Oh, I definitely believe you regarding Mint/Ubuntu. I've had plenty of issues with Ubuntu (not with gaming, but regular applications). Inevitably, every install turns into a Frankenstein monster of deviations and abnormalities, especially after updates. While I've had good experiences with Debian, I'm still scared every time there's a big system update.

That's why I immediately jumped on the Atomic Fedora train when I first heard of it, and I couldn't be happier. That's because it actually fixes the issue by ensuring everyone has the same system. My Aurora install is pretty much exactly the same as anyone elses (except for 2-3 packages I've layered on top). That's because it's literally the same Docker image running on everyones PC, with the system itself being immutable. All my actual dev stuff, my application-specific things and everything non-default is running nicely contained inside distrobox containers, so my system isn't different from anyone elses install. It dramatically cuts down on the possible incompatibilities.

And if there's an issue, I just boot into an earlier version. That works even when there's been a major version update. It's amazing, I can't recommend it enough if you want stability.