Thanks for the efforts you put on bundle for racial justice reviews. There are so many I think I will spend a life to try it all.
About Mable in the woods, I don't think people don't like it because mechanics are new. But more because they are new and multiple. Which make it complex to master.
This is making a gameplay ambitious.
Why does people may not click? That's very simple answer: the level design does not hold the gameplay enough to give a nice learning curve.
Next to this we have good physics, a good looking game, well animated pixel art, nice music and sounds.
So as player you can be curious to play through. But I bet that majority of the players will not because of the complex gameplay.