I stopped using VLC when I found mpv [0]. I really like it because it exposes everything from the CLI, so once you're familiarized with the flags you're interested in using, it's easy to play anything. For everyday usage it "just works" too, as expected of any video player.
Does it include all the codecs by default? I think this was a major reason VLC succeeded the way it did. With all other players (BPlayer anyone?) you needed to find and install tons of codecs while in VLC it just worked.
[0] https://mpv.io/