Best 2D Game Engines in 2025

A lot of developers nowadays go for 2D games: popular genres such as metroidvanias and platformers prove that players care about two-dimensional experiences as much as they do about 3D. 

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If you have a vision for a great 2D title and want to make it, you will inevitably have to choose a game engine for 2D games that will suit all your needs. Some engines are better for a particular genre, while others can work better with a specific aesthetic you’re aiming for. Most of them provide a great variety of tools, plugins and other necessarities for producing a successful and beloved 2D game. 

Six Game Engines for 2D Games

Let’s look at some of the most prominent 2D game engines and their advantages and disadvantages, along with some games as examples of the engine’s strengths and capabilities.

Unity

Starting with one of the most popular engines to use in general, Unity remains one of the great solutions for beginners and pros, indie developers and even AAA studios. Thanks to its easily accessible assets libraries, intuitive workflow, and flexible tools such as Tilemaps or Sprite Editor, which make life much easier for developers, Unity remains one of the greatest game engines for 2D games.

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Pros: 

• Suitable for all genres and styles 
• Big community, leading to lots of available assets, documents, discussions, troubleshooting and so on
• Wide selection of assets to choose from, free and paid, allowing you to create games without the additional work
• A wide variety of tools for working on physics, animations and visuals 

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Cons:

• Not as newbie-friendly as some other 2D game engines and requires some advanced knowledge of its documentation
• The premium version can be pricey for small or indie studios

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Games using it: Hollow Knight, Monument Valley, Pokemon GO

Godot

An open-source 2D game engine that is beloved by many indie developers, Godot is a great alternative to other engines which is free and has a simple workflow to maintain. Based on a node-based system, Godot makes it very easy to fiddle around with various components. It is also one of the best game engines for beginners, thanks to its simple workflow and user-friendly interface. If you have only started developing games or are going indie with a limited budget, Godot has to be your choice. Based on GDScript, which is very similar to Python, Godot is incredibly simple to use as a first tool for 2D game development.

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Pros: 

• Free and open-source 
• Quick and simple to use
• Suitable for Windows, iOS or Android development
• Frequently used by indie devs and small-budget teams

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Cons: 

• Not as popular as UE/Unity, leading to a smaller commuity and documentation
• Compared to Unity,  Godot has fewer assets and additional tools that can make development easier, which may lead to some occasional complications 
• Some performance issues may occur, especially in comparison with other engines

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Games using it: Donut Dodo, Blastronauts, Seedlings

GameMaker Studio 2

A classic in many ways, GameMaker Studio is great for 2D games of all kinds. It works especially well with sprite-based visuals, revoking the nostalgic visual aesthetic. GMS has been tested over time and proven to be a great workhorse for beginners and retro enthusiasts. It provides debugging tools and additional script programming. 

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Pros:

• Simple to use thanks to its drag-and-drop interface and accessible programming
• Great for pixelated art style, which is very popular among gamers 
• Cross-platform exporting, leading to flexible workflow 

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Cons: 

• Occasional optimization issues, especially if your project turns out to be very big in scale and ambition.
• Can be a bit too hard to master due to additional work with scripts and plugins.
• Can be expensive for smaller devs to port their game to other devices since each development platform requires an additional paid license

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Games using it: Undertale, Hotline Miami, Hyper Light Drifter

Paper2D

2D Games in Unreal Engine? It’s definitely possible! Unreal Engine’s 2D game and art development plugin which is made exactly with 2D game development in mind, Paper2D provides an incredible scope of instruments and rendering features in Unreal Engine environments to make your project truly marvelous in terms of visuals. If you’re already familiar with UE, it will be simple to get around this plugin.

It allows you to work with sprites and physics and supports C++ for additional complex tweaks. It also perfectly suits the so-called 2.5D games, but may be a bit redundant if you’re aiming for a simple 2D game, rather than a visually striking one.

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Pros: 

• Very high-quality, AAA two-dimensional look, making it an especially good engine for 2D if you’re planning to impress your players with the visuals
• An option to make 2D games in Unreal Engine, especially if you’re familiar with UE
• Pricing depends on the revenue, meaning it’s free to use from the very start
• No knowledge in coding is required thanks to its unique blueprint system

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Cons: 

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• More suitable for high-budget games that focus on impeccable visual quality
• Paper2D is part of a bigger engine, Unreal, which is mostly used for complex 3D development, meaning there will be fewer tools for 2D in comparison to other engines.

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Games using it: Guntastic, Octopath Traveller, Wunderling DX

RPGMaker

Another cult classic, RPGMaker, was released over 30 years ago in Japan and then localized by enthusiasts in the West and Europe. Incredibly user-friendly and charming in its unique look and feel, RPGMaker is a perfect solution for retro-RPGs (the pixelated, top-view ones) and several indie titles such as cult classic horrors Yume Niki, Omori and Fear and Hunger, which were made exactly on this 2D game engine. What makes it so popular is that by offering a workflow tested with time, it allows developers to design games without any advanced knowledge of programming. To some, it may seem archaic, but there’s a certain beauty and aesthetic in it if you’re aiming for that kind of 2D look for your project. 

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Pros: 

• Easy to use for beginners
• A cult classic with years of history
• Fantastic community ready to help create more games and share assets with you
• Perfect for prototyping your projects
• Works great for creating simple, narrative-driven games, thanks to its roots in narrative JRPGs from the 90s

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Cons: 

• Oriented to a certain niche of games, which leads to limitations. 
• A bit old-fashioned, but it’s a part of the charm!
• Some additional knowledge of JavaScript may be required 

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Games using it: Omori, Fear and Hunger, To The Moon

Construct

A browser-based 2D game engine, Construct is another great option for beginners and those who keep it simple: easy to navigate and use, it’s great for prototypes and game jams. Construct also provides a real-time testing feature, allowing you to create prototypes more efficiently, create basic water, gravity and collision physics, and be suitable for a great variety of genres.

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Pros: 

• No complex installations are required, all you need is your browser
• A big selection of assets for you to choose from
• A simple web integration
• A user-friendly interface with great real-life prototyping feature

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Cons

• A subscription model instead of being free or a one-time payment may be an obstacle for beginners trying out different engines
• Just like RPGMaker, it’s not very flexible and is mostly used for small-scale games
• Occasional performance issues on larger projects

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Games using it: Small Saga, Iconoclasts, Mighty Goose

So many engines, and so hard to choose from! Is it possible to outsource 2D game development?

If fiddling with 2D game engines seems too difficult, outsourcing studios are always here to assist, providing additional development help or full-scale production. 

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No matter what engine you choose, RocketBrush Studio can help you with your project. By collaborating with you and implementing your narrative structures, music and art into the game, we can produce 2D games of high quality that will be interesting to play and fun to explore. Or we can do it all by ourselves, working with your ideas and ambitions and implementing them into the game made from scratch.

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We made several games on Unity, one of them is The Unliving. It’s a rogue-lite action RPG with a distinct 2D-pixel art style, implementing highly detailed, dark fantasy visuals and an addictive game loop. We are eager to help you create your title with our expertise in making games in various engines, creating game art and even producing sound design!

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RocketBrush Studio has been working since 2016, and our workflow, experience and expertise have been sharpened by collaboration with Supercell, Paradox Interactive, Romero Games and many other big developers and publishers. When it comes to full-scale game development, we discuss it in detail with you before pre-production starts, provide a dedicated project manager to keep you in touch and have regular meetings for status updates and feedback, hold internal revisions and reviews of progress before delivering the final results.

Bottom line

Choosing the best 2D game engine is hard: they all have their purposes and strengths. But 2D games remain intriguing and interesting for both players and developers, coexisting with 3D on the market. It’s great for developers, hobbyists and enthusiasts alike to have a big selection of 2D game engines for all needs, budgets and goals, producing exactly the type of game they have on their mind.