Hmm, that’s strange. Can’t think of much else that could prevent that system from displaying anything.
Since you mentioned safe graphics work, can you try enabling the automatic login for your user in GNOME/KDE so the login screen gets skipped?
If that doesn’t work: After booting in normal mode, wait a little bit until it should be at the login screen and then hit Ctrl + Alt + F6 a few times. Does a terminal appear on your screen?
In Sound Mind, a really creative horror game by the makers of the popular “Nightmare House” mod. It has a great atmosphere, an interesting story, regularily goes on sale for 3 bucks, can be bought DRM free on GOG and has a fantastic soundtrack by The Living Tombstone (https://youtu.be/CBIQNiNBbYs ).
Also, there’s a cute cat in the game you can pet.