It's always a blast to participate in these jams :)
First day went almost solely on making the text system and story, thinking what I am trying to tell to the player. At end of first day I came up with artstyle and the intro was pretty much ready. Second day went making the gameplay itself, I hoped to make some rope you would need climb down and ground floor, but jams are like these ^^
As for the theme, I tried to implement existential crisis. The thoughts what is after death, and the character in the game will get to know - there is nothing. Still, the protagonist can think in that emptiness. Maybe everyone will stay alone in there, but maybe it's just the player as his gift let him return. Maybe for others they just cease from existence, the man will never know. But he knows what's for him after death.
Unlike in the game, storywise 'the gift' doesn't automatically make player return upon his death, but he just chooses to return. He wants to live. He can always return whenever he wants, after bad choice or anything. The player has used this as his bidding and got aggressively 'right' choices, just saved before. For others, he seems to know future. The game takes in time, when he dies for very first time, and he acknowledges his mortal immortality. He can always run from the death by returning, die as many times he can. He can always just reload. But as there is only one 'savestate', the saving is precious. For living up many livetimes, you could save in your childhood and live normal live until natural death comes for you, and then just rewind back to your young self.
But the world will stand still, never truly progress until he decides just not return. Be living or dead, took him year or millenia, when he decides to reload, the world will recall back to his return point. For universe to continue, he must be in that void for rest of the eternity. For him, true death is to save when he is dead, so he can never return.
The man, who knew the death.