I wanted to write a comment like yours a while ago, but I never got around to it.
Because the game means something to me too, and I also think the development is going in the wrong direction. Many important points have already been mentioned in your comment, but I'd like to add a something to it
A little info about me
I'm a game developer myself, not in the adult games industry, but I think I can discussion in this topic because as a developer I have a different perspective on a game than a player.
Caribdis has reached the point where he has to decide whether he's doing all this just for the money or to write stories. In an itch comment, he said he wants to make more games after Eternum for as long as he can, or he also mentioned in an older comment about an OIALT rework if the community wants it.
And if development continues like this, I don't think there will be another game after Eternum. Caribdis himself once said Eternum would have 12-14 chapters in total, and if the development time continues to increase like this with each update, Eternum will hit over 10 year total development time. Caribdis won't stay young forever. If he wants to tell more stories than just OIALT and Eternum, then he should change something.
Looking at the numbers on Patreon and how many people have subscribed to high-tiers, I'd say Eternum brings in around $50k USD or more per month without taxes.
With the resources he has through support, he could easily bring in a few more people. That would take a lot of work off his hands and significantly speed up development. I would seriously consider it if I were you, Caribdis, if you really want to continue making games.
Finding good and trustworthy developers isn't easy, I know, but I'm sure there are many talented young people out there who would be happy to help you with development.
Also to mention
I don't know what's going on in Caribdis's life, and there might be other reasons why development is taking so long. I don't want to accuse him, but being more open with the community is also a very important point.
At the end of the day, it's Caribdis's decision. If he's really only here for the money, he'll just continue as he is and extend development even further because his community supports him no matter how long an update takes.
And if he's here to write stories and wants to keep making more games, he should think long term, at some point, he'll no longer be able to create games like because he might get too old for stuff like that or other things happen in his life . And maybe then he'll regret wasting so much time on a single game. Having all that money but not having used it properly, but as I said, it's his own decision what he does with his future developer career.
I don't think Caribdis will read your comment here. Because after the comments on Eternum and OIALT's main page were removed, he stopped replying to any comments on itch.
If you really want the message to reach him, just buy the cheapest one-month subscription and comment in a chat where he'll actually see it and maybe even reply.