Experience: I have a bit of experience with Linux. I started around 2008, distro-hopped weekly, decided on Debian until around 2011, when I switched to Windows as I started getting interested in gaming. Tried switching back around 2015, this time using Arch Linux for about a month, but had some bad experiences with gaming and switched back to Windows. I have had a Debian and Arch VM in Virtual Box since then for testing different applications and a more coherent environment to work with servers.
Understanding: Which brings me to now, I am really interested in using Linux for gaming, I know there is Proton from Valve and that they have been really pushing Linux gaming forward with it.
Thoughts: I have been contemplating dual booting by installing Debian to an SSD and simply using the UEFI boot menu to choose instead of having to install to the EFI of Windows.
I guess, I should just do it, as it won’t affect my Windows installation, and I could test different games and if all works well, move over. This would also allow me to try different distributions, though my heart is for Debian, I even like Debian Unstable.
Note: I am sorry for the wall of text, I am just kind of anxious I guess.
I decided to try exclusively gaming on Linux for a few months as a “new year’s resolution” back in 2019, see if I could stop dual booting just for games. Never went back, deleted my Windows partition completely that Summer.
There’s a couple of important things to note, which you didn’t have in your post:
which graphics card you have. If you’re AMD / Intel, the drivers are integrated into most distros, and they just work. NVidia is a bit of a ballache - once you know how to install their proprietary ones and disable Nouveau, they’re reasonably trouble-free. Reasonably.
what kind of games you’re into. And really, the question is ‘are you into MMOs / online shooters’ that are likely to have troublesome DRM, because mostly everything else works.
ProtonDB has an entry for nearly every game on Steam with some compatibility notes, but really, Proton, DXVK, and the advent of the Steam Deck have really pushed things forwards - gaming on Linux seems less troublesome to me now than gaming on Windows used to be
Someone above mentioned ‘trouble with Lutris’? Works pretty damn well with my non-Steam games, but then, those are mostly from GOG, so a bit older and DRM free.
I do have AMD, so that’s nice that it will be a better experience. Recently AAA games have been very underwhelming, so I have been cutting back on new AAAs until later and when on sale. I play Guild Wars 2 (MMO) quite often, but I hear that it will play fine as it doesn’t have any anticheat. I am not into any competitive shooters, so I will be find on that front. Looking at the games on ProtonDB show that this will be a smooth experience, and I’ll be fine with some games not working or performing below average.