There was a time in something like 2016 (or 18? I dunno at this point) when they were hyping a Vertical Slice of it being just around the corner. Then it was quietly cancelled, communication on the project has been extremely thin ever since.

I eagerly await investigative journalism efforts to one day learn what's been going on behind the scenes these last few years!

In fairness, the "Persistent Universe" stuff they have going right now can be pretty fun with friends, and the jank is kind of novel for a while. I tried to deliver a box and got a concussion trying to figure out how to get a drink on my journey.

Without friends or a tolerance for jankiness though, it's pretty hard to get into. You really get the sense the devs have been figuring out what a wheel looks like the hard way, yet still insisting on their own uniquely terrible spin on things.

I believe that, to an extent, this has actually caused some of these problems we're seeing. When tools become easier to use, more is expected from the devs, particularly in the AAA space.

A tool is made that, in theory, helps you do 12 months worth of work in 6, so they make the game twice as big. However, in reality you still have to deal with various unforseen problems, especially those caused by overconfidence in those tools. The real-world time is actually 9 months, but they're still expected to make that huge game in 12.

Crunch ensues, which burns people out, which means less quality work and damage to health.

I think it's generally up to responsible indie devs to use such tools well and control the scope of their projects. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.