Linear founder here. As you pointed out issue tracking and project management tools can get easily out of control if concepts get overcomplicated etc. I can't really say of the other tools but we tried to build Linear to be simple and really fast, and adopt to your needs as your grow (e.g. enable more advanced features as you need them).

Linear is free to use for a modest issue count so it's pretty low key to try it out for a project with your team if you want to compare it. And if you end up switching, we have open source import scripts available: https://github.com/linearapp/linear-import If you end up trying us out and need help organizing your team, feel free to contact me jori@linear.app