APPLE ARCADE
Get swinging to save a species
Gibbon: Beyond the Trees
An ecological adventure
To the star of Apple Arcade’s Gibbon: Beyond the Trees, swinging through the lush rainforests of Borneo comes as naturally as breathing. But there’s a challenging side to this Apple Arcade adventure: palm-oil farmers are burning down the trees to make way for their crops.
“We initially discussed showing chainsaws and big machines cutting down the forest,” says game director and Broken Rules Interactive Media co-founder Felix Bohatsch. “But burning is the biggest deforestation factor nowadays.”
By infusing their fantastical game (your bright-pink gibbon swings so high that it soars above the treetops) with real-world issues, the developers hoped to casually inform players about the threats facing Earth’s rainforests.
Gibbon: Beyond the Trees was conceived as “pure escapism”, Bohatsch says – an easy-going game that made catapulting yourself over the canopy effortless.
But as the team learned more about gibbons’ real-world environment, the intent shifted.
“It felt wrong giving our players that fluid movement while knowing the gibbon’s habitat is vanishing and rainforests are getting destroyed,” says Bohatsch. “We wanted to make habitat loss and deforestation a core theme of the game.”
In it, you experience first-hand the multitude of dangers humans pose to native species, the environment and Indigenous peoples such as the nomadic Penan, who depend on Borneo’s forests for survival. Over time, you feel the shift as your gibbon moves from vines and branches to power lines and rooftops.
Based in Vienna, the Broken Rules team knew from the outset they’d need help portraying Borneo accurately. So they worked closely with environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs), including the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project and Rainforest Rescue, which brought issues such as palm-oil farms and poaching to the forefront.
“What stuck with me is that gibbon poaching was actually getting better 20 years ago,” says Bohatsch. But that trend reversed. “Tourists like to post photos with cute baby gibbons on their social media feeds.”
To capture baby gibbons, poachers target and kill an entire gibbon family unit (the mother and either another female or male). An infant gibbon may be paraded around tourist attractions for a year or two, Bohatsch learned.
“That’s where the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project comes in. They find and help gibbons that have been exploited for these tourist attractions. Sometimes the gibbons are near blind because of all the flashing of cameras.”
As you swing to freedom in an as-yet-untouched spot of rainforest, Gibbon’s story ends with a hopeful message: a call to support NGOs working to save the world’s rainforests and wildlife. Bohatsch hopes his game inspires players to take action.
“Every one of us has to decide for ourselves how to act, whether it’s shopping more consciously, donating, talking with friends and family or going to Southeast Asia and volunteering,” says Bohatsch. “Our hope is that players feel empathy not only for gibbons but wildlife in general – and try to live in a way that enables wilderness and wildlife to thrive.”
The following NGOs consulted on Gibbon: Beyond the Trees.
• The Gibbon Rehabilitation Project rescues, rehabilitates and helps repopulate the wilderness with gibbons.
• Bruno Manser Fonds fights for the rights of the Penan and other Indigenous peoples of Borneo.
• Gibbon Conservation Society protects the gibbons of Malaysia.
• Rainforest Rescue works to preserve rainforests, protect wildlife and promote social reform.
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