the game is postponed... not out of development.
and the reason the game isn't free is it's basically supporting the dev financially.
he just needs a better situation to work on it. the devlog explains that in the discord.
I respect your optimism... but statistically speaking, it's not very likely that this game will be continued in a timely manner... I'll give it at best the year 2024 that this game will be continued, and that's being generous.
I'd love to be wrong, and see this game get better, but as things are now, I really don't think so. So for all intents and purposes, I consider this game abandoned until proven otherwise.