Shadowdark...

 The hobby has been at 100% saturation for a while and Shadowdark was a grift that got ushered into accolades and awards via kickstarter fraud, bribing reviewers and realplay podcasters, and exploiting the general creative bankruptcy in the broader OSR """community""".

I used to have a similar, tho less vitriolic opinion of Lamentations of the Flame Princess, but I've softened over the years. Even though I feel LotFP isn't enough to a departure mechanically to justify its existence as a rule set separate from BX, it at least has an identity via its art direction and extensive setting support, and that makes it worth at least cribbing ideas from if not actually playing it.

If you want a mostly accurate emulation of BX without having to pay WotC for PoDs or deal with half a century old layout and formatting play Old School Essentials (BX) or OSRIC (AD&D). What minimal changes are made to the rules are just picking a side on generations old debates about unclear wording, and can be changed in your home games with ease.

If you want a NuSR game, as in a game that focuses more on character progression or monster fighting than it does the survival horror of dungeon crawling and the environmental wonder of hex crawling then you got Dungeon Crawl Classics. It's also a good choice if your nostalgia is for 3.5E, but you don't want to deal with the bullshit of modern multiclassing (Castles and Crusades also works for this).

If you want a post-postmodern hyperreal NSUR game with a baked in kooky setting, then look into Mork Borg (high lethality, chunky salsa play, very grimderp) or Break!! (unrepentant weeaboos only).

If you want an entry level intermediary step to bait your 5E friends into retro gaming, play Castles and Crusades or Basic Fantasy RPG.

If your nostalgia is for different editions and care about presentation more than fidelity to the minutiae of the rules you got Swords and Wizardry (OD&D), Gold & Glory (2E), etc.

If you are a middle-years grog who just wants to flex that you've been around since the start of OSR, then play Castles and Crusades, Labyrinth Lord, or Mazes and Minotaurs.

TLDR; Play almost anything with an OSR compatible logo over Shadowdark... hell play Darkbad over Shadowdark. At least it knows what it is.

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