True, though for most game/graphics developers you're never interfacing directly with the graphics API, you'll let your chosen engine/library do the heavy lifting.
It does have the downsides of increasing the barrier to entry for custom/bespoke engines but those edge cases seem to be covered well by DXVK.
I feel the same every time I see JavaScript. C++ is one of those ugly but also elegant languages you should try at least once.