Basically, ignoring the synchronization aspects and not tying in the virtual clock and recomposer. Being able to use assertions and actions like you would with UI Automator.
I attempted this by messing around with the underlining source code of the Compose Test Rule and removing the Idling Resource Rule, MainClock, and Recomposer and got the assertions to work. Didn't attempt to implement actions given how ingrained the MainClock was.