lol, yes it's trial and error, so is sonic and mario for that matter. Sit anyone down in front of those games for the first time, or even the first time in 20 years, and they will die over and over again, learning by trial and error where enemies spawn and where it's safe to jump.
This game is the same, I haven't played it since I was kid but I remember how hard it was and got back into the swing of things right away.
This game is a classic in the same way those old hard games or classics.

I absolutely adore this game for the perfect atmosphere of exploring... you guessed it... another world. A strange, unfamiliar alien world no human has ever even seen before or even known the existence of. The ever-present danger is part of the hostile alien world and its population. You can't expect to enter a world like that, triumphantly being the superior entity kicking all kinds of ass! After all, you're not a muscular fighter, you're not a knight in shining armor – you're a scientist! An ordinary human!

That means, of course, that Another World's gameplay and "learning curve" might be a bit frustrating – but then again, keep in mind that this is one of the challenging old games – back when dumbing down wasn't commonplace in order to sell as many units of a game as possible, like it is today. It's one of those games that had no in-game compasses, no hand-holding and throwing medikits at you every step of the way. It's not your everyday platformer – instead it expects the player to be cautious, intelligent and able to think! Dying every once in a while helps you understand the world. It gives you ideas. It challenges you to think out of the box.

I loved Another World when I first played it (I believe that was around 1999) and still love it today. I got the original boxed PC version at home, bought the 15th Anniversary Edition in a DVD case when it was released, bought the 20th Anniversary Edition in the Nintendo 3DS eShop when that version was released three days ago, and just now bought it again in the GOG summer sale.

Games like this, which put you into such a fundamentally different universe, are pretty scarce. To my recollection, the only other games, which convey this feeling, are:

– Albion
– The Dig
– Heart of Darkness (also by Eric Chahi)
– Outcast

So yes, it IS a classic. And it IS worth playing.

Definitely a classic. The gameplay feels just *right*. This is not from any rose tinted glasses either. I picked it up on gog having never played it before, and it still holds up to this day like a classic record. I've showed it to a bunch of my friends, and not one of them thought any less than I did. Definitely trial and error, but that's part of the satisfaction when you actually do pass a certain tough spot.