invalid opcode: remix deploy

[xhundo]

I'm getting this error while trying to deploy my contract in remix. What am I doing wrong? I'm in lesson 2

Code:

contract SimpleStorage {
    uint256 favoriteNumber;

    function store(uint256 _favoriteNumber) public {
        favoriteNumber = _favoriteNumber;
    }
}

• creation of SimpleStorage pending...
• creation of SimpleStorage errored: Error occured: invalid opcode.
• invalid opcode
• The execution might have thrown.
• Debug the transaction to get more information.

[xhundo]

I lowered my solidity version to pragma solidity 0.8.8 and it worked. Prior I was using 0.8.21

why is that?