Currently slogging my way though the late game (or at least I was until more pressing things came up), there’s some slight automation towards the mid game that helps a bit, but the grind doesn’t really go away. Mostly due to the fact that you end up spending Faith/ corpses/ gold way faster than you can get them. I find myself in a waiting pattern fairly often- there’s still things to do, but progress on major quests feels super slow (and almost unrewarding). The DLC is mostly regarded as filler, but if you’re a completionist (or like what they offer), it’s not awful at the current sale price.
Note: there are achievements that are gated behind having the DLCs if that’s your thing.
It’s not strictly a bad game, but I’d almost rather play Stardew for the farming/ story or Factorio for the automation.