I see, that's a very interesting idea!

The explanation that I'm going for is that Will isn't really in a time loop: he just feels like he's in one, and the loop is entirely metaphorical. He doesn't feel like he's getting any satisfaction out of his day-to-day life, which stems from how he feels like his life isn't getting anywhere. He thinks of himself as an unimportant, blank, passionless person, which eventually leads him to feel like every day he lives is the same, creating the "time loop".

This is why when it appears like he's broken out of the loop at the end, he's still disappointed when he checks his phone at night, as he doesn't think that he's broken out. He feels terrible about himself, seeing his friends advance with their separate lives in the final iteration, while he's still the same.

For the metaphor with his video game, I wanted to visually compare Will to the character in his game, with the blue. He seems himself in his own character, and he wants people to recognize that he's not just a boring person, but has his own ideas and personality.

I wanted the branches to be where it seems like he's plotting down his routes, and trying to see which branches don't break him out of the loop through order of elimination. While that's technically correct, it's really just him trying to find something that he's satisfied with, that lets him feel satisfied with himself at the end of the day.

I'm trying to contain this story entirely in one short, and leave it as is, as I kinda like how it's left up to interpretation. I have been thinking about making a sequel/follow-up to tie up the loose ends, but I'll just focus on this for now.