I’m on Linux, using Bottles to run pirated games. It adds a little bit of sandboxing, compatdata is usually a weird environment for malware to effectively work in (unless the malware is written specifically for it), if the game is really sketchy then I’d just disable network access for bottles flatpak too just to make sure.

All in all, I do sometimes have a little bit of paranoia and look through processes to see if there’s anything running and periodically go through some folders to see if there’s anything weird or unusual there, I’d still consider my machine to be safe.

As for the last question, PDF’s are an attack vector and should be used with caution. As for other file types, it depends on the software you use to run them - if it’s something pretty barebones that just plays it then it’s usually fine, but if its something more complex and reads some custom data embeded into those files, then it can be a vulnerability. Not a security expert though, but it’s the gist I got from looking at some historical vulnerabilities.

When you’re below max combat level in Runescape

Exactly - if it’s not a forever game, then why play it?

I personally use bottles installed through flatpak for non-steam game needs. Especially if you’re pirating, you can use flatseal to disable things like internet access for bottles (and games that you run through bottles) and inter-process communication, making it just a bit safer if you have trust issues.

Setting bottles up is a bit of a pain, but once you do that you can pretty much run anything through it easily

It’s kinda difficult to find cracked Linux-native games, though one site that I do know which has a section for it is Torrminator. Don’t really want to get in trouble with the mods so can’t post the link, but if you do end up finding the site, then I hope it has whatever games you’re looking for.

A few weeks ago there was this article posted here about why some game companies are trying so hard to kill their old video games and give 0 shits about preservation (as in delisting them from stores, not selling them anymore, etc.).

One of the answers given by the publishers in the article basically boils down to “old, preserved games would compete with the newer ones and eat into their sales”, which does say quite a lot - they don’t care about losing sales of older video games, all that matters is the sales of the newer ones, preservation be damned.

Media on their way to doxx and leak every single detail about a guy who killed some rich heartless exec

Ducky keyboards if they were actually good

There’s torrminator for once, it has a section for linux cracks specifically. There’s also a large collection on the internet archive of native linux games that you’d have to find for yourself (to keep in line with the rules), but it shouldn’t be too difficult.

I personally use bottles via flatpak and flatseal to make the games not connect to the internet when it’s not needed just in case.

If you want native linux games, there are sites for that.