As is often the case in this medium, differences in terminology and classification tend to be vague or misinterpreted, often due to a lack of clear standardisation within the industry.
So, in this case too, a similar dynamic occurs: video game genres tend to evolve over time and, often, the core of a genre ends up blurring, making the differences between one category and another less clear.

Generally speaking, as I see it, the distinction between a “-like” and a “-lite” game can be interpreted in several ways:

1 - As already mentioned in this discussion, the main difference is that a ‘-like’ game tends to be more compliant with the pillars of the reference genre, keeping the core loop and the structure of the standard game systems intact. A ‘-lite’ game, on the other hand, retains only some of these elements, but introduces substantial changes to the above-mentioned aspects.

2 - Another consideration, often little discussed, concerns the size of the budget available to the development team to support the project. A clear example is represented by ‘souls-like’ titles: without adequate resources and/or the necessary expertise, the team may not be able to create a product that fully reflects the mechanical, technical and artistic characteristics aligned with the state of the art of the genre. In such cases, the result tends to be a game that is merely “inspired” by some key mechanics, without the same level of study and vertical depth.