I use org-roam and really like it. The yak shaving was more on the publishing side than the actual knowledge management, OOTB that's pretty OK. (Although that's assuming familiarity with emacs.. A thread: https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/the-state-of-org-roam-for-actual-beginners/494)
(Side tangent, but spacemacs or doom emacs is worth a look for vim bindings in emacs... I migrated from long-time vim use a few years back (specifically for org-mode, as it happens!), and very happy with the binding support.)
@neil @operand @rrix this thread is really helpful and confirms my concerns, I think I'll end up giving obsidian or foam a serious go