Gibbon: Beyond the Trees

A noble environmental message provides the basis for this delightfully uncomplicated adventure, but elements of performance are amiss

A 60-minute story bolstered by a moreish endless mode, Gibbon: Beyond The Trees rejoices in the physicality of its titular primates while telling an affecting, heartfelt story.

A gorgeous 2D platformer dealing with a serious issue

Gibbon: Beyond the Trees is an endless runner, but with an unconventional hero and an environmental message. You’ll quickly get the hang of the gameplay, which is based on a surprisingly fun, fluid swinging mechanic, and even after a few hours, you’ll still want to keep improving. That said, the game is otherwise rather light on content, so you might want to consider picking it up on sale.

I thank the team at Broken Rules for delivering a well-crafted title with such attention to detail and applaud them for tackling topics that are not often highlighted in games. I look forward to seeing what they are working on next.

Gibbon: Beyond the Trees is a fantastically paced game seemingly designed to be experienced in bite-sized chunks with challenging controls that could be mastered by those willing to put in the effort. With all the thought and care put into representing these beautiful creatures and their heartbreaking lives, the game’s issues appear to stem from a lack of resources, not passion. Despite the repetition and technical struggles, it’s a short, sweet experience whose positive elements are more memorable than its faults.

Gibbon: Beyond the Trees, like Old Man's Journey before it, is a tightly-packed, hour-long adventure that lays bare the eco-terrorism that continually threatens these titular primates. While it doesn't do anything particularly groundbreaking as a game, it's a brisk, beautiful and, at times, terribly sad game that moves along at a rate of knots, even if that places a strain on the now-aged Switch hardware.

Gibbon: Beyond the Trees tells a hugely important story wordlessly and effortlessly, combining the gameplay and story in ways that inspire both powerlessness and hope.

The true goal of the game – raising the plight of the gibbon as one of the most endangered primate species in the world – is admirable and touching. If anything, the simplicity in the game’s design only serves to stop this key message from being crowded out.

Gibbon: Beyond the Trees has a noble cause, to bring attention to the issue of animal conservation and human impact on the planet. And while it looks fairly good in doing so, the repetitive gameplay and sluggish pacing prevents this adventure from making any big leaps.