I like that the desert can kill you if you don’t find shelter quickly during a sandstorm. At least until you’re higher level or a Set worshipper with a sandstorm mask. It makes knowing where natural shelters are to be really important, and planning where to camp / build shelters is crucial to journeys early on in the game.
I’d love to see different, but equally severe climate and survival issues in every other biome as well – in addition to the temperature requirements that force you to wear certain kinds of clothing. As it stands now, once you have decent clothing, there are no real problems adventuring in the jungle, boreal forest, frozen north, or even the volcano (short of falling into lava). But I’d like to see extreme weather that still requires someone with proper clothing to have to seek shelter and the comfort of a fire. Rainstorms that could freeze you to the bone, and make whatever clothing you’re wearing useless, should still be a risk. In the real world, hypothermia would very likely kill you if you were soaked to the bone. Having a dry destination, and a campfire, or an actual house, would be crucial, and ought to govern player behaviour in the Boreal forest and frozen north, as much as the sandstorms govern our behaviour in the desert. Shelter ought to be even more important up there, or at least equally important, as it is in the beginning of the game, or in the face of sandstorms. Getting wet in those conditions ought to be as much of a death risk as the sandstorm. Make proximity to a fire source and / or dry shelter the absolute requirement it is in the real world! Thanks for listening.