I completely agree. You may already be familiar with the backstory, but basically this was (I believe) WhitePhantom's first game, and it was really great. But there was scope creep with successive versions, meaning specifically that there became too many LIs in the game to manage.
I understand that for some people, enough developers have given empty promises that can increase their skepticism of the future of a game when it goes into
On Hold status. However, WP has been extremely transparent, very active on F95, and demonstrated commitment to what he's done so far. I have every confidence that he will jump back on
The Manifest when
DLC is finished.