Nope. Never played it. I can tell by the temperament of the article that it's well loved and respected. My response was slightly troll-y but also genuine because I'm curious to know more. I'm just wondering if they release bits of the game as they finish - or is version 1.0 just going to be something that no one ever plays? Or is the free version big enough that people will be satiated forever?
Version 1 is some kind of aspirational dream, I don't think that they would be able to tell you what it would take for the game to be complete. I don't think they would ever charge for the game. So far the main dev has been making 30-50k a year for many years off donations. It's a complete playable game that improves or get buggier from one release to another. As for size, there are two modes, a massive rouge like that I don't care for and a colonization fortress mode that I do enjoy. Fortress mode is like minecraft but 100% more complex.