Hi Dee,
Good to have you back.
Do play (at least some of) the TWO adventure game to see how object-centric games work. It's very different to previous jams as you said yourself.
The constraints that TWO uses are much more severe than the jam constraints. One way of conveying state or story could be smart examine messages, and plentiful listed objects. There is no limit to the amount of objects that can be listed in a room.
I think it's still possible to tell a proper story in the constraints, but as someone not a natural storyteller, I can think of the method, but I can't think of the story.
Good luck !
C