The last few years have been great for Linux and Linux users. Support for applications and games has never been better, and it really feels like 2026 could be the year of the Linux gaming desktop. With users feeling that Microsoft is treating Windows more like another avenue for advertising and selling subscriptions than a computer operating system, paired with the pending demise of Windows 10, there's seemingly never been a better time for them to take the open-source plunge.

Choosing a distro can be one of the things that makes or breaks not just your gaming experience, but the experience of doing literally everything else on your computer. There are countless options, but there's two that make the most sense, and they couldn't be more different: Bazzite and CachyOS.

Bazzite is what Linux newcomers should choose for gaming

The everyman's gaming distro

In terms of Linux distros for gaming, Bazzite gets thrown around a lot, and for good reason. It's incredibly easy to get up and running, it'll run on everything, and, perhaps most importantly, it's immutable, which makes a big difference for newcomers to Linux.

One of the largest pitfalls for Linux newcomers full-stop is the mutability that comes with most distributions. This isn't just about gaming; new users will run into roadblocks that they'll attempt to fix themselves with the help of an ancient Stack Overflow post or even AI. Sometimes these solutions will work, but often times they'll break things, and it could be as small as causing a game to no longer launch, or as catastrophic as removing the entire root directory.

Knowing the downstream effects of the commands you enter is impossible when you're brand new to the OS, and this is where an immutable distro like Bazzite comes in. Immutable means that the user cannot change things about the core operating system. This makes it really difficult to mess up the install beyond repair, and even if you do, there is always a restore point to rebase to. Applications are installed via Flatpak, which ensures each app runs inside its own sandbox, isolating it from the rest of the system and preventing it from making damaging changes that persist.

This immutability makes it the perfect choice for new Windows-Linux converts, especially those just looking to get up and gaming quickly. Preinstalled comes apps like Steam, Lutris (for consolidating games from other libraries), HDR and VRR support, controller support, and GPU drivers—all right out of the box, without the need for much configuration at all.

CachyOS is for those who want the guardrails off

Arch is as open as it gets

CachyOS is very different from Bazzite. Not only is it not immutable, but it's based on Arch, which is known to be rather unkind to new users of Linux. Still, that doesn't mean new Linux users can't use CachyOS. In fact, it's probably one of the most user-friendly Arch distros that I've used.

It starts with the installation, which is easy, holds your hand throughout, and provides a seamless way to install common packages upon first boot.

You can choose between a laundry list of desktop environments, including KDE Plasma, GNOME, Cinnamon, i3, and more. What's also great about CachyOS is any small system changes you need to make, like an update to a driver, can be done yourself, and nothing is locked down. The system is totally yours to customize—and break—to your liking.

As far as gaming goes, CachyOS doesn't come out of the box with all the gaming dependencies you'd need, but installing them is as easy as installing one meta package that includes pretty much all of them. CachyOS is not outright designed for gaming, but it is designed for high-performance. Being based on Arch is also a bonus, as Valve has chosen Arch as a foundation for SteamOS. This is good news for CachyOS users, as many of the kernel-level changes and bug fixes Valve makes to SteamOS will likely trickle down to other Arch distros.

Which should you choose?

How confident are you?

Bazzite and CachyOS aren't so different in the way they act in day-to-day use, but when it comes to making changes to the OS, they couldn't be more different. While Bazzite is immutable, technically it's still possible to make changes to the core OS without rebasing completely, but it is quite a drag if there's a specific system-level modification you want to make.

This came up a lot personally when I was using it myself; I have an RX 9070 XT as my GPU, which is relatively new, and while it is supported on Bazzite, being on the bleeding edge means that bugs crop up. On an immutable distro like Bazzite, fixing these by updating to the latest release of Mesa or AMD's own driver isn't feasible, while on CachyOS, this could be done in a few commands and a system reboot. If you have relatively new hardware, I'd recommend trying something that isn't immutable, like CachyOS, but if your system is a few years old, Bazzite and the packages it installs with will likely support your system very well.

It also comes down to how confident you are with Linux. Even if you have some knowledge, that might just be enough to get you into serious trouble on a mutable distro. I speak from experience here. My first few Ubuntu installs years ago didn't last more than a week without some kind of critical issue, probably caused by copy-pasting commands with reckless abandon.

There's never been a better time to switch to Linux

These two distros, Bazzite and CachyOS, are the two I would personally recommend to gamers looking to get off of Windows. Bazzite is immutable and has a focus on being friendly to those who just need to get up and running with their favorite games, while CachyOS lets you get a lot closer to the core system while still being great for gaming. They also both work great for handhelds!