Check out Nobara. It is based on Fedora, comes out of the box with everything Bazzite has for gaming (Steam, gamepad/joystick support, etc…) but is not an immutable distro and not as heavily locked down.
I’ve been a Windows systems admin professionally for 20+ years and although I’ve managed a few Linux systems professionally, at home I’ve mainly used Debian for tinkering, running Docker, and dedicated servers for me and my friends. My personal PCs have always been Windows based.
I really wanted to use a Debian based distro, because its what I have most familiarity with, but there just isn’t one that isn’t Ubuntu based or updated frequently enough for the gaming I like to do. I’m sticking to Deb for my servers. Fedora is just as mature and reliable, and gives me the degree of control I want over system config without being cumbersome. I have some pretty specific network config and software requirements that necessitated some tinkering in /etc and .conf files that Bazzite was not going to let me do.
I also wanted a PC that just worked, minimal tinkering. I do not want to spend my gaming time trying to troubleshoot obscure Linux issues. My personal PC use is like 80% gaming. I have a good virtual infra home lab setup. A Synology NAS that holds my music/movies/file archives.
Nobara setup was a snap. Ditto installing Discord. Both webcam and headset were auto detected. I installed a few flatpak apps including VLC, Putty, Firefox (preferred browser). VLC was able to stream video/audio from my NAS without any additional changes.
Fired up Steam, installed Elite Dangerous, plugged in a T16000 HOTAS joystick and done. Was playing that same night. Ditto any games using my Xbone gamepad.
The only fishing I have had to do online for remedies and workarounds have been related to some small 3rd party apps I use to support games like Elite Dangerous. Most additional software I’ve installed via Flatpak, which is amazing. However, by design flatpak apps run in sandboxed environments and are not given full/free access to the file system. (this is a great thing). I’ve added Flatseal to give me a GUI for modifying flatpak app permissions when needed. (Discord, for example, needed additional permissions to allow me to copy/paste screenshots/pics into chat)
I created a separate partition for installed games. Most guides offering help on installed games assume games/apps are installed or looking in your /home folder, but for me it was on a separate volume, which required permissions tweaking or just looking in a different path.
I cut over during the holiday break. Overall, the transition has been seamless and painless.
I don’t think Ventoy would be the limiter there. It sounds to me like its the live distro version. Those can be restricted to running a few apps and being used to install the full version. Often things like hotplug devices don’t work too well with live distros.
If the system is primarily going to be a server, I’d recommend Debian, but I’m definitely biased. It’s stable, well supported, and documented. I normally install it with the Cinnamon desktop (just in case) and ssh server, and nothing else, then add what I need manually as I go. As a lot of folks in the comments mentioned, the biggest issue with the “stable” distros is that they stay stable by long delaying integrating new modules and drivers. Fantastic for a server, not so great for gaming rigs that are going to need the latest software, fixes, and developments.
My issue with Bazzite, even on a rig that was going to be primarily for gaming was anything else I wanted to do that was not just gaming. You can’t install software from .rpm. I tried making some changes to .conf files via command line (using sudo and root) and was denied, so I just noped my way to Nobara. I’m still recommending Bazzite to a friend who also mostly games on his PC. He’s not nearly as techie, doesn’t have a complicated home network, and just needs something that will plug and play and let him game. And from my perspective as the person he’ll call if something doesn’t work, if it prevents him from breaking things, EVEN BETTER. xD