If you’re making a game, the first rule is that it has to be fun. If it’s not fun, then people won’t play it.
Players might say they like a game’s art, story, dialogue, audio, and/or character design, but what engages them is the gameplay. Everything else only complements. You can have a game with minimal aesthetics and yet the game can still be fun.
If people say, “It’s boring,” “It feels like a chore,” or “I don’t see the point,” then you need to reevaluate your game immediately. Because if you don’t have the core game mechancis down, then it’s a waste of your time to continue to polish the game.
A wise man once said, “A brilliant solution to the wrong problem can be worse than no solution at all.”