This seems to be a reoccurring issue many developers are having and I was surprised because my app reviews used to take 12 hours max.
That's a thing of the past. The wait time is several days to a few weeks now, depending on the development platform.
everywhere it is mentioned that the review is done within 1-2 days
Where!? I see a lot of topics under the App Store Distribution & Marketing category by concerned people that they have been waiting for several days to several weeks.
despite my several expedite requests and open support case, no update on the status, no response to the communications
You file an expedite request for the same submission several times. If millions of people do the same, that's basically a DDos, right? So what are you expecting? I would't blame Apple, Inc. for that.
One of the main concerns that my game got approved on other platforms and the players received a new version of the game while my iOS players are still stuck on the older one, the same for the other game which I newly launched.
What does that mean? It doesn't sound like a comprehensible, English sentence for me.