no they don’t, but the general assumption is that if you have paid for the game you get the new releases of the game as they come out, because we have already paid for the game. This is the big difference.
But also saying during this period that I can’t redownload the thing I own… like if I deleted it after I played it, and now I want to replay it to get familiar again is kinda disconcerting. I should at minimum still have access to the thing I own. Seeing that I had access to nothing and being told to wait X weeks after playing and supporting on the Patreon is worrying
in the end we are talking about a fairly trivial amount of money, that is fine. But there is a mechanism to let us get the game without waiting or paying again, and going against that precedent is what is causing some friction
as for this being how it was done before, I came in in February. I was unaware this was the expectation for this game