Your concerns are valid. Initially I made a browser build but the files became too big and itch said it was over the limits (200mb max per file but the biggest was 750mb). I can strongly recommend setting up a Virtual Machine for safely testing if you decide to still give executables a try, then you don't need to worry about bricking your system.
I will give uploading it as a web build another try, but I already tried drastically reducing texture size for the web build (full game was ~80mb afterwards) but despite no error from itch, it didn't properly load :/ I'll let you know if I manage to get it working.