So, did Vren abandon the game?
Depends on what you define as abandonment.
If it is leaving and open sourcing the project to others to finish then; no.
If it is leaving no correspondence for months on end then; yes.
I (personally) think its abandoned, he she it they them (Vren) tried to do something with the engine that just was out of spec for it and struggled (burnt out) with the attempt and instead of using a another engine (that could do what he she it they them was attempting) from the ground up (which would have taking a much longer but probably an easier process) he she it they them chosen instead to open source it.
Basically, throwing more processing (brains) and time (people) at the problem.
And this where the projects stands.
No way am I stating this was bad decision (cause it not for me to say one way or another), I am just saying and have said in previous posts he she it they them done amazing things within the engine limits. After which he she it they them hit a hard limit of what the engine could accomplish and this may or may not be a permanent project stopper as of now with how the current engine operates.