The obligatory "I think you meant rogue-lite not rogue-like" because the roguelike community is very pedantic about their definition and Tarkov literally could not be a roguelike.

But it's also not the EXACT same formula as a roguelite. For starters there are no PVP roguelites so the entire PVP aspect of the game is already huge deviation from that the formula. Secondly death is a mechanic in roguelites. You die, you made some progress, you start again usually with some new twist of the new character. In Tarkov death is a failure state. Sure, you can make some progress in some quests or hideout upgrades, but overall you will lose progress whenever you die (lost equipment, lost quest items that you took into raid, cost of healing up, cost of getting new equipment etc). Void Bastards is the closest roguelite that is comparable to Tarkov. There are a lot of similarities there, but they're also very different in many ways.

Not to mention the Tarkov we are can currently play (and what most likely will also be the final release) is also a very different game compared to what Nikita (game director) originally envisioned. What Nikita envisioned was something between the current Tarkov and STALKER games. Not in the mutants and anomalies way but in the way of how the maps connect and how you need to actually traverse "the world" to do the quests. If you've played Tarkov enough you know that the maps already connect, some extractions literally tell you how they connect to the other areas and you can see the same landmarks on different maps. But it's becoming clearer that they're not actually going to finalize the original vision, they're going to make the ending and then push the game out the door.

I love Roguelikes. I love FPS. Tarkov is my favorite game, but damn does it squander it's potential.

It is, but just because two games follow the same formula for their gameplay loop doesn't mean they will be equally good. There are a LOT of other factors.

You'rr right it has all of them. It's one of the closer attempts, but to me the general feeling is not quite the same.

Tarkov always gave me the same vibe as old DayZ mod. Slow, deliberate, anxiety inducing gameplay where death matters and the gameplay can vary massively from game to game.

By making it a less "hard-core" experience like DMZ, it doesn't feel as high stakes and that tension is less. But that's partially just because of the COD gameplay mechanics.

That feeling is more important than the "formula" posted above.

Yes.

There's no looting.

There's no upgrades outside of the instance.

There's no upgrading of players skills.

It just about fails all of them.

Taking weapons out and back in, doesn't count. There's no looting (of non-combat items)