VN - Ren'Py - Karlsson's Gambit [v0.8.1 Part I] [Grym Gudinna Games]

  1. 5.00 star(s)

    realnumber

    Karlsson's Gambit is already a gem even without the bdsm content. I played the game to discover my deepest desire but end up hooked by the story itself.
    • Intriguing story, beautifully designed and rendered characters;
    • Well-planned structure, multiple paths/branches at each episode, and each might reveal a tip of the iceberg of the whole story.
    • A variety of great creative bdsm scenes. Though fetishes are very subjective, at least I have found my Elysium, and I hope you do too.
  2. 5.00 star(s)

    sickdude

    Review on patch 0.4

    So to begin with I played alot of femdom/bdsm games recently and have a good overview about the current games on F95Zone. Writing this review I didnt even playthrough all content available but I am already convinced that this game is an exceptional beautiful diamond in this genre!! There are soo many trash games (subjectively the rpgm games/hentai games) but this game was just soo enjoyable to play. The developer just knows the kinks of true subs/doms alike , its awesome!

    All in all you get:

    + pretty good/high quality renders
    + an intriguing story
    + hardcore femdom but you can lighten it up depending on your decisions
    + awesome unique characters (each with different kinks and level of bdsm)
    + nice setting
    +/- you get some nice ambient music but could be more in some scenes
    - I think the intro of the male MC was a little bit rushed and confusing in the beginning

    I really love this game and wanna see more of this! keep the good work up developer!

    PS: might have to rewrite some aspects when I played through the current patch
  3. 5.00 star(s)

    OnlyUsedForNever

    I just wanted to give my perspective as someone who HATES femdom.

    I fucking loved this game.

    Let's get the general stuff out of the way- absolutely top notch presentation. A huge cast of hot characters with very different styles and personalities, plenty of music and well posed scenes, and most importantly- AMAZING SETS. Jesus christ, these locations made my dick harder than any of the sadistic thots in this game. There's a huge, huge amount of choice in this game, with not just one, but three protagonists that all have unique stories, personalities that you can shape, and relationships with the rest of the cast.

    Now, for anyone who came here, like I did, because of the "male domination" tag, but didn't see how the hell that could work with a premise like this- it absolutely does. The thing I hate about most femdom games is that you're forced to play as some total loser cuckboy who just collapses the second a woman's toes make contact with his tiny dick. Fuck that. But in this game, you really are allowed to be a complete, dominant, takes no shit kind of hero/asshole who is struggling against a broken and unfair universe.

    It feels extremely rewarding to navigate the correct set of choices to avoid being treated like shit- and you can avoid almost all femdom content if you play right. Hell, by the end of the game, I basically felt like I was playing your typical BaD style harem game, and it was so much more satisfying because you have to work your way up to it (just with way more complex writing).

    There aren't too many sex scenes if you play as a dom so far (although there are a few), but if you're into the idea of being a dom more than the actual sexual act, then you'll enjoy this very much. However, if you just want to fap to some maledom porn, then you're probably better served elsewhere.

    With that in mind, and the control over three different characters, it can at times feel like you're just playing a really well written game-of-thrones esque VN (last seasons aside), trying to help this family weave through this world of psychopaths with their morals intact (or not). I didn't even give a shit about the porn anymore, the story, characters, and setting are just that engaging.
  4. 5.00 star(s)

    blackman6969

    Brilliant game.
    Lots of Femdom, but there are paths were the MC is dominant too.
    Beautiful renders and choices that actually make a difference.
    Multiple paths present, and a good amount of content present.
    Can't wait to see how this progresses!
  5. 5.00 star(s)

    FinrayB

    Well put together, great story and choices galore. If your into any of the themes then I highly recommend it. The animation and writing is top notch for this type of game. I don't know what else I can say that other fans have not.....I love it and hope it continues into a full long meaningful gaming experience .
  6. 5.00 star(s)

    AnonOnline

    Wonderful game in which you play a male protagonist in a dystopian world. It gives the player the option of shaping the narrative and gameplay around how they like it. Want to be used and abused? You can! Want to be dominant? You can! I love games like this which are choice driven and have dystopian settings.
  7. 3.00 star(s)

    Remor

    If you're into femdom this game is basically perfect. It's certainly a unique experience in terms of AVNs. I like that it has multiple paths and that the MC can be a dom in a world that treat men like garbage. The premise is interesting and so far choices seem to matter. I can't complain about the renders like others have before. I think they are good, and the models all look unique to a certain extent.

    As someone who is not into femdom this game was still fun to play. The overall story is intriguing, but I have a really hard time sympathizing with any of the characters. Every single girl is either sadistic, evil or straight up a psychopath. There is some extreme cruelty in this game. I don't particularly mind it since the world is set up this way, but it gets very one dimensional and almost tacky the more you progress in the story. Some more nuance here in the future can help freshen up things.

    The dialogue also suffers at times with a little too much exposition making some interactions feel robotic. Some scenes are also overly bloated in terms of dialogue on mundane things that don't really progress the plot. I appreciate the dual protagonists and that you can shape both of them based on choices, but so far I feel that this design choice slows the story progression a bit too much for my liking.

    All in all it's a well developed game and I recommend trying it. If femdom is your kink then this game is a 4 star experience, but as it's not really a fetish of mine, I can't give this game more than 3 stars.
  8. 5.00 star(s)

    Fapposaurus Rex

    Okay so at first this game had me feel like it was gonna be kinda meh, the jokes were kinda bad at first and it seemed to try and be a little too much at times all those worries kinda stopped once MC actually leaves prison for what the description of the game describes as "a special inmate rehabilitation program".

    And I felt the game would offer me next to no Maledom (which i prefer) and instead focussed on Femdom (which it does) it still managed to make you have control over the amount of Femdom you're actually exposed to so if you're into Maledom you can expect this game to deliver on that in future updates.

    As of right now I'd say in the sex scenes there is not really any powerplay if you decide to go the dominant route but like I said I expect that to change over the coming updates.

    As for choices I think this game is one of the best games out there, whilst I wish the game wouldn't remind me about having to "please someone to get what you want" all the time (which I'd prefer finding out on my own or having that been told to me once) I do really enjoy having to think for a second what the possible short term AND long term outcomes it would result in.

    I'd say the game offers about 8 hours of gameplay if you take as long as me and about 3-4 if you rush through it as it stands now.

    but i'm for sure gonna keep my eyes out for this one.
    Likes: Me666
  9. 5.00 star(s)

    Archspect

    This game is one of most enjoyable game i have ever played. This was a very interesting and unique experience to me. The renders are top notch. I loved the three protagonist dynamic, very cool implementation ı didn't seen in any other games. I loved each and every one of the characters very much. Thanks for the game. Good luck to dev or devs.
    5/5
  10. 5.00 star(s)

    freval

    It's a little annoying that they turns us into a dom but, this game is by far the most enjoyable game i have ever played, plot and crafting masterpiece.
    it's almost like a movie that is exciting and the fetish elements are gorgeous and in place, I wouldn't say no to them being a little bit more, but if they didn't force us to be doms
  11. 4.00 star(s)

    Anon4990

    I'd like to give my 2 cents on a very particular perspective I haven't seen anyone else mentioning yet.

    I'm male and a Dom and more than anyone else I'd have every single reason to put this game on ignore without thinking twice but I ended up deciding to give it a try in the end after reading some positive comments praising its story building in another thread

    Now I'm glad I did so because this was a very interesting and unique experience to me to say the least:

    There is this one singular route where you basically tapdance over 10 laser-beans in a whole universe whose only purpose is to make the male MC its bitch both literally and figuratively and it was very refreshing to see that not only it can actually be done if you choose intelligently but it was also built in such a way that it makes sense in the context of the lore with the whole "rare worthy male" concept going on and I can't stress it enough that this path would most probably not even be necessary for the purpose of satisfying the vast majority of the demographics this game focuses on, but Tess decided to include it anyway.

    The male MC can never hope to become a proper Dom in this universe but the fact that he *can* act in such a way to resist such crushing pressure without getting abused or demeaned adds a lot to the quality of this game and the challenge becomes all the more meaningful because of it, as does the enjoyment of those few that, like me, are not much into the core fetish this game caters
  12. 5.00 star(s)

    TakeshiKimura

    Incredible game.
    The story is intriguing, the choices are presented in a very descriptive, clear manner, and the characters are enjoyable. I love the three protagonist dynamic, very cool implementation not seen in too many games. I hope to see more of the brother, but the protagonist and his sister are more than enough to drive this wonderful story. The music is also very good, and well implemented given any particular scene. I'm looking forward to seeing where my choices will drive the story, because there are quite a few directions. I'm impressed that the creator is able to maintain quality storytelling with the different branches.
    Lastly, Alessandra is my queen. I might be wrong, because hey I'm not the creator, but I think she's the true power player in all this, and I intend to do everything in my power to make sure she realizes her ambitions. Please keep up this wonderful game :)
  13. 5.00 star(s)

    onepoopyboi

    This review contains a bit of spoilers
    Okay so first of all this game is one of the best games I have played on this site.
    It has so much potential and the dev has put so much work building each route and the implementing the consequences of your choices so hats off to dev for that.
    This game is heavily based femdom, if you don't like that then stay away. With that being said there are choices in which you can avoid femdom but not completely.
    I ,personally, love femdom so I love this game. I love soft femdom , pegging and maybe humiliation
    Although some routes contain hardcore femdom and degradation which is not for me. So I took the route where you become K6.
    The renders are top notch no complaints about that.
    As for the Mistresses , every girl has her own unique charm however Patricia ,Chanel, Olivia(MC's sister) and Veronica seem really great . I hope there would be a love route or maybe a softdom type slave route with them.
    The story is quite big and intriguing , its hard to see such a good plot now a days .
    I am quite forward to play the new updates.

    To sum it up -
    Story - 9.5/10
    Renders - 9/10
    Mistresses/Girls - 10/10

    Overall - 9.5/10
  14. 2.00 star(s)

    1st

    While this VN is not a drastic failure, it delivers a very specific content that not everyone will find appealing (it's 100% fetish oriented).

    First of all, I don't like the way choices are being presented - honestly, it's just riddiculous: big walls of text covering whole screen which reminds old text-based games.
    Secondly, I couldn't help but feel that game has more text content then visual one.

    Personally I got bored very quickly, therefore it's hard for me to recommend this VN.
  15. 5.00 star(s)

    billclinton99

    Good:
    Great renders, scores of good looking girls, interesting story line, good writing

    Meh:
    The femdom stuff doesn't do it for me but I am pleased they allowed other paths.

    Lots of potential story arcs to go down if the dev chooses to expand on it.
  16. 5.00 star(s)

    Sexy3

    Ok, where should i start, because this game is so so so AMAZING :love:. I mean i have played many femdom games (which i obviously like them) but this game happened to be the best of the best, also this is not only my opinion, but it is also many and many others opinions as well. And let me start with the game itself, this game has a gorgeous graphics especially after the v0.1 and there is v0.4 came out now and i am so excited. Also this game has the dom route and the sub route and so so many branches on each route that interest many players who will play this game, and every player will enjoy each branch or the ones he likes the most :love:. really thumps up to this game and hope to see more of it in the near future (y)
  17. 2.00 star(s)

    chthonic_goat_666

    First off, if you want hardcore/extreme femdom in a 'realistic' and 'serious' setting, ignore the harsh criticism that follows in later text blocks and just play it because to my (limited) knowledge there is nothing else featuring that specific genre to this extent. Both in terms of h-scenes and story/worldbuilding/etc if you're into that. You can't get better than this because there are no competitors!

    While the game does have an overarching femdom theme (eg, most of the elites in the game world seem to be women who can and will order you around at least a bit), it also features choice-based gameplay forks that lead to very different scenes. Since I consulted the walkthrough while playing, which the dev herself very helpfully posted on this thread, I know that there are 4 paths: evil-dom, evil-sub, good-dom, good-sub. There's a little bit of everything here but, again, it caters to a hardcore femdom crowd.

    Basically, the matrix of these 'paths' acts as an h-scene navigator/customiser. So far it's the typical design philosophy of adult VNs, displayed fetishes align with how you roleplay. Which is fine. The problems start with the fact that there are 2 paths too many, specifically the good and evil ones (I'll explain why later). This 4-quadrant personality spectrum bullshit makes the choice aspect a bloated, frustrating mess. I don't want choices in a fap game to 'matter' so much that I'll effectively shut myself out of h-scenes for no other reason than not thinking too hard about what the relentless series of dialogue forks I have to slog through to get there mean in terms of what I'm supposed to be roleplaying as.

    Further headaches in tracking the direction of choices are caused by the dual povs (1 male 1 female). Not only is there an overcomplicated personality spectrum, there are two characters that have to roleplayed using that spectrum. I'm fine with the dual pov itself, but not the way it's implemented wrt to the branching paths.

    Moving on to why the paths/branches are over-engineered: the good vs evil fork seems to be the dev's way of trying to fit what is, again, an h-scene customiser (in this game, determining how 'extreme' you like your sex, especially femdom) into a 'deep' narrative of power dynamics, human nature and the like. It's about as profound or engaging as you'd expect from a porno gaem, adding nothing to... in fact detracting from, a game already overburdened with choices and characters. Basically it caters to the sexual fantasy of having power and exploiting others (or being exploited) while treating the 'extremeness' of that fantasy as a serious moral issue. So torturing a slave for pleasure is supposed to be 'good', but torturing and then killing them is 'bad'. It's an odd, incoherent view of morality, and it ruins the immersion of the fantasies themselves.

    Restricting the personality choices to dom and sub would be a massive improvement to the game design. The vanilla/hardcore stuff can easily be mediated via the player choosing to have a relationship/alliance with some female npcs and not others at their respective forks. Simplicity is not a bad thing!

    As for the story, it's your generic YA dystopian universe with feted, depraved elites and non-specific 'oppressed masses', while the heroes reconfigure reality through their "moral" choices. Still, it's a very good setting for a power fantasy. However that potential is wasted, primarily due to the story taking itself waaaay too seriously.

    The dialogue sounds like passive-aggressive rec room small talk between middle-managers, even when they're torturing people to their deaths in a dungeon. It's very anodyne, and doesn't really convey the sense of a post-apocalyptic world run by an evil corp.

    Renders are decent enough but nothing special, but judging by other femdom games I've played they're at or near the top for this genre. H-scenes - the 'good' route is mostly standard femdom, while the 'evil' route has the really kinky scenes. Yet even those aren't very extreme considering the dystopian scenario. Being a top executive of an evil corp with unlimited power should provide better opportunities for sexual delinquency than bullying and then killing two random dudes in an abandoned alley somewhere. Or making underlings give you blowjobs.

    Judging solely by the gfx and sex scenes (and the absence of animations) I'd give this a 3. That's my most objective rating. Feel free to confidently assert that it should be a 10/5 if you're a fan of extreme femdom, which this game successfully caters to. However, the overall experience is less enjoyable than it could be due to the byzantine choice-odyssey and overwrought story.

    PS- in lieu of a yet-to-be-updated walkthrough+gallery mod, I highly recommend playing the game with the pdf wt as a constant companion.
  18. 5.00 star(s)

    rainjones

    Love the complexity and continuous intrigue going on in this VN. Though the sadism for the extreme evil choices are not to my tastes, I do appreciate the presentation of an entire range of how the MC may end up as depending on the choices that he has made long time back and the character evolution as a result of those choices. Keep up the good work and hope to see the next episode ASAP as the suspense is hard to get rid of from this one.
  19. 5.00 star(s)

    AL.d

    It's about time to give a rating to this as I think it's been around enough time to give a solid opinion.

    It would be wrong to say this is a femdom game, while it is a game with that fetish at its core. That doesn't make much sense so I will try to explain. Many devs who do femdom (or maledom) focus on the shallow aspects of the D/s fetish. Slap some footlicking, include some cruel bitches and a hopelessly pathetic MC and you have a femdom game. Or a rapey, macho dude with a big dick who fucks all chicks into submission. Thankfully, this one doesn't go that route.

    It's a game that focuses a lot on the mental aspect of power plays. And while it has its share of brute force scenes, it always has that underlying aura of manipulation and mindfuckery. And it also avoids the tired trope of locking the player into playing a wimpy MC, simply because femdom.

    It also avoids the trope of a male MC turning the tables on the cruel bitches through the power of...his big dick. In this setting you'll have to be cunning, calculating and pick your battles in order to eventually gain the upper hand. It's a nuanced approach that highlights the game's best feature (writing). Navigating through the harsh setting of the Karlsson facility comes with its own set of moral dilemmas. Yes, you want that power but what are you willing to give for it? Because your MC's big dick just won't cut it.

    This game's writing shines through its use of dual protags too. Many games go for that but fail miserably in the delivery, with protags far too removed from each other that it's practically like playing different games. Here, your time with the second MC is used to fill blanks in the story so the player can start putting puzzle pieces gathered from both perspectives together. Which to me, is the best way to go about dual protag (a tag I usually avoid).

    The visuals are nice. You will see some familiar DAZ faces but at this point, it's unavoidable. The environments are also well done.

    My only worry playing this, was dev's ability to provide payoff for all the different choices you have in game. But from her posts on here, it seems there is a carefully planned storyboard already and that's always a good sign.

    In the end, no matter if you like its main fetish or not, this game has an interesting story to tell. And enough agency for the player to navigate through it. It may sound simple but very few wegs manage to do it on a high level.
  20. 5.00 star(s)

    Doctor Fluffypants

    Karlsson's Gambit is a great game with potential.
    PROS:
    -Girls in this game are attractive but as dev herself said they all have different personalities and beliefs so they could become more than just attractive renders surely.In general it was nice i liked some of them more than others but dont have hatred towards any of them.
    -My choices really mattered so its a big plus. I didnt use any walkthrough because i was curious if my choices could or couldnt make any difference and i can say it certainly did. For example i made it to K6 but my choices to be merciful/affectionate showed itself as well so my path was dominant/good which i believe accurate and close to my rl self.
    -The musics/melodies were matching i especially tried to look a few of them too! I believe music is important in any kind of games and this one is doing a great job in it so far.
    -The story is interesting and my choices being matter makes it kinda more interesting. I didnt notice any typos/bugs either so here is another plus.
    -I can see the dev really caring about her game when i visited the patreon page/what i saw from threads so far.I decided to mention this because a dev need to care about his/her game first so can expect the same from others.
    - I liked to be able to control 2 protagonists making choices with one of them affects the other (as i saw so far)
    -The UI and game menu looks nice too.
    - I have a favourite already! It s Dominique.
    CONS:
    -Maybe the renders could use more improvement and there could be more animations but like i said it s doing great as it is rn too.