Only worth it on four conditions:
1. You are able to incorporate it into the tools you need - whether than be an IDE, a workflow that involves actually opening VIM, or whatever.
2. You stick with it, because the costs in terms of time and effort are big up front while the benefits start very slowly but build up later and faster with proficiency.
3. You aren't already using a good text editor or IDE that provides the benefits you're looking for. For example, the weird "hjkl" navigation is actually part of a bigger feature set that will run circles around basic arrow- and page-key navigation and editing (even with an IDE). But, if you're looking to benefit from regex features, why even most basic IDEs usually have that.
4. You have adequate muscle memory. You won't be fast and you won't gain proficiency if your fingers won't remember those keys and combinations.
...seems like a cautionary tale so far, so let me temper by saying I install wherever I can - including IDE plugins, etc. Microsoft (VS and Code) and JetBrains IDEs both have pretty decent plugins. I can say without boasting that I am faster with it at both pounding out text and editing text from all sorts of crazy languages and environments. And often times it gives me a speed advantage over my peers who don't use it. But that's only because I took time to become proficient at it and learn some of the tricks that are available.
> do you think VIM is still fine, or rather neovim? Or something fresh like helix?
VIM is fine in terms of stayability - it's not going anywhere. I'd say look at the alternatives only if you're interested in the special benefits they have over normal VIM.