I would also say “just install debian and then you can install cinnamon, uninstall Gnome, and bam, debloated Mint is yours.”
But outside of that, I’d back up important files and try uninstalling some shit, fuck it. Worst case scenario you have to reinstall (or since it’s a VM just snapshot it or whatever, you know what I mean, the thing where you can revert changes, like Jim Browning uses for scammers), live and learn. All the packages you listed so far should be no problem.