I think it's pretty difficult to gauge difficulty in this day and age. With games like Super Meat Boy and VVVVVV, you die hundreds of times, but each death is essentially meaningless. The platforming requires a much greater level of precision, but there's not really any penalty. In Outland I haven't really died that much, but each death can take you back a good ways. And even though I haven't died a lot, I feel like I've spent a lot of the game near death, and it's really tense trying to make it just a bit further to the next checkpoint.They offer the hearts just when you need them most, so that when you're down to one or two health there's a good chance you can get back up to three or four. But past that you won't find much health, so you're rarely at a position where you're not worried about dieing.
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"It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy...let's go exploring!" - Calvin
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