That’s not true. Maya LT can be used to release paid content. And it comes with “Send to Unreal” plugin and if you use it you will not have problem with the 65k polions limit. Or, you can buy MODO Indie on Steam, the monthly subscription costs €10-15/month. Blender is a good software too, but it requires time to be learned. I am learning sculpting in Blender and it’s very powerful.
Gimp -> it’s a very powerful software but it’s extremely hard to use.
Visual Studio Express -> Free
PhysXLab -> You can create breakable meshes here, and it’s free.
If you’re an one-man-team, you will need a software to produce audio. FL Studio is a good software, but not very cheap.
Anyway, welcome 