I get thrown to patreon when I want to download the public version.
The download for the free version is redirecting you to the patreon due to itch.io is facing a few back lashes from the payment platforms.
As long as you have a patreon account but not a patreon subscription, you will be able to download the free version from the creators patreon.
If you download the patreon version of the game, you need a subscription to the game creators patreon as the game will ask you if you have the subscription. If you don't, it won't let you play it. If you do have a subscription, it will let you play the in-dev parts that the creator is doing.
