I second this if he can find a 2013~2017 for free/cheaper, I use an old Macbook Air with EndeavourOS mostly for writing, but my use case is not that far from OP’s, it also runs some old games.
It is light and portable, and it is just as easy to find a refurbished option as the Thinkpad (at least in NA).
My only problems are with the drivers(the Wi-FI and the FacetimeHD camera) and the charging cable.
I tried a bunch of distros, but only with EndeavourOS I got them to work easily.
That said, if OP prefers better Linux support, and better cost x performance. He will be better suited with a Thinkpad T or X (T480/T490 or X280) refurbished will be in the price range.
X280 is barely above 1Kg, with a smaller screen.
T480 is chunkier, bigger screen and Ethernet port.
I remember the first comment I got on online was “you suck”. But it was soon drowned by encouragement words and constructive feedback.
About Hollow Knight, by the time this got posted on reddit, the game was already funded through kickstarter - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/11662585/hollow-knight
What this image does not show is the amount of support this post received, more than 20k upvotes and plenty of endearing messages on reddit only.
If I sort by votes, I had to scroll a bit to get to that 756 votes message.
It is important to filter and properly process the messages you receive. There are some mean and unnecessary messages on that image (and on the reddit thread), but they do not show the full picture and at that time could easily be ignored.