Is "the controls are clunky by design" a valid argument?

So this isn't a devlog in the traditional sense, more just me writing down some thoughts I'm having after having people play the game so far. One point of feedback I get often is "the controls feel clunky/unintuitive/outdated" to which my direct response is "well yeah, it controls like Doom/King's Field. The controls are terrible. It's charming!" but it's also been making me think, should I reconsider? What if I modernized the controls? Make it feel as intuitive as possible!

But the thing is, I feel like something would get lost in that translation. I could give the player the ability to turn quickly, I could give the player the ability to strafe with their left stick and turn with their right stick- but then it doesn't play like Doom/King's Field anymore, it plays like a modernized version of those games, and part of me just doesn't want that. I want it to feel like the old games I'm nostalgic for, including outdated design choices and bad controls. Maybe modern players will think it sucks, but to me it's essential to the experience.