Computer Hope

Hi,
I know I don't know a lot about this so please bear with me. I bought an Asus Tuf Gaming A15 laptop because I wanted to play games with very high requirements however I also like games on the older side, which clash with the pre-installed Win11 in terms of compatibility. I know virtual machines are a thing but I find Win11 overall stuffy and insufferable, so I'm wondering if it would be doable to downgrade to Win8 instead. I've tried looking online and didn't really get an answer, but generally opinions are split on whether downgrading is safe or not, so I don't wanna jump into it carelessly.