Is Pop!_OS a Good Choice for a Beginner Who Wants Tiling, Stability, and Casual Gaming?

A lot of the criticism is based on older impressions or on the newer desktop being actively developed. The current version is much better than its early releases, but a project that is still evolving can have rough edges. If you like the interface, trying Pop!_OS first is reasonable rather than rejecting it based on vague comments.

Pop!_OS is perfectly usable as a daily driver, and the built-in tiling is a real advantage. The negative reputation mostly comes from its desktop transition and ongoing development rather than it being universally unstable. Some users have reported issues with hibernation, waking the system, or the lock screen, so hardware-specific testing is still worthwhile.

Fedora Workstation is a strong alternative. You can add the Pop Shell GNOME extension to get automatic tiling while keeping GNOME's mature desktop environment. Fedora is stable, gets fairly current software, and works well for productivity and casual gaming. Your requirements are broad enough that several mainstream distributions could fit.

Other sensible choices include an Ubuntu-based long-term-support release with KDE, Fedora KDE, or openSUSE. KDE offers excellent workspace and customization features, while Fedora provides newer packages. For a beginner, the best choice is often the one whose desktop workflow you already enjoy, since you can always test another distribution later.