[Version 0.7a]
Before anything else a warning:
This game is definitively not for all players. Almost all the game can be tweaked according to your taste, but it really cover all the sadism spectrum, including extreme torture and death. It is fully avoidable, and when exceptionally it can't because an important part of the story, it will stay soft and totally bearable. But if it's really not for you, be careful when you interact with Juliette Karlsson.
Like I implied, the game have a high customization value.
It cover nearly the whole BDSM spectrum, from softcore to the most extreme as I said. And all this will be done through your choices in game. While, due to the story itself, it's not possible to be a totally dome MC, it's still perfectly possible to dominate anyone that have a rank lower than yours. And you can also decide to totally submit.
"Ranks"... This is an important factor, probably the most important one. Everything in the Karlsson group, and therefore in the game, depend of the ranks. Who have to submit, who can dominate, it's the rank that decide. They also decide what you'll have to do. The higher is your rank, the closest you'll be to a free man and, by opposition, the lower is it's, the more you'll be treated as nothing more that a slave, when not purely an object.
"Ranks" are also where lie the power of this game. They aren't just a number, the story you'll see will really and totally depend of your rank and decisions.
Personally I follow many playthrough, and the difference between my MC at the highest rank, and my MC at K4 rank (there's lower ones, but it's not my thing) are really amazing to witness. In the first one I'm a future successful executive who have his own team, in the second I crawl on the floor, when I don't have to clean it.
It's not just some dialogs or images that change, it's whole scenes and story. Consider that by following only one playthrough, you'll only see at most one quarter of the effective content, and know less than half the story ; the half that matter for your MC.
But don't be afraid by what I just said. Despite the complexity under the hood, the game is really easy to play ; well, perhaps should have said "relatively easy".
You'll have choices and globally all matters ; your fate totally depend on your answers. So, you need to be attentive to the girls, not staying passively on your seat, but trying to decipher their personality, acting smartly to not annoy them while not submitting completely... unless submitting is what you want, of course. In short, be you...
By example, if a girl ask you to lick her boots, if you instantly agree, expect her to dominate you very quickly. Like she'll probably punish you, and do her best to break you if you rebel. But you'll also have the possibility to comply reluctantly, understanding that you aren't in position to refuse, and therefore are just doing what is the best for you at that instant.
So, yes, it's an easy to play game, as long as you remember to think before you act. And for me it's a really interesting part of the game.
This is made possible by the real depth of the girls personality. Despite their apparent simplicity, each character is really unique, even the purely secondary ones. They looks like sadistic bitches, and some effectively are, but all have their own reasons to be it, and all pursue their own goals.
This goes as far as one of the Karlsson daughters (I'll let you discover which one) being bendable. And, well there's something orgasmic in the fact to make one of the most powerful person in the world kneel in front of you and let you fuck her like a simple slut. But don't dream, she stay a Karlsson, whatever how far she'll submit, you worth near to nothing compared to her, and she'll never forget it.
As for the story, it's both a complex and simple one.
In a word that collapsed, rich girls are now the dominant gender, and everyone else, especially men, are just tools. But even tools can be useful, especially when they are decisive pawns in a gambit that will decide the fate of the world, like the MCs are.
But this is just the top of the iceberg, because the gambit isn't just a hobby powerful people play to pass time. It will really decide the fate of the world, and it's you, the player, that will choose who will win it.
But this isn't you sole choice, you'll also have the possibility to shape the winner mind, to some extend of course. And you'll have to decide what will be your places in this new world.
As the name of the game tell, the main point of the story is this gambit. What is this gambit ? You'll have to uncover it, slowly. Is the gambit what it looks like ? This too you'll have to uncover it through the game, and it's possible that even the players will be surprised by the answer.
In short, the mystery is deeper and more complex than it appear. Like always when a mind game is played at the top of the power pyramid. Everyone have its own agenda, and the difference between two can be as big as their sins. Up to you, player, to discover the truth and decide what agenda you'll follow... or what girl you'll team with, trying to make her follow your own agenda.
You probably noted that I switched to plural to talk about the main character. It's because there's two. A brother, who will have to fight for his future, and his sister, who will have her future delivered on a silver tray. And, sorry, but it's all I can say without spoiling you. There's also a second brother, that will play a (so far) minor role on the game, but a way more important on in the story.
Depending on the moment in the game, you'll play one or the other of those three characters, being faithful to the family, or not.... And also deciding what "family" mean... This also will have an important impact on the story, and therefore the fate of the world and two others MCs.
Here again there's something really interesting here. Especially when playing the sister, since she's the one with power. You need to weight your choices, because what is good for you can also mean a terrible fate for your brothers. So, faithful to your family, or to yourself ? This is a question that will matters way more than once.
As for the game as game, what to say that I haven't already addressed ?
It really adapt to your choices, in a way it's all that you've to know. The scenes are really well designed and written, feeling perfectly natural most of the time. And when they don't, it's not necessarily because of the author... How many of us can tell what a natural torture to death scene looks like, what are the thoughts of the victim and the ones of the tormentor ?
The realization is good. It could have been better accordingly to nowadays standard, but in regard of the complexity I guess it could be said as being "great". There's sometimes really small inconstancy, but they are barely noticeable if you follow just one playthrough. There's also sometimes small inconstancy in the renders, but once again it's barely noticeable, while being excusable seen the number of them.
The only effective bad point is that the game isn't made for parallel playthroughs. This while parallel playthroughs are probably the best way to enjoy fully the game.
Sometimes there's minor changes in the dialogs, but the renders used are different ; generally in order to reflect the feeling due to the MC rank. This could have been handled without effectively relying on two different scenes, and therefore be skipable if you already seen the scene from another rank point of view.
The complexity of the story is also parts of what make parallel playthroughs difficult to handle. You'll uncover different parts of the girls' personality, having different goals, and it's sometimes difficult to remember to which playthrough it come.
Those small details are the reason why I only give four stars.
Would the game have been started two years earlier, I would have gone for five without hesitation. But nowadays standards have rise, and the realization do not met what is now expected for such game.
