This is the case for most distributions, indeed. In fact, there's few core/scratch distros and a majority are all derivatives, frequently of other derivatives.

However, there are exceptions. There are experimental (though actually most are very much usable for real-world or even everyday tasks) distros with markedly different and more unconventional software stacks. Examples include Alpine, Morpheus, Sabotage, Void and NixOS. One should not be discouraged from trying those, not least of which is precisely to see other ways of integrating systems beyond the status quo.