Nobara if you want to "install-and-forget".

Any non-Ubuntu-based distro, minimal install if you don't mind tweaking.

but why not Ubuntu

For some reason it likes to slip some unsolicited bloatware in -- no idea why.

Whichever one you enjoy using.

Unless you have some special hardware need, all the desktop distros perform about the same. (Even long-term support releases, which offer newer kernels in case you need them.)

Most regular distros are good enough for gaming. The only issue you're likely to run into is with graphics drivers (I recommend going for AMD graphics on that build), and the availability of certain software in certain formats (gaming software is more likely to be available for Debian or Ubuntu based distros).

If you like the Steam Deck's desktop mode, you might enjoy another distro with the same desktop environment (KDE Plasma). I'm partial to KDE Neon, a snappy Ubuntu LTS spin with all of the latest KDE software.

Fedora!

But wait.

Actually Bazzite, as a way to consume/deploy Fedora on your host desktop.

Even works great on non 64GB Steam Decks. With gnome available as an option as well.

• https://universal-blue.org/images/bazzite/
• https://universal-blue.org/blog/2023/10/05/bazzite-buzz-no-5/

Also builds for Nvidia users

Bazzite/Universal Blue is Not a "distro", it's a project. It's not "immutable", it's Atomic OCI cloud based image deployment for your host OS.

It's Chromebook easy, it's Fedora "with batteries included/extra steps."

Mint works fine for me.

This question gets asked every week on every Linux community. We should have a pinned thread for this.