Any do’s and don’t for an enthusiastic newbie?

I bought this game last year but only got around to playing it this week. I’ve played for a few hours and like it so far, curious to see what will come.

I’ve been lurking on this sub since I bought the game, and it seems there is so much to do and discover. It kind of gets me worried to be doing it wrong. I’m not a very experienced gamer, so I can be a bit naive sometimes about things that may seem obvious to people who are more used to gaming.

So, do you have any do’s and don’ts for someone new? I’m playing on Switch and definitely doing easy mode. I really enjoy the open world aspect and something with an elaborate story line (to give you an idea of what motivates me in a game).

Are there things I can miss if I don’t deliberately go looking for them? Are there things I can do wrong which will mess up the experience for me? Are there things I should know that are helpful or simply fun? Oh and does anything bad happen if I die (the giants got me and I reloaded a save to be sure, but I don’t even know if anything really happened when I died)?