, trading convenience for flexibility.
The code has been released as source-available rather than open-source: it is free to use with no royalties but distributed under a custom license that requires attribution via a logo shown before gameplay. The maintainers describe BRUTAL as intentionally minimal on safeguards - “no guardrails” - so teams are responsible for their own systems and mistakes but gain maximum freedom to fix and optimize. The release signals increased appetite among developers for accessible source code and tool independence, while also preserving specific licensing controls around attribution.
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