Time Machine backup will not restore to my internal HDD drive

I had a major hard drive failure, so I have replaced the HDD on my MacBook mid 2012 13" model with another 1TB. I was running latest version of "Mojave" MacOS.

I go to restore from the time machine (TM) backup and I am being told that it will only now restore to an SSD drive because APFS systems can only be restored to SSDs. I wasn't even aware that my Time Machine was doing backups in APFS.

So I am really stuck here. Is this Apple's very unsubtle way of telling me to buy a new MacBook with an SSD drive to be able to keep using TM backups and other system features? Like planned obsolescence? Or have I done something wrong? The full message that comes up when I do the CMS + R recovery boot and try to restore from TM:

The system can't be restored onto this disk because APFS systems can only be restored to internal SSDs. Reinstall MacOS on this disk and then use Migration Assistant to transfer data from your backup instead.

Similar issue.

"The system can't be restored onto this disk because HFS systems can't be restored to space sharing APFS volumes. Reinstall macOS on this disk and then use Migration Assistant to transfer data from your backup assistant."

I think the "accidental" disconnect from Time Machine backups due to HFS/APFS incompatibility was intentional.