the recent situation doesn't justify the last 2 years or so of complete inactivity in the public version
Do you not know how the patreon development model works? the trade-off for receiving Patron funding is releasing the game for free once it's finished there are examples of very well-known VNs being developed this way, echo, arches, adastra, minotaur hotel, extracurricular activities, Etc. If he wanted to make a paid game it should be able to be paid for on the itch.io page otherwise you're basically paying a subscription have access to the game and paying way more money than you otherwise would have if you just bought it like any other Early Access game which is greedy