just throwing my two cents in, i personally agree with you on the seeming divide between gameplay and h-content, though I feel it's more a matter of there being an initial inspiration/vision for both of those general aspects of the game and then subsequent burn-out when it came to marrying those two portions for cohesive/believable integration into the world/narrative. Combine this alleged creative burn-out with a steady stream of patreon money, and there's no longer much motivation to carry on with any further actual development to the game, simply just trying to patch and polish what they've got for a shippable, yet decidedly half-assed, product.
I think this best explains how we've got to this point with such a seemingly genuine attempt at a game that has as much or even less content than it's had for years now. It would also explain HW's seemingly shady or otherwise disingenuous conduct in the public. I imagine they want to have genuine, positive, and constructive interaction for a game they used to be passionately building, yet there are half-truths that must be told so that people don't realize the team simply doesn't care about the game anymore (which jeopardizes their revenue stream, of course.)
EDIT: tl;dr burn-out >>> greed >>> negligence >>> dishonesty (for the sake of greed) is why i believe we have this sad shadow of potential despite the amount of time its development has taken
