"Oh hey, 5 new pages to the thread I bet the demo finally dropped, must be some good content given all the discussion."
5 pages later
Well, that wasn't the demo I was expecting, but the last 5 pages have been pretty good content if nothing else.
it's that the deadlines that were set were so egregiously wrong is where it has become a problem. This is not based on some rando on some external site making up shit, this is promises from the horses mouth.
I have never seen a developer try to release a game unfinished, cite steam as the reason the game isnt released when they dont accept the unfinished game, and then a year and change later try to release a demo of the first level of this game but can't month(s) after because it is unplayable from bugs after declaring it's 24 hour release. See the problem? And throughout the whole last year HW is like "just a wee bit more guys, things just keep happening". It is almost october of 2023 and it is STILL "just a wee bit more guys" when an unpolished demo of the first level is still unplayable. The issue is the folks that put money into this game for years are now incredibly unclear of the game's actual state as the situation has been mischaracterized time and time again, intentionally or not. It's good that you're accepting refunds but that doesn't alleviate the problem. This is not just F95 hysteria, this is literal events of what occurred. I'm only chiming in because it's frustrating seeing a developer and his posse shrug legitimate issues under the rug like it's a rabid mob coming after him with no valid claims. If you crowdfund, you are responsible to give legitimate goalposts for how the money will be utilized.
Finally, a post from another sane individual, buried beneath all the character assassinations and people discussing whether or not HentaiWriter will call his father Bill Gates to chop down the internet to destroy a shitty porn pirating website, I feel like your point gets overlooked a lot. I tried searching the last 20~ pages or so for a post I really liked but couldn't find it (was probably deleted), but post had quoted and screenshots of the last 5-6 promise release dates over the course of the last several years. To me at least it boggles the mind how you can be 90% done a game for half its life time.
It really cannot be stated enough the problem is not the missed release dates, its the promises made, and broken along the way and some of the dubious claims the dev makes. The trust is broken between people interested in this game, and the dev, wherein we are now in a situation in which on one side you have people who are (rightfully) concerned this is a scam game and their evidence to that is the constant broken promises and missed release dates which follows the same pattern as every other scam patreon game in existence, and on the other side you have the people who aren't convinced its a scam game who don't seem to understand why the other group is annoyed and just thinks its a matter of being impatient (for some it is, but like I said I don't think missing release dates is what bothers most people, its just the easiest thing to clown on). The reason most people haven't clicked unwatch and just ignore the thread is because deep down we're all interested in the game and fans of it and want to see it release.
So, you gave money to a game on patreon, you weren't happy with the delays, the dev offered a refund, you took him up on it, and he delivered it to you without issue. And this is the dev that is a horrible scam-artist? The one you think is scamming hordes of patreon supporters out of their cash, but they just need you to help them realise it?
As far as patreon is concerned, he was mentioned earlier but yanderedev is living proof that you don't even need to release anything to rake in thousands of dollars. Its why these patreon games always inevitably go the same way.
I don't think this is a scam game and I do think it will release before year is over (but I'm not confident enough in that to bet on it lol), but I personally believe there's probably been more (technical) progress made on this game in the last year than has been made on the 5 before it combined because it was being milked, and now we're reaching the end of how long it can be milked for which has lit a fire under their asses because they have nothing they can show off right now to prove progress was being made unlike years prior where they'd just have to show some new animations, or area maps which imo is the easy highly visible progress.
Also HW I know you're reading this but you don't need to PM me about this one

we've had this chat before and I don't want to waste either of our times talking in a circle again lol this is just my opinion and there's no combination of words that'll convince me out of it, actions are more important right now.