I went ahead and bought a bunch of indie games, picked up Darkchaser, Oxygen Not Included, and UFO50, and also grabbed Cities: Skylines. Got used to the launch prices of some AAA games, buying these discounted low-priced games really doesn’t hurt much.
Factorio was in early access for 8 years. What’s your point? Indy games take a while to develop because they gain haters and naysayers, like you, logarithmically compared to the funding that they get.
So far, Dyson Sphere Program has been in early access for 4 years, and they have one hell of a game.
I technically own Project Zomboid, I just don’t really have any particular projects to complete in that platform, so I’m not exactly what you would call a fan of the game. I can see potential for an absolutely immersive RPG that could compete with Fallout 1 and 2 once the developers have time and funding to complete what they want to do.