Works just fine solo. Resource gathering might take longer, and some combat encounters may require you to flee since you have nobody to rely on as bait, but it's a great game in most regards.

I have >400 hours; it's the only way I have played.

Yes, but it can be a punishing experience. I have a solo world and trying to build everything myself and gear myself up for harder content has been tedious at times, but I do enjoy doing things my way.

Everything is better with friends but yes it can be played solo.

Yes. Good for solo. All my hours are solo.
I solo but I use some mods to take out the tedium. Note, I'm not saying solo play would be tedious for you. You and many others may play vanilla and solo and love it. Good on them. I'm grateful to have a few mods to tweak the experience to my liking as a viking.

Yup probably wanna keep that hammer on the hotbar with some lumber tho you may need to legion it up a little more than you do with a shield bro around.

its alright, i would use some mods though like:
Equipment and Quick Slots
Craft Build Smelt Cook Fuel Pull From Containers
Unrestricted Portals

If you are completely new to the game and didn’t watch much videos on YT, I’d say it is a must to play solo. Discovering new stuff and finding out how everything works was the best part of the game for me.
Playing with other players (especially with veterans) could ruin the fun for you.
Go alone, go slow and prepare to spend hundreds of hours.

^^^^ All of the above. Over 1400 hours (all solo, vanilla).

It can feel grindy at times and as Brakxel points out, mods are available to address that if you don't care for it.

At present there are no difficulty settings. Later stages of the game can be pretty hard solo. Sometimes "too hard" in my opinion but doable. Or at least not so hard that I want to start using mods yet. Some boss fights can feel like a bit of a slog ... not super hard, they can just take a long time.

Originally posted by Veseljko:

...
Go alone, go slow and prepare to spend hundreds of hours.

Great advice!

Only thing I don't like so far is "they sought you out" event... in my base...

Playable but sometimes can be tough, especially if you die somewhere far from home/teleport and there are a bunch of enemies left. Back in the days when the game just released I made it to Plains (and then I got tired of griding). I think Duo is where this game shines.

A. Dont use the console commands for advancing :)
B. Make 4 sets of each armor :)
C. Have 4 sets of each progression item from the Elder on (Key, wishbone,etc)

Solo is about preparedness.

OH.....until you're doing elder on...make a base underground if in the Forest. The raid timers are a bit faster and getting trolls every 2-3 hours can make you pull your hair out as they destroy all things wood and stone :)