Gibbon:
Beyond The Trees
Review

Gibbon: Beyond The Trees (2022) is a swinging, sliding and somersaulting adventure that tells an ecological story about freedom and survival. You explore hand-painted jungle in a parkour style and slowly uncover the story of a lost gibbon searching for home amid rising devastation.

Play involves swinging around the canopy and other environments as you set out on a dangerous journey into unknown lands. As you explore, you discover a story about the struggle of living creatures around the world. At first the traversal is unusual but soon becomes second nature.

As you progress you master the ape's art swinging from branch to branch at high speed. The game models this momentum and flow so you get a sense of thrill when you pull off spectacular somersaults, or launch yourself higher and further into the air with the help of your fellow apes.

The result is a game about movement through a habitat. It depicts the freedom that apes have to move and flow branch to branch. This connects with a deeper story about deforestation, poaching and the climate change.

Our examiner, Andy Robertson, first checked Gibbon: Beyond The Trees 22 months ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 10 months ago.