Best Game Making Software?

Unreal Engine or Unity.

If you want to code and have coding be "easier" use Unity. C# is a breeze and easy to learn and feels like you are making progress. Unreal with C++ can feel like learning Chinese (for someone with no prior coding knowledge).

On the flip side, if you want visual scripting, UE4 is a breeze to get into. The curve is learning all the other parts that use blueprints, like the Character/Actor/Pawn blueprints, etc. Learning how to setup your character/mesh/collision properly. Stuff like that. The coding portion though is easy to pick up via blueprints because it's a - think about what you want to do, create the node and connect it - type of process. Don't have to worry about forgetting a ; or typo (some stuff is still context sensitive in ue4 though).

Bolt was just integrated into Unity which brings visual scripting to Unity - but it's not as flushed out as blueprints is. It's still not clear if Unity intends to keep pushing for their DOTS visual scripting or if they are throwing in the towel and going to push Bolt / Bolt 2. Bolt 2 is interesting, but still not enough to change over if you already know Blueprints.

Key factors to also consider is Quixel Megascans library is free for UE4 users. That's HUGE! AAA assets at your fignertips for free. Also Epic releases free marketplace assets every month that can include some expensive assets, worth picking up even if you don't intend on using UE for a while. It's free!

Also Epic has a new deal where you don't pay royalties until after your first certain amount earned, forgot exact number - but on contrary you will have to pay royalties for Unity.

Unity on the other hand has a great learning/teaching community with a wealth of tutorials. UE is hit or miss. I've found it's best just to get marketplace assets and reverse engineer them to learn. Unity you can find courses from pro Indie/AAA devs.

It's really a toss up and comes down to what your style of learning/creating and goal is.

For me, I'd rather focus on creating with less overhead - blueprints / quixel megascans was the determining factor.

I think of Unity as a hybrid car in the city and UE4 like a sports car. If you want to go to A to B quickly no hassle, then use Unity. If you want to go fast then you have to get through all the city traffic and out to the open roads - but once you do UE4 opens up and you can zoom wherever you like.

Oh almost forgot, 2d games is Unity. Easy. UE4 is too heavy for 2d and mobile games. You can do it, but it's again like driving a sports car in city traffic. Just use the hybrid.

If i had to start all over again, I'd evaluate what my short / mid / long term goals are.

2d games = Unity
AAA 3d = Unreal
Visual Scripting = Unreal
Just for fun = Unity + Playmaker or Bolt
Easy Coding = Unity
Complex power coding = UE4

Lastly, blueprints can be nativized. It doesn't make them as fast as C++ but it does speed them up a ton, enough to counter the majority of the negative speed costs of blueprints.

Either way, it's a ton of fun. Pick one up and give it a good year. You can always switch later. The knowledge you learn will still translate over. Structs, enums, arrays, ai, etc.

Don't have too high expectations. Start slow. Enjoy the process. It's definitely worth it!

Note: Noteworthy mentions to check out, GameMaker, Godot, Cry Engine
Note 2: DL UE4 and DL all the projects available like Squad SDK. You can see how a top level game is made (btw project takes forever to load but worth it)