I really quite enjoyed it too, up to a particular point a ways into the game (rapidly respawning infected, which meant I couldn't play in my cautious style of slowly clearing out an area and fully exploring. I successfully managed a "run for the rooftops" to get to my destination, but I couldn't face the repeated journeys back through that area).
Penalty for dying - cash, I think as a percentage of what you're currently carrying.
Exploration - it's a fun island to explore with some fairly varied locales, but, at the same time, the various quests take you to most/all of the major sites. It's like the devs didn't want to risk creating content people might not see!
I picked up Riptipe (the sequel) as part of a Humble Bundle. If they fixed the broken respawning but left everything else the same, I'll be happy!