Lumara

Hi! I'm new to Vintage Story. I've recently began playing with my brother who has hundreds of hours on the game. We're in what seems to be a temperate to cool environment. It's been fun so far and he warns me of Winter/preparing for that season. I mentioned that I would like to try a single player game in a hot, arid, if not straight up desert environment for a different challenge/scenery. But, he told me hot isn't' really so much a challenge. It was pointed out that common dry/hot environment challenges such as water didn't exist. Nor does getting overly hot? He said you basically have a longer growing period and different crops. Winter challenge is removed so you otherwise have the same difficulties (creatures and finding food), but no threat of winter and no new threats to replace it. I was a little sad to hear that, so my question as a newbie: is he right about all of that? If so, are there plans to add such challenges? Or mods to do so? Thanks!