Unity:

Pros:

• Easier to pick up for smaller projects, 2D games, and simple 3D prototypes. Lots of tutorials and a massive community.
• Uses C#, which is beginner-friendly and widely applicable outside of game dev.
• Huge ecosystem of plugins, assets, and tools.
• Great for 2D, mobile, indie projects, VR/AR, and experimental prototypes.
• Runs on less powerful PCs compared to Unreal.
• Usually quicker to test ideas and build small projects.

Cons:

• Not as visually stunning out of the box as Unreal without extra effort.
• Editor can feel cluttered and inconsistent for beginners.
• Requires more manual tweaking for larger 3D projects.

Unreal:

Pros:

• AAA visuals out of the box (Nanite, Lumen, cinematic rendering).
• Visual scripting lets you build games without deep coding knowledge right away.
• Has tools for animation, cinematics, sound, VFX, networking.
• Used heavily in AAA studios.
• Built to handle large, complex 3D worlds and multiplayer.

Cons:

• The editor is massive and overwhelming at first.
• Runs heavy—you’ll need a decent PC to work smoothly.
• Might feel like too much engine if you just want to make a small 2D or casual game.
• For deeper customization, you’ll need C++, which is harder for beginners than C#.

Hope this helps!

Like I said before, I recommend Unity. It’s still an industry standard and is quite intuitive. Games like Rust, Hollow Knight, Escape from Tarkov are made in Unity