So I took both bits of advice into consideration, added a tiny bit of fur depth, kept the body fur entirely because, well, it just looks amazing and I hope to learn from it (fur and hair textures are difficult for me), and added a darker shade to the armor to create a more defined light source. Thoughts?

I'll be adding a background later but I'm particularly happy with the way he's coming out now. I feel like there's something wrong with the shine on the armor though, and, well, I'm still getting a grasp for color theory. It feels unified but not as vibrant as I want it to be? I dunno.

I love it! Huge fan of the game myself. I love anything Victorian/Lovecrafty really. I see what you mean by tiles and the style is perfect. The simplification and GBA elements make the game feel even more classic and like, Halloween-like, if that makes sense. Something I noticed though, minor detail: the roof to the well, because it's missing the outline on that primary vertical line on the left, it feels like a piece of the art got clipped.

I like it! It looks like a fireball sprite launched in a fighting game. That said, is it upside down? I can see what you mean in that it doesn't look like a standing fire itself, but it's definitely a start.