There seems to be some disagreement over the term, but I have always liked the explanation that "true" Roguelikes are "like Rogue", in that they have randomly-generated maps, permadeath, and nothing saved between runs; meanwhile Roguelites feature a "meta-progression" system that allows the player some kind of persistent progress that carries over between runs, and maybe other QOL features.
dorkian-gray
joined 1 year ago
Can I offer you some Star Sector (https://fractalsoftworks.com) in these trying times? It's a top-down view with more real-time strategy and RPG to it than first person space sim, but the exploration component is there in spades and scavenging ships to add them to your fleet is pretty fun and satisfying. I've been playing it obsessively the last few weeks.
I didn't know about the secret exploration stuff in Freelancer, I never found wormholes or what have you. Might have to load it back up! Or the FOSS version "LibreLancer", thanks to all who commented so far for mentioning those ๐