Oh my God, I was just a teenager when I first saw this game, now I'm a young adult and we still have nothing.
As a fellow developer (even though I'm not a game dev), I know things go awry quickly. I'd even say the pandemic made it worse but... 2016... so long ago...!
I'd say "it's fine, they just gave up" but there's money in this, so much money! I wasn't a backer (as I said, was a teen back in the day), but I feel for everyone who trusted the team. It's easy to say "We have a track record of finished work both on commission and personal, so we're not worried about not finishing the project at all :)" and then vanish in thin air.
I don't want to discourage the creator or ignore any hardship they may be having on their personal life, but please, please be transparent about this. Is the game dead? Last update was 2021, we're on 2023. What happened?