Casual gamer’s experience with Linux

A couple of months ago, around the time Windows announced the end of Windows 10 support, I started looking into Linux. My main motivation was to get away from Microsoft and squeeze the most performance out of my system. The tipping point was when a friend told me about Linux Mint. After looking into it, I found it was one of the most recommended distros, so I decided to dual boot it and had a lot of fun setting it up.

Most of the issues I ran into I was able to solve through documentation, asking for help, and occasionally using AI when I got fed up — but I made sure never to run a command until I fully understood what it did. That approach helped me get a better grip on Linux and what was happening on my computer. I genuinely enjoyed learning how to use it.

The problems started once I got into gaming. I play about 3–5 different games every day since my friends all have different schedules and game preferences, so I keep a mix of single-player and co-op titles. While I do care about graphics, I prioritize performance — and I actually found that many games ran smoother on Linux. But when it came to getting HDR working or certain games to even launch, I hit roadblock after roadblock.

At first, I thought it was a skill issue, so I kept troubleshooting, both with and without help. Some games I got working, but others were a complete waste of time on Linux. About a month in, I updated Mint from 22.1 to 22.2 — and so many things broke that I rage-deleted Mint entirely. I started researching other distros, hoping it was just a Mint issue.

That’s when I discovered Ventoy, which made distro-hopping way easier. I tried out CachyOS and Bazzite before settling on Pop!_OS. I liked its look and found it the easiest to use with the fewest issues. But even then, I still found myself booting into Windows every day. No matter how much I tried to make Linux my main OS, something always came up, and after a while, it stopped being fun to troubleshoot.

The more I researched, the more discouraged I became — especially after learning about the “NVIDIA tax.” That really demotivated me. The final straw was when I had to make a friend with limited gaming time wait while I troubleshot another Linux issue just so we could play together. The easiest solution was always the same: boot into Windows.

I’ve since deleted my Linux partition and decided that, for now, debloating Windows 11 works better for someone like me. Hopefully, one day I’ll reinstall Linux and find it as seamless as Windows. But for now, as a casual gamer with a job and friends to coordinate with, it’s just too much of a trade-off.

TLDR; skill issue.