it just seems that pixel art gets a lot more slack.
Well if you make ugly pixel art, people will still not like it. The problem isn't you not using pixel art, it's simply how the game looks. The colours you are using are very dark and dingy and the overall presentation of the game feels quite outdated. Obviously, there's the animations that everyone keeps moaning about, but that can be fixed easily.
I'd say update the colour palette and give the art "more of a comic book thick lined cel shaded look", as someone commented on your greenlight page.