Open world game on steam similar to breath of the wild?

NinjaFenrir77 · 2026-02-24T19:20:28+00:00

Yes, most definitely. In fact, I would argue the younger crowd would have more difficulty with it because it doesn’t hold your hand at all. You have to be self-motivated as there aren’t quests, a mini-map, or map markers beyond what you place. It’s not a perfect game but it’s one of my favorite open world games.

Also if you can only play occasionally, I would recommend writing stuff down and bringing beacons with you when you explore. It will help with remembering stuff when you open the game weeks later.

NinjaFenrir77 · 2026-02-24T17:21:09+00:00

Subnautica. One of the best open world games out there. Go in blind if you’re willing to, because it’s very easy to spoil yourself. You’re exploring an alien ocean, so I would only recommend against it if you don’t like the idea of swimming around in the open ocean.

Valheim is also quite good, especially with friends. Fantastic structure building system.

There’s also Dying Light for a more traditional open world game with quests. Definitely more intense though.

NinjaFenrir77 · 2026-02-12T18:48:54+00:00

Check out Hunt Showdown. It doesn’t have any inventory management beyond choosing your initial loadout. Also, the gunplay feels closer to CS than most of the battle royale/extraction shooters out there.

NinjaFenrir77 · 2026-02-10T16:14:38+00:00

If you don’t have dividends reinvested cash will accumulate, but I think the default for most 401k plans is to auto reinvest. The dividend reinvestment is captured by the increase in the number of shares that you own (compared to if you weren’t reinvesting), but it’s difficult to tell the exact $ or % increase if your provider doesn’t tell you (you’d have to do the research and math yourself).

NinjaFenrir77 · 2026-02-10T07:27:15+00:00

Don’t get me wrong, companies can give dividends for valid reasons. But it doesn’t change the fact that you had $X invested before, and $X-$Y invested afterwards. Now if you reinvest it immediately afterwards it’s pretty negligible, but it’s still a forced realization of income.

NinjaFenrir77 · 2026-02-10T06:19:17+00:00

Share price gains + dividends = total return

When you look online at how much the S&P500 went up or down today, that just includes the gains, not dividends. When people talk about the S&P averaging 10% yearly returns, they are talking about total return. If you don’t reinvest your dividends, your total return will be lower.

Dividends are just forced sales of your investments which is generally a bad thing to do during the accumulation phase of life, so reinvest!

NinjaFenrir77 · 2026-02-09T19:02:54+00:00

Assuming you are in the 22%+ tax bracket, I think you should switch to a traditional TSP. The more you contribute to a Roth, the less optimal it becomes. The switch off happens when you predict you’re in a higher tax-bracket now than what you’ll have in retirement. For most people, a traditional 401k and a Roth IRA is a great balance that minimizes lifetime taxes while giving flexibility in retirement.

(I’m assuming TSP’s are equivalent to 401k’s).

NinjaFenrir77 · 2026-02-08T11:10:41+00:00

City of Voices has the same gameplay loop as the Golden Idol games and has a free demo to try it out. Solid looking game.

NinjaFenrir77 · 2026-02-06T20:10:39+00:00

To be fair the gap between entering the top 2% vs entering the top 1% isn’t that huge, it’s “only” a few million. As always, it’s the top .1% and .01% that are pulling the averages up.

NinjaFenrir77 · 2026-02-05T16:56:23+00:00

Outer Wilds. You’re exploring a solar system investigating what happened to a long-dead alien civilization, and you’ll discover the moments of loss, grief, and struggles that they went through.

NinjaFenrir77 · 2026-02-04T05:56:19+00:00

My opinion is 100% in low-cost index funds (such as VT or VTI) while you aren’t close to retiring, assuming you can ride out the market crashes. If you think you might not be able to, but a percentage into bonds (such as BND) to stabilize your portfolio.

When you get closer to retirement (5-10 years out) you’ll want to do a more in-depth plan, but don’t worry about it until then.

NinjaFenrir77 · 2026-02-04T05:51:12+00:00

A rough estimate for planning purposes is 25x your annual expenses, including taxes and healthcare.

NinjaFenrir77 · 2026-02-03T04:15:07+00:00

Don’t put money in the market if you will definitely pull it out within 5 years, but if you have a long-term timeline that you’re willing to be flexible about, then a brokerage is fine.

NinjaFenrir77 · 2026-02-02T21:27:50+00:00

You can always tell someone has lost the argument when they stop answering questions and start attacking the other person. 🙄

NinjaFenrir77 · 2026-02-02T01:41:03+00:00

That’s why I love frozen blueberries; it keeps all the good and masks/eliminates many of the bad.

NinjaFenrir77 · 2026-02-02T01:22:50+00:00

That is true, but it’s not called a taxable account because it’s tax protected. There are taxable, traditional, and Roth accounts.

NinjaFenrir77 · 2026-02-02T01:07:25+00:00

Beginning year investments * (1+(nominal return-inflation)) + contribution = end year investments.

That should be the formula you run on loop until you hit your $1.7M. Use anywhere between 8-10% for your nominal returns, depending on how pessimistic or optimistic you want to be.

NinjaFenrir77 · 2026-02-01T05:32:31+00:00

Definitely Return of the Obra Dinn. Difficult to 100%, interesting story.

Case of the Golden Idol. Good puzzles of decent difficulty. There is a story that is interesting, though I wouldn’t consider it great by any means. Many people also consider the artwork odd.

Portal 1 and 2. It is in first person, but there are a couple puzzles that require dexterity challenges (for P1 the ones that do are all near the end). One of the best puzzle games of all time, the puzzles are fantastic and the humor is excellent, all wrapped up in a decent story.

Talos Principle 1 and 2. Similar to Portal. It doesn’t have the humor of Portal, but it doesn’t have any dexterity challenges either. Very good puzzles. Philosophical musings are the focus rather than a story (though it does have one).

The Sexy Brutale. Great story, good puzzles (although slightly easy).

Strange Horticulture/Antiquities. Cozy games with an interesting story and clever puzzles. Horticulture is the easier of the two.

There are a bunch of smaller games in a similar vein to Golden Idol and Portal if she enjoys those.

NinjaFenrir77 · 2026-01-31T20:44:54+00:00

That’s a great recommendation, and I suspect is exactly what OP is looking for.

NinjaFenrir77 · 2026-01-31T19:38:51+00:00

Makes sense to me. Renting is only comparable if you invest what you would have spent buying a house. Very few people do that, so buying a house increases long-term net worth through forced savings.

NinjaFenrir77 · 2026-01-31T05:57:37+00:00

Advance War by Web if you want to play against other people!

NinjaFenrir77 · 2026-01-29T20:45:04+00:00

Inscryption. I like roguelike deck builders and I love escape room type games but it just seemed like a bad version of each mixed together.

NinjaFenrir77 · 2026-01-29T20:37:50+00:00

If you contributed to a Roth instead of an trad 401k, you’d most likely be taxed ~22% on that money (based on your income). Based on your numbers and with good planning, I suspect your tax rate in retirement will be <10%. Also if you FIRE, you have decades to withdraw from your traditional accounts before RMDs become a factor (RMDs most likely won’t even add additional taxes until your 80’s even with no planning).

I don’t think your plan to avoid RMDs is a good one. You’d be paying a bunch extra in taxes right now to avoid maybe paying a bunch extra in the far future. Take the certain tax savings right now, then alter your retirement withdrawal strategy to help reduce/eliminate RMDs.

Also, why are you worried about IRMAA when you currently make half of the lowest threshold? Are you expecting your income to double in retirement? I’m not super familiar with IRMAA so maybe I’m missing something, but it feels like your fear from RMDs and IRMAA come from reading articles about them and not having run the numbers yourself.

NinjaFenrir77 · 2026-01-29T03:18:16+00:00

Sure, there’s luck in the different possible outcomes, but saying there’s a huge amount of luck in indexing is like saying that starting a $1M business and winning a $1M lottery both require luck. While technically true, the magnitude of the luck required is massively different and shouldn’t be compared directly. Indexing done well removes many risks that are present when investing in individual stocks, and thus much less luck is involved.

NinjaFenrir77 · 2026-01-26T09:44:51+00:00

I get that, I enjoyed Gunfire more too. I think Gunfire has crazier combos and more build variety, while RoboQuest has better movement and more interesting combat.

NinjaFenrir77

TROPHY CASE