I agree. Mint > Ubuntu. I think anything is better than Ubuntu tbh, lol

> Bonus points if it has some Windows apps compatibility & Gaming.

I heard [Proton](https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton) should work quite well these days. [ProtonDB](https://www.protondb.com/) lists how compatible games are with Linux. But if you play anything remotely competitive online then I think you can forget gaming on Linux. The required anti-cheat software seems to usually not work / exist on Linux. At least that's my experience with Rising Storm 2 and Rocket League. However, League of Legends did work iirc. (It's been some time since I tried gaming on Linux though.)

Mint is solid and more windows like. I recommend Fedora with Gnome but I haven't used Winblows since 98 and I don't game at all. 