Great question KV.
I don't have a firm answer honestly. Perhaps holding off on features (upgrade system for example) would've made my use of time more efficient. Or I could've started on assets sooner albeit at some risk of not being able to use all of them.
Ultimately I think the combination of world hopping + unique actor mechanics was, as some folks stated, just too big for a jam game. So my "next time" challenge would be to find an equally compelling, but less ambitious, gimmick for the game.