For sure, and both game-styles have their merits. In this case though, imo, I think it would benefit from a bit more leniency, because a big aspect of the game's fun lies in watching the evolution of the world, and rewatching the same evolution just to get back to where you left off isn't super fun (to me, anyway).
I like that moving too far away makes the world too cold, and thought the opposite would happen if I got too close, but instead I just crash into the world and die. Wouldn't it make sense if getting too close doesn't insta-kill the player, but instead slowly kills the world (or pushes back its evolution, perhaps) by burning away the life you crash into? You kill your progress that way but do get to keep going, rather than the harsh "You died, go back to start" type of ending. Anyway, just thinking out loud here.