The Simulated Universe is Disappointing (Honkai: Star Rail)

I have played this mode a few times and doing mad damage not sure what u talking about but ran thru this mode with 4 stars only and doing mad damage and glad about this mode.. I like it ❤!! It's helps f2p players and new players is what it's marketing.. for people who don't have a lot of characters

These game modes are so boring and hard for me to do that i don't even do them for jades even when i'm in desperate need of stellar jades. (like i have 11k rn and i need more. but no way in hell am i going to waste my time playing SU. it's more boring and dreadful then doing homework)

The only things I liked about the new SU mode are the lore and jades you get for completing it. Other than that it was so dissapointing. As a lot of people have said already, the characters barely deal any damage, everything comes down to your scepters. Playing SU already feels repetitive as it is and now you are forced to do nothing during the battles, simply watching your scepters do the damage for you. I almost died of boredom completing this SU mode.

the U.D. feels much more f2p friendly, but at the same time, TOO f2p friendly to the point the characters you use literally don't matter

An iteration of the mode that would be SO SIMPLE yet SO FUN would just be making a version where the paths are the 7 elements in the game. Make a mode where the elements matter more than they do now, kinda like in genshin. Maybe allow them to react with each other like in genshin idk, do something with elements.

I don’t fully agree with this. While yeah the scepters were kind of meh to me (as a hardcore simulated universe enjoyer) the thing I figured out was “how do I make these scepters go off as often as possible” and also that 4pc eagle and err ropes are a blessing 😂 since our characters stats didn’t matter. I had a tank Kafka and Swan and 4pc guard Clara run. It’s not great, I prefer the other simu content, but at least they experimented with something

I'm the kind of player who despises the use of "auto combat" because I want to actually experience what I'm doing, plus my anxiety demands I have some level of control over what's happening. Despite hating Swarm Disaster, I managed to clear all of it using Nihility paths because that's my favorite playstyle. But with Unknowable Domain, each level I go up, is like the game is telling me "Yeah, just turn on auto combat and go do something else, your characters won't be doing anything at all lol". And even worse, the RNG elements of DU I hate so much are here as well.

Bro has NEVER stepped foot into Elysian Realm in HI3 because it literally addresses all these issues😭

The joy of HSR is in the characters. The scepters are awful and are not engaging at all. The highest decision making and engagement is only at the upgrade screen, and slotting in upgrades. But to be honest, that part is boring. And the actual combat could just be auto'd considering how de-emphasized your characters' damage is. Truly the worst SU updates. Don't know how this one got past the devs.

It was fun at start but 5th version with only a few changes is a little too much.

SU has been pretty disappointing to me since after 1.1 It's been content that always says it changes but it's still the same thing over and over with only the methods of obtaining the buffs being different.

I've honestly always felt very conflicted about the Simulated Universe variations

The OG Simulated Universe: It's just... too plain. There's not enough going on, and it feels very monotonous. I dreaded each time when I had to complete it for the weekly rewards. It just wasn't fulfilling in any way, and farming for the ornaments was absolutely tedious because you had to go through a FULL RUN each time just to farm some relics

Swarm Disaster: Okay, I'll say this as someone who just recently spent hours without break going from a 0 to a 100 on it basically. I had completed right about every task that gives you a reward. Honestly? I don't know. It was an interesting concept of planning your route depending on the tasks you were trying to complete, but ultimately it was for the most part just going through the runs, hoping for the best results and for your luck, and sometimes ending the runs prematurely because there was no reason to finish them once you've completed the task you were hoping for, because some tasks required you to restart the run completely to plan it out better. I also only had to go with one team this whole time, and it was a FuA team with Aventurine, the absolute goat that carried me and my sanity. I was definitely able to have fun with other paths, and I managed to beat a lot of runs when choosing elation, the hunt, propagation, etc, but my main go-to was preservation. Maybe that's just skill issue, or the fact that I don't have enough built teams, but still

Gold and Gears: Uhh... I'm not gonna lie, I still have no idea what to do with it. I don't really understand it so I can't say much about it. I think the tasks are confusing, and I would absolutely love to complete it, but I can't for the life of me understand how to progress in it

Unknowable Domain: I still didn't get as far in it yet, but from what I've tried so far it's a mixed bag for me. On one hand, my characters are still not perfect and need a lot more improvement, so it allows me to get the rewards much easier. On the other hand, that kind of defeats the point of trying? Because at the end of the day I can just make the specters do the job for me and just chill. The concept is interesting, but the execution...

Divergent Universe: Finally, the goat. Now this is just my personal bias and I will admit it, but I absolutely love it. The difficulties are definitely challenging and actually push you to not only select better blessings, but to also build your characters and try different teams. It also adjusts the levels and builds of your characters that are lesser built, which is absolutely cool. If you only want the weekly rewards, you just get in and get out, it's pretty simple if you're not trying to sweat it, and it's quick enough if you maxed out all the boosts. You can also save the file of your run and use it to farm for the ornaments, and if you get REALLY good blessings and curios, you can clear the bosses in like a minute if not less, not to mention you actually get to use support characters just like with any other relic farming. I find it to be super fun and pretty chill


All in all, I like the challenges, and I like the tasks you have to complete to get the rewards in each variant. It's just the execution that's the problem. Don't get me wrong, when everything is too easy it's not fun, obviously challenges shouldn't be easy. I love working my back off to complete an achievement, and I enjoy a good challenge, and it's definitely fulfilling when your efforts finally pay off, but in most cases it's just monotonous rerunning over and over again with little to no change. You can just use the same team for every mode and still be fine. Especially if you have Aventurine, a very strong abundance character, or an overpowered main damage dealer like Acheron, Feixiao, etc.

Honestly the initial story for the event hooked me in and then we got to the harder levels and see my units barely do damage. At least in DU they were doing something and in UD... Everything is up to the Scepters.

Now I'm just playing for the jades since eh, free shit is free shit.

HSR has been doing well with endgame modes (not the best but still) but UD just kinda falls flat especially picking specific archetypes in the beginning where it feels even more limiting.

Like my E2s1 acheron's 1.7 mil damage looks like a feather hitting a forehead with septers hitting 15 mil with just one barrage.

GnG and Swarm still the best mode theyve made this new one is odd i dont think you character factors anymore...you just need to attack and wait for the thing to attack. My point its boring...

Unknowable domain is such a nothing burger gamemode where you just had the game play for you. There's no fun in playing it manually and one fight could last a couple minutes or even longer. Might as well call it the AFK Domain at this point

Charcaters being cool is fine and all but it's a video game. And gameplay is king

Underrated channel. Earned a subscription.

For me, I don't like it when I have to do a specific content that the game tells me to. It's the same reason I skipped Acheron and Firefly and I have zero regrets because i can clear everything experimenting with different teams. Here in this game mode, the characters I'm using don't do anything and I'm barely even in control. I just build the spectres who do their own thing, so it's barely a skill thing, just a RNG fest.

Eh I did make it that far & watched the whole thing. Usually I agree with you but this time not so much.

I love SU cause it actually gives us content besides just playing the other 3 end game modes that have big power creep issues rn (looking at you super fast hoolay that only has a few character options to actually win).

And once you finish those 3 end game modes u gotta wait like 40 days for em to cycle back at least SU is rouge like and you can have fun playing for the ppl that wanna play more. Everything will have a meta that's just how it is.

I do like znmms proposal to adding more floors to MOC instead of just inflating the numbers in the background for floor 12 but they won't do that cause it's a gacha game n more floors would = more jades.

So at the very least players can have fun in SU and I think they should be adding more SU game modes faster than they are cause when you finish em there's nothing to do but log out and wait for daily reset.

So yeah your other videos are good but doom posting SU the best content we got ain't it.

I completely agree with everything here. To add to the problem, the SU (in the lore) was created to learn about the Aeons. I played through every mode in the UD, and I can't remember a single time when the Aeons were even brought up. It may just be my bad memory that's making me forget, so correct me if I'm wrong there.
Also, don't get me wrong, I like farming for jades. I'm glad I do. But, I feel much more incentivized to do so as long as there's a story attached to it. Otherwise, it's just boring and feels incredibly mind-numbing.

Idk how hoyo managed to flop so badly with SU expansions after Gold and Gears

havent done the new SU but i stopped trying the harder swarm or G&G because later stages just one shot u. theres zero fun in that, honestly. G&G also has too much effect to choose from honestly i dont have the fucking time to read

I fully played through (minus the harder difficulty) the Unknowable domain and while it’s gameplay with the scepters was meh, I did really like the story and FINALLY getting meet Kakamond

I disagree with the premise. Yes, a roguelike should have a lot of variety, but many players chase a specific build anyways. To put it simply, you're blaming a skill issue on the devs. To be clear, the devs could've done more, they always can. But, in any rouguelike, at least the one's I've played, the challenge comes from within.

Players will always optimize the fun out of the games they play, this applies to roguelikes as well, but it's a tall task to ask the devs to balance the games live, especially when there's so many account states to account for. Great roguelikes are roguelikes first, and can thus eat that development cost, but HSR is a gacha game/character collector/resource management game first.

The HSR devs, imo, solved for the problem you brought up quite well. Every few patches they have a new SU, in which there's a ton of character variety. Yes, the 'meta' is eventually established, but the next SU will change things up, you just have to wait. I could be wrong but, in which versions of SU was the meta ever the same?

At the rate HSR is going, there will be a game mode with a meta where nearly every character can shine. More can be done now yes, but they've shown to be constantly improving. It also feels like you're overlooking the new player experience, but others have already covered it.

You bring some intereating points, tho i dont agree with nost of your points. Lets start with your complains bout previous SU, you mentioned that every run in higher conundrum will end up with you fishing for preservation or rememberance blessings to do everything for you which is sinply not true. You have a choice to go in whatever path you want, and you have a choice to hunt for Hunt blessings to make arlan go infinate ammount of times and slot in few elations so his ultimate counts as followup for crazy combos same way you have a choice to optimise your arlon team for sustainless 0 cycle or to use ooga boonga braindead firefly for same result. Its your choice to follow easy path or play around. For new SU, you approaching it wrong, its not about showcasing you caracters (we already have 4 different gamemodes for that), its about finding new synergies and doing thing you couldnt to do before, have you considered using serval cuz of her low ult cost to just spam it infinatly in this new gamemode? There are items that will give her energy after all. Overall, i like your video, i am glad you are not afraid to share your opinion and that community agrees with you, i leave you a thumbs up 👍

i think it would be a great idea to equip effects onto your characters and give them special effects instead of equipping them on faceless summons that do everything for you

I hate scepters. There are so many and they're so complicated that I just focus on type and getting collecting 3 of a kind.

It is a shame since the lore sections were really interesting, but I can't bring myself to go back and wring all the rewards out of that mode.

Gold and Gears was peak and I don’t think any future SU expansions will come close 🥲🥲 UD is a little fun tho when the scepters start looping and kill a boss before they can even attack. When fighting hoolay he entered his 3rd phase, a scepter went off and that was the end of it 🤣 the follow up scepters are my favorites

The unknowable domain is the only expansion that has this issue and it being an expansion keeps its fairly isolated. SU has largely, esp with DU been about forming a build around your team's main archetype, and then picking all the right blessings and curios to make the team work.

In SU the heroes are the equivalent of the weapons you pick in traditional roguelites and in the majority of SU this has largely been the case.
Every roguelite ive tried has the manual items you get to use that have their own mechanics and also the passive mechanics that proc by just you existing, quake and dissociation isnt a unique thing to Hsr and to an extend its unfair to say you dont benefit from building teams around these effects.

Personally I feel like UD is a lackluster update and im thankful its an expansion that ill be done and wont have to repeat weekly. As a wacky self contained mode Im happy that it exists because its very diff from everything else in SU and thats the main thing about SU, it flips on its head with new itterations.

Ofc as you suggest they could go way harder and add more transformative mechanics and effects, even change how characters play, however one, I dont think that would make very much sense in a gacha game and two, the aim is for it to probably be a rather simple and silly gamemode that you repeat once a week rather than smth you spend most of your time playing and the depth of it reflects that.

The Simulated Universe has never disappointed me

You are what disappoints me

I legit seethed when you clicked against the unclaimed curio LMFAO

i dont understand. i like the SU mechanics. if you want to see your well invested characters kill everything theres moc, pure fiction, apocalyptic shadow, normal SU, swarm disaster, g&g and DU. your points on preservation and remembrance paths arent fair at all. those paths are just the easy ways to complete it, where you dont need well invested characters. all the other paths and builds perform just as well. i enjoyed the galactic baseballer event, and i'm enjoying the conundrum levels of unknowable domain. i like seeing my unbuilt march 7th and clara triggering scepters that deal millions of damage.
but i do like the suggestion to make characters do crazy things, and i hope the devs make that the next new SU gimmick.

its so auto mod and not at the same time

They've started going quantity over quality with SU: SD and especially GnG were unique, innovative, and quite fun IMO, but now they just release new modes for the sake of having new modes.

I realized very early on I would not enjoy SU long term and hoyo is just giving me every reason under the sun to feel validated.

Every run takes way too long, it ALWAYS boils down to just clicking auto battle and no real strategy other than "pick buffs that lineup with your designated playstyle", and then their idea of "updating" it is just adding a glorified version of an old event into SU like they did with Swarm, G&G and now the new one where it's effectively the scepters doing all the damage while your team is a cosmetic choice.





And people call me crazy just cause I don't worship SU as an "endgame" mode and instead treat it like an overly glorified sink full of dishes I have to do each week for scraps.

Arlan mention 🎉

I think they kinda got it right with Gold & Gears. I think what I like the most about it is this ability it gives you to manipulate the map and the way you play differently when using different dice. It's by far the most fun of the different roguelike modes in HSR. Tho it once again has that issue that on higher difficulties it becomes too statchecky and your characters don't matter which is by far the biggest issue about the high difficulty sim universe.

Arknights's Integrated Strategies gamemodes do a much better job at making your characters feel important but they have another issue which is that you can pretty easily force the same characters every run instead of this roguelike way of playing with what you get tho it does still have some of that with voucher rng. Overall it's imo quite a lot better than sim universe despite some of the issues it has.

YAS! I absolutely agree with you. In the beginning, as the game launched, it was so exciting to explore and understand the simulated universe. Then the first upgrade arrived and it felt so limited. Since then simulate universe is a synonymous of something forced. There’s no “you do you” and just “you have ALL theses amazing 3 options, well, 1 honestly cuz your free to play and barely have anything here on your account but let’s call 3 options, yeah, sure!”

I disagree— I think at the beginning it DID check those boxes—I remember a video called “I didn’t get Seelie so I made my own” and it used physical MC (shows you how old that was) to fully fill the ult charge upon a kill. Then looped that over and over. That was the best! Unique abilities that let you do things the character could NEVER normally do.

That said I totally agree with the scepter thing. I find them boring and annoying, I’m not motivated to craft unique builds and theory craft because they don’t utilize my characters… I just set it on auto equip to get it over with…

But imagine a mode where everything is stripped—light cones, gear, etc. and you build the character with wacky gear and accessories that do those kind of buffs you mentioned. It would be SO cool—weird wacky builds and fodder for crazy videos like the one I mentioned. And it would let Hoyo test things, and PLAYERS test things to apply to the main game! Like synergy between units that may have otherwise gone overlooked.

I hope to see that one day

Great takes. Just one correction, the entire game is disappointing at this point.
Firefly was the worst thing that happened to the game, and then Aventurine came...

I remember doing the trial run of this mode when it came out thinking it was going to be fun but. No. It's not. I didn't bother with it after that lmao

That being said, I don't mind the simplicity of blessings in Sim Uni. While yeah it's RNG and more could be done with it, I like that strategy of picking the blessings that benefit me the most and the way each path has their own dedicated special effect - imo, Divergent Universe's equations between the different paths add an extra layer of strategy that I adore. Everyone have their own preferences for their runs, like people often pick Preservation or Abundance for the higher difficulties, but I am a devoted Aftertaste and Critical Boost Believer. You will never catch me holding a single Preservation or Abundance blessing, I either die like a man or I will be the person one shotting the enemies in V8. No in-between.

I saw this problem exactly when I was grinding pulls in the NORMAL simulated universe. I'm a new player (started on Dhil's last rerun) and I only have Dhil, Aven, JY, and Bronya. Most of the endgame content is really hard to clear bc I don't have enough characters/the right characters. I only tread on Hunt/Preservation/Remembrance in sim uni since all the other path resonances suck compared. There's no incentive to pick other things when one is SO much better than the rest and it's not even close. Thats my biggest problem in this game actually, why pick the creative/fun/different options when there is one that outclasses it by FAR

I agree

My rappa did 2 million vs ONE sceptor doing like 20 million 😭 why add the sceptors if its not to benefit the characters in different ways? Its way more fun that way

That is the whale perspective where you want to do everything with the characters you spend money on, for a f2p is actually a refreshing mode bringing HSR to new heights and not just another p2w gacha game

I just came back to honkai. Played the training run and one run of this mode, felt like my characters were just batteries for dumb modules to do tons of damage immediately and quit the game for today. That wasn't fun. At all. It was a slug to finish swarm disaster (which i worked on rather than gold and gears at the time), but only towards the end. This was a slug, immediately.
Maybe it's because i did not have the best characters on the team or bc my builds are bad, but even for the first difficulty/run available, i felt like i was doing jack sht.

And looking at yt for this mode, it's only gonna get worse

HSR would do well with a pvp mode like Epic Seven it can be seperated by Eidilons on or off and it wouldnt be Real time you'd be fighting a copy of someone's team with yours

I agree and If I can also add, remaking the whole system was the worst. The other expansions and Divergent Universe work with the same blessing system we know since day 1 and add more layers of complexity to it making it feel like an actual expansion. UD is literally a wall of text and you can just put the auto configuration and auto battle and thats your gameplay. It also wastes your time with how tanky the enemies are and you having to wait for every scepter attack. At least the others SU you one shot ot get oneshot, which is not ideal either but doesn't waste your time at least.

Its honestly very repetitive and gets boring im currently trying complete everything for jades but its not even enjoyable anymore😭