I wouldnt limit yourself to native linux. Check out protondb.com. You can even use non-steam games through steam for use with proton (or if you're feeling more technical you could use other tools that are more hands on).
Stardew Valley is really lightweight and Linux native.
Since you mentioned battery being an issue and that you just switched to Linux, have you looked into using TLP or Powertop to try doing some tweaks to squeeze out a bit more? It's been years since I've used Linux on a laptop, but that's what I used.
OpenTTD is an open source game based on TTD (Transport Tycoon Deluxe). Basically you just connect cities and industries with each other by different forms of transport like trains, busses, airplanes, etc.
All Steam Deck verified games should play just fine on that laptop. While Intel Xe graphics are not the greatest, Steam Deck is restricted to 15W and you laptop is not.
I'm a fan of card games like Slay the Spire, Dicey Dungeons, and Monster Train run on practically anything. There's hundreds of hours of fun in there if you're into these games.
Rimworld is pretty resource light and runs native on Linux. Has the benefit of being one o of the greatest games ever, too. If you're into to that kind of game (colony resource management and light war crimes)
This is what I have from Steam on my Linux laptop, similar HW, a bit older:
Baba Is You, The Binding of Isaac, Celeste, Crypt of the Necrodancer, Darkest Dungeon, Dicey Dungeons, Enter the Gungeon, FTL, Hollow Knight, Into the Breach, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, Monster Train, Opus Magnum, Slay the Spire, Spelunky.
And traditional roguelikes are always good: Crawl, Brogue, Nethack.
The Battle for Wesnoth is one of those oldies but goldies when it comes to Linux gaming.
I'd also heartily recommend trying out OpenMW (not just because I'm part of the team there) as a modern way to play Morrowind, though the upcoming release is not entirely finished, there are a few blockers being hammered away at still.
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. It's free and open source available as a download or in browser here. Not sure if your familiar with traditional roguelikes, but it's basically a permadeath turn based rpg. I finally picked it back up recently and have been addicted. Finally got my first won today after some 300 games.
Small list from me:
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, Caves of Qud, Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead, ADOM, Reigns, SanctuaryRPG: Black Edition, King's Quest, Liberal Crime Squad. The old Elder Scrolls Arena and Daggerfall are also currently available for free. I see Daggerfall is playable with DosBox/Lutris, I assume Arena is as well.
I've seen OpenMW mentioned (and it's fantastic), but you might want to check out Daggerfall Unity as well. The game's available at no cost, and you can find a zip of the necessary game files on the install guide in the dfworkshop forums.
It's way better than the old DOS version, and it supports mods, too.
I mean, if you install Steam, you're not that limited in terms of ports, are you? Just about any game being solidified for the Steam Deck to run through Proton will also have the same effect on other Linux distros.
Of course, if it's a low-end laptop, you'd aim for relatively simple, 2D or old games, but they don't explicitly have to be ported to Linux.
If you want an old classic, I've been playing rollercoaster tycoon 2 recently and there is an open source engine for it (openrct2) that has native linux compatibility. The controls take some getting used to, But I think that artstyle looks totally amazing.
Deus Ex, the first game. Easy to run, a lot of rpg elements. Half-life 1 and 2 are obvious choices and I think have Linux ports. Emulation is definitely a good route to go as well. A lot of good RPGs on consoles that are easy to emulate.
Veloren is inspired by games such as Cube World, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Dwarf Fortress and Minecraft.
You can play single player or multi-player, standalone or use an online server, or even host your own server in a Docker container, or on a Raspberry Pi. Plenty of options!
You start by creating your character, you can collect items for your inventory, you can craft items, there are weapons and combat, you develop skills, can tame creatures, you can trade with merchants, you can socialise, and lost more. There is no single, specific goal or focus, and the idea is to keep exploring and have adventures.
The game is community driven and actually updates quite regularly.
It is clearly no clone of Minecraft. It is fun and adventure!
I've heard lots of good things about Chained Echoes, a recently released JRPG in the style of those older NES / SNES games. Might be up your alley. Runs natively on Linux afaik.
The Shadowrun games from Harebrained Schemes are some of the best RPGs I've ever played, and they all have native Linux versions. Daggerfall's my favourite, but all three are good.
Do you like ARPGs? Titan Quest is a Greek mythology themed Diablo II clone that has some nice improvements over D2. It's usually pretty cheap on Steam.
I know that you can run TES 4 Oblivion decently well on Linux with a Windows emulator (WINE). I had a few odd graphics glitches like a gigantic texture of a tree just completely taking over the sky. I guess it wanted to be some kind of Yggdrasil tree or something.
It ran well though, and on a early 2010-era laptop. I don't know about mod compatibility though.
Brotato has very modest system requirements and kind has some elements of a micro arpg if you squint. I haven't tried vampire survivors on my low end system yet, but I'm hopeful it has similar system requirements as it has a similar sort game style.
Not exactly text based, but the old sierra style games are still a blast to play. Leisure Suit Larry, Maniac Mansion, Thimbleweed Park. They sure don't need many resources to play.
Not an answer to your question but when you say " I find that it has battery issues trying to play anything fancy like Skyrim" do you mean that the battery drains while plugged in or that you are mainly playing while not plugged in and your battery life is really short.
If it is the former then you might just need to buy a higher wattage power adapter to sustain. The power draw.
If you install ScummVM you can play most of the Lucasarts titles! All of these games are top tier (Monkey Island, day of the Tentacle etc) and you would enjoy!
https://r-roms.github.io/megathread/sony/ I found this absolute treasure trove of roms if you want. well I was waiting for my main gaming pc to be shipped I pretty much lived off old ps2 games like ratchet and clank 2
Maybe a game like terraria? It's a native linux game and hella fun!
Or if you want a more chill game maybe something like Gris? It has a gold rating on ProtonDB so should work fine. Gives u the feels too which is a bonus.
Maybe I haven't scrolled far enough, but haven't seen anyone recommending Persona, if so I definitely recommend it, in this case, Persona 4, which I played.
There's also Fable Anniversary, the classic Xbox exclusive RPG, both games are also Deck Verified.
Try Factorio great automation simulator but this game shoul come with a warning it is practicly a full time job or if you want something to play for hour daily i love Deep Rock Galactic. Both games are quite easy to run and doesnt take much disk space especially DRG have like 5GB i dont know how.
Nuclear Throne. It's a fun Roguelike dungeon crawler. A run from beginning to "end" (last level before looping) can take 15min and I've spent 100s of hours playing over the years.There' are so many characters you can choose to play, each with its own unique special ability.
Might be interested in Endless Sky? It's a 2d spaceship simulator/RPG. I haven't played it in a while but I only started encountering performance issues when my fleet was 40+ ships large and at that point I kinda get it
One Hour One Life and Two Hours One Life (open source) can be run on pretty much any computer.
The concept is: you're born as a baby or a fertile woman and you have to gather and build to survive. Your maximum age is 60 years (OHOL) or 120 years (2HOL) and you hunt, gather, build tools, have babies and raise them. You can become the matriarch of a huge multigenerational family and build towns, buildings, farms, roads and weapons. People keep adding to it, I haven't played in awhile but I think they have cars and airplanes now.
The graphics are MS Paint-quality but the gameplay is so incredibly fun. Highly recommend.
edit to add: also after you die you can go look at your offspring and their offspring, whether they're still alive, what they died of etc. It's a great community game. You can also run private servers if you want to play with friends instead of strangers.
If you like text-based adventure games, check out ifdb.org for a massive store of free and abandoned text-based games. You can play in-browser or on any OS with a native client, Linux and Android included
Most indie games that are deck verified should work just fine. I'm playing DREDGE on my deck at the moment - absolutely recommend this one and the battery life is phenomenal. Apart from that Factorio or FTL will keep you busy for days (and nights...)
I recently played through every Deus Ex game on linux, first 2 are oibviously low end, and maybe Human Revolution , it came out in 2011. the original and Human revolution are pretty good if you like rpgs, Invisible war the second game is alright but pretty light on some elements that make those two great, cause it was made i think with thje original xbox in mind instead of pc.
Well steam has proton, which can run many, many windows games at generally good speeds. I suggest looking at older games and indie games, as they will run best on your Xe. For example, the Heroes of Might and Magic series, particularly 3 and 5 are very good 4x/RPG hybrids. Find interesting games then go to protondb.com and see if its 'gold' or better