This is a strange, niche card and I'm not quite sure which investigator it was designed for.

The obvious comparison is with the classic Emergency cache : one action nets you 3 extra ressources. Same Old Thing is immediately less interesting, because you need to have 2 ressources available to play it, and you can only use the ressources for events. An Intellect icon to commit doesn't seem enough to make it worthwhile, and sharing the ressources with others seems situational.

The other major difference is that ECache is an event, while Same Old Thing is an asset. Even in Miguel de la Cruz, this is a disadvantage : while Miguel wants ressources to pay for his events (for which ECache works equally well), he cannot use his extra "event" action to play Same Old Thing. And while it is an asset, it is a Condition, not an Item, so Bob Jenkins has no special advantage with it either. So far, Chapter 2 recursion seems to favour events over assets (Hunter's Instinct, Respite). And good old Scavenging doesn't work either (not Item).

So who might prefer Same Old Thing over ECache ?

First : Anyone focused on supporting other investigators while not really needing the ressources themselves. Preston Fairmont comes to mind.

Second : a Dark Horse deck with an emphasis on events ? I have never tried Dark Horse but I'm not seeing it...

Third : William Yorick, who can play it from his discard pile without using an action. How useful this is, compared to bringing back other assets, depends on which events and assets are included in the deck.

Conclusion : making this an Item would have opened up more interesting uses...

Dynamite blast, but cheaper and with more brain power required. You're going to need a way to corral enemies (or wait for a spawning boss) if this is going to be worth your $3 and 3xp. It's great that this comes with Miguel, because putting it down a space away from you means that theoretically, you could lure a bunch of hunters to one spot before taking them out. Testless damage, if you're willing to use other traps (or other trickery) to be where enemies aren't.

There’s been a lot of talk about the ornate bow, and its ability to combo with Contraband, Venturer, and various other ways to turn it into an uzi. Since we’re in chapter 2, it won’t be that simple this time, but I like this weapon… For Rita or Wendy. The other Survivor gun (the Winchester 52) also costs three, but survivors don't have much way to reload it. This, if you have the spare actions, deals with two annoying foes: Three Health enemies and aloof ones. And since we have Daniel Jameson now, the odds of missing with the bow (and causing yourself two actions) are far lower than before.

This is a methodical weapon that rewards evasion. You're going to be laying down the hurt, slowly.

With the original flashlight is chapter 1, I think this is a solid improvement over the hand cranked one. Especially if you want to fail (like Stella), this gives you access to easy shroud reduction for look what I found. Then, an extra action for failing, and they retake of the test, theoretically commit to and pass. Not an everyday item but for investigating survivors and people who like tools, this is a great way to spend two XP.

For a very long time, Ashcan Pete was considered an amazing solo investigator because he had action compression. If you needed clues, he had a free move (or two) every turn. Now, he can double dip! He can even ready this with his power.

I can think of very few scenarios, even in four player, where you wouldn't at least consider this card. $2 and a play action for a free move action every turn of the game (with the conditional often being "you move before the rest of the party"). Surprised if this won't be errata'd to two XP.

A fun difference between this card and Pathfinder is that you can use it while enemies are on you. So if you leave a trap behind, loner and immediately move an enemy on to it (getting perhaps a free damage, investigate, attack or evade, or some combination of those with makeshift trap.) Even better, combine it with track shoes, and possibly get two free moves. It's expensive, but so is being trapped in the corner of a map because you can't get away from an enemy!