Major part of it is that some people differentiate hard between rogue-likes and lites, and others simply do not, and the two will never get along with each other. The thing being that if there are any type of permanent upgrade/unlock systems that makes the game easier the more you play, it is not like rogue, where instead of grinding for more max hp or dodge percentage, you "grind" knowledge and experience as a player.

Which means that there are very, very few actual roguelikes because upgrade systems are just so cool (tm) and every game obviously needs one. Or three.

I hate how difficult it is to find games I like when it used to be so trivial.

2010: "I want to play another game like rogue"

"Ok try these 10 games which are all excellent, and then there's these 50 which stretch the definition but rhyme with it if you like"

2020: "I want to play a game like rogue"

"Here's a 3d looter shooter with multiplayer and 9 currencies for upgrades between short runs"

I feel like a lot of people haven’t ever played Rogue and so struggle understand what Roguelike actually means. Fair call, it’s a very old game with essentially no graphics, but to understand the genre properly everyone needs to give it a go at least once in my opinion.

Side note; love me the whole Mystery Dungeon franchise. I still need to pick up the Shiren the Wanderer series.