Yes the game is vvery much worth it to play alone and it also take +50 houres for most people to finish the game, so you get allot for your money vs example a cinema ticket.
There is no perma death in the game.

You die and drop your stuff on the ground, and you can just run back and pick it up.
When you die you loose some XP so i recommend to not fight to the end but maybe run away from battle or hide to regen health vs dying.
XP just give you a little boost to example swimming, running, jumping ect its no big deal for the most part. But if you want that xp boost that build up over time it pay to not die but honestly its not a big deal.

As you learn the game you will find different tricks to fast go back to your gear such as building temporary small bases/house and then put a teleporter inside.
So when you die you return to your bed in your main base, and can then teleport fast to where ever you build a teleport.
You will unlock teleports once you get some red square stones that can be found in crypts so you will get it pretty early on in the game. ( actual before you even get a good ship )
THen you can often run to x area where you died and get your stuff pretty fast.
Often you can run almsot naked without any weapon from spawn to the area you died BUT some biomes like plains or mountain you will find it harder to get back to your gear due to wasps and wolfes that is harder to avoid. Also the cold mountains it can be hard to get your dropped gear again due to the cold and loss of health if you dont have a frost potion or a wolf or lox cape.
But in general a good tactic in valheim is to prepare well before you advance in the game, it will make your life more easy.
Personaly i have like 6-7 small houses different places on the map so i can fast go example the swamp and collect x resources, or plains area to harvest barley ect ect.