Brutal is a framework rather than a full game engine, so developers can build a game with it directly, as RocketWerkz has with Kitten Space Agency, or pair it with another engine, as RimWorld developer Ludeon has done with its Waylith engine. The framework's source code is public and free to use, including for commercial games, subject to an attribution requirement.

In a follow-up exchange with Eurogamer, Hall clarified that Brutal contains no generative AI, no tooling or scripts for producing AI-generated assets, and pointed to the public repository as proof. He questioned why Unreal and Unity, which he described as human-centric workflows, are investing so heavily in generative AI, and argued the technology could undermine their business models: if developers can increasingly make the exact tools they need at approaching zero cost, they may no longer need to pay to work around someone else's workflow. He compared the situation to the dot-com era, when companies rebranded themselves as internet businesses.

Hall also raised the control engine-makers hold over developers' projects, asking what a developer can do if a company makes a change or introduces a fee it dislikes. He was careful not to oversell his own work, saying Brutal is meant to be a start rather than a winner, and that it is Unreal and Unity "tearing themselves down" through greed and lack of accountability. One caveat: RocketWerkz's own Icarus still runs on Unreal Engine 4, and Hall said migrating it to Brutal would be too disruptive to the game's weekly patching schedule.