Good explanation! When I had this issue that he has, I was unable to switch between tty's because there was no output at all. Should only need to force restart for it to come back and be fine. But always a good reminder to have backups, time shift is my best friend!
I had this happen the other day on mint as well, I just waited a few minutes till I thought it would be done and restarted (force power off). Everything was fine after that.
How many hours do you put into games?
I think this video showcases an interesting aspect of gaming that I never really thought about before. In their case, they play more games for a shorter amount of time vs spending a large portion of their time in few games.
Personally I'm on the side of spending more of my time in a select number of games. By far I have put no less then 3000-4000 hours in Minecraft. Logged by Steam, I got 1300+ hours in both GTA V and American Truck Simulator
More recently I've been really into Rocket League and Trackmania. These games are notable because I am constantly working to improve and get better at the game. As much replay-ability as much I find enjoyment in succeeding.
From time to time though, I do really enjoy getting into shorter, more story based games. Great examples being Portal 2, Road96, and Firewatch. What kind of gamer are you?
Mindustry, sort of like factorio but open source and free on itch. Although you can also buy it on steam