2D game scene management

I’m currently struggling with a following problem.

The project is a 2D rpg with some sandbox elements. I’m concerned about dividing the game content into scenes. The game will contain location change mechanic similar as in many rpg titles, i.e. you leave one location and enter another. The screen fades out for a while when the location is being changed.

Due to the fact, that the game content is not very large, I’m currently planning to place the whole game world in a single scene, where currently unused locations would be turned inactive. (it’s hard to define size of the content, but it’s not larger than in other games without procedurally generated content that were made by two people, at most 10 locations approximately 128 x 128 units large and maybe 30 smaller interiors)

Scene content would be mostly pixel art 2D sprites, usually not larger than 128 x 128 pixels (64 pixels per unit).

My question is: Isn’t it a bad idea considering cpu and memory resources? If the content would be divided into smaller pieces, data persistence between scene changes will be required. While it is not very hard to implement, it would be a bit more complicated.

Target devices are desktop PCs.

Using multiple scenes is more expensive then just the one, especially if the game is not going to be huge. Use one scene unless it’s a big game. I have made this mistake before, multiple scenes can cause multiple headaches. Avoid it unless absolutely necessary.