I have no idea why I have to always bring this up before anyone else, but there's a huge difference between making party-based RPGs and single character games.
Ghost of a Tale, Underrail, Age of Decadence, Eschalon etc etc etc etc are all single character games. The developer does not have to spend time developing their engine for serious party-based mechanics, pathfinding and balance, hence they can concentrate on aesthetics more.
Now look at the party based games that come out by 'sole' developers… Grimoire, Spiderweb games, Knights of the Chalice, Legends of Amberland etc etc etc etc, every single one of them taking heat for their graphics and very little else.
I'll be happy to listen to the constant diatribes about graphics more when someone develops this elusive great looking party based game on a shoestring budget, but not before.
Yes, Queens Wish is a step down, according to first impressions, but it's his SEVENTEENTH unique game, I think that's the reason the 'niche fans' are willing to give it a shot and not abandon someone just because the people who never played any of those SEVENTEEN games are rushing to dump on him… YET AGAIN…
And finally, games like Ghost of Tale are not 'solo' games, just as Vogel's games are not 'solo' games, they are small development teams with one very dominant developer, much like how when cheap films get made, sure people will say "[insert director] made this themselves on a shoestring", but, yeah, other people were involved too. Games that are literally only one single developer and zero other people are for sure a different ball game. And even at this level there's a vast difference between someone with Dreamworks contacts and someone with 'economy' contacts