VN - Ren'Py - Karlsson's Gambit [v0.8.2B Final] [Grym Gudinna Games]

After deliberating for quite some time I've decided to give this game a go and see what's up, mostly because I've seen people praise it so it got me somewhat curious. There will be some minor spoilers ahead I guess, so be advised.

Just to be clear I've only played the good DOM path and only played the game once, I don't like femdom, especially if there's humiliation involved, so my review is about the DOM content and hopefully will be useful to people who are interested in that part of the game.


Before the DOM route review let me just say something about Olivia a.k.a the female protagonist.
For some reason it feels like that Olivia is the MC, I can't put my finger on it why I feel this way, but the MC seems like a secondary character and I wasn't aware how big of a role this second protagonist will play in the game before playing.
Sure we are making a lot of decisions for Kane but we are also shaping Olivia and somehow her impact seems much bigger in the game right now.
It is understandable to a point, she is important for the story, especially after some revelations, however I was expecting a male protagonist game as stated in the overview - 'you play as a male protagonist' and there's no mention about a secondary female protagonist.
I know that MC will probably have an important role later on (mostly his sperm though..), but that doesn't change the way I feel about their impact right now.


General things:
Weird out of nowhere pussy and boobs close-up shots were quite weird for me, I'm not sure what is their purpose but it isn't arousing when you are in the middle of a conversation and then 'BAM here is a close up pussy shot for you'.
What really stood out for me is that the all the women look the same. Everyone has the same body type, no diversity there at all besides some has different skin tone.
The lack of facial expressions were quite jarring, the characters just seem lifeless as they only have one facial expression throughout the game. Sure I'm exaggerating a bit, but I haven't really seen a lot of changing facial expressions.
The lightning and posing feels wrong in a lot of the renders, like the characters were just copied into a background, there's no 'real' feel about the settings, no depth of field if you know what I mean.
Everyone keeping secrets and everyone is scheming around, I know it's somewhat necessary, but I just can't enjoy the 'I can't tell you more now, be patient' narrative anymore in these games, especially if it's drawn out like in this game.
There's way too many characters in the game and way too many branches, I'll admit I'm not a fan of heavy branching but I knew going in that I'm only gonna play it once, so it didn't bother me that I'm going to miss some (most) content.
I can't really comment on the lewd content as I was mostly trying to avoid having sex with these women, but the ones I saw were average, however I didn't find them hot, but that could be just a me problem.


The DOM path:
You are going to see femdom even on the DOM path, the MC gets dominated and humiliated at the beginning, but it's almost non-existent later on, there's some femdom scenes (2 if I remember correctly) that you can skip but it still happens.

Overall the DOM path wasn't really what I was expecting, it feels more like a non-sub path if you will, so far I haven't really seen domination just normal encounters, granted it builds up gradually so maybe later on the MC can actually dominate some women, but as of right now it feels like that the women just let him be an equal instead of dominating him.

Hopefully MC dominating them happens at some point otherwise I'm not really interested in this game, I would say 99% of the LIs are just simply despicable for me and I'm only tagging along so the MC can put them to their place.

I didn't like the fact that a good DOM MC have to treat others badly to gain extra DOM points, especially his friend, but I kinda accepted it as a necessary evil to be able to (hopefully) do good things later, although I'd have liked an option to let Jake know at some point that the MC will be required to do some questionable things.

Also didn't like that we (the players) have to see how the characters are treating Seth (the brother), not to mention seeing him in sexual encounters, I'm not interested in that, same with Olivia to be honest, but that's another matter since she's an LI.

I think this is the first game I ever played over the years where I was actually avoiding lewd scenes and only participated in the ones that got my MC a chance to climb the ladder faster.
I don't find any of these LIs desirable because of how they act, especially after seeing them interact with the other characters.
Olivia is no exception, at the beginning of the game I was hoping that she's not going to turn out like the rest of the board, but that quickly changed and she is in fact no different, just not as cruel as them on the good path.
Even on her good path she's using people for her amusement and for sexual pleasure, which is just a huge turnoff for me in general, not just in her case.
I'm 'collecting' her points right now as it seems some of it is needed for bigger revelations, but I'm hoping I can reject her later and I'm not railroaded into romancing her, I don't like her.

The only LI I'm not disgusted of so far is Junko, mostly because I haven't seen her act like the rest, probably she'd done some questionable things but the MC is not aware, so blissful ignorance. Although I don't like that she's getting used by others, but she's needed for fast tracking the ranks, so I can tolerate that.

Seeing possible LIs in a sexual setting is a huge turnoff for me, implied or shown doesn't matter, so basically 99% of the LIs are just not appealing for me because of that, same with Junko sadly, but as I said she's key to rise faster.

Hopefully there's an ending where there's a revolution and all these people are put to their place and MC can end up alone and he doesn't have to pick someone to be with as I couldn't stomach being with any of the higher-ups and if the MC have to be with someone I'll just stop playing.

Overall I think the DOM path right now is below average, maybe later it gets to actual domination, right now I would rate it below average, but I can't do that with good conscience because of the amount of work put into this game, even tho I've probably seen 25% of it, so I'm rating it average.

It's beyond me how this has such a high rating.

- Writing is ridiculously bad.
- Story and setting full of gaping holes and are just simply idiotic.
- Renders are incredibly poorly composed, framed, lit. They're full of rendering artifacts. Author remembers to use DoF once every 200 renders for some reason.
- Environments are kitbashed together from some of the worst quality assets I've ever seen.
- Character poses and expressions are lifeless and just plain bad.
- 95% of sex scenes are: girl steps on guy / girl makes guy lick heels / girl sits on guy's face.

If your specific kink isn't femdom, and you aren't willing to scrape the bottom of the barrel, don't waste your time.

Great game. The design is very high quality, with numerous angles shown in every conversation. Clearly, a lot of time was spent on this.

I saved the game almost 100 times as there are so many choice to make. I will play again to follow different paths as I know I skipped many scenes.

A game set in dark dystopian world, could be dark for some people, who am I kidding it's definitely dark for some people, but anyone who likes video games with dark fantasy/sci-fi etc, with good plot this is for them

Pros:
A very different story
Impactful choices
Nice art
Not rushed

Cons:
Long update cycle

Preference:
Some will find the plot dark

I am shocked I never reviewed this game, this is one of the best adult visual novels out there, and it 100% is the best in the specific genre this game falls under.

It starts off as a femdom focused game where the MC is forced into doing degrading things to please women to deal with the situation he is in, but as he moves up the ranks, you are given a lot more agency to continue to be dominated by women, or start becoming the dominator yourself, and I think this is amazing. Too many femdom games focus ONLY on femdom, and I think it alienates an audience, players like me, who aren't naturally submissive and find it harder to relate to the main character. In this situation, the MC can be naturally submissive for the people that enjoy it, or he can be submissive only by the environment, and once he is free of it, he can dominate to his hearts content.

The plot, the girls, the scenarios, the events, this game is a near perfect spectacle, and some INCREDIBLY dark shit can happen, and now another layer of the game is revealed, are you good natured, pure evil, or pragmatically neutral? The amount of decisions in this game is staggering. 10/10, play this fucking game.

Another hidden gem!

KG will envelop your attention through genuine mystery. Enough with the boy back to live with stepmom... This one is not only original, but also great.

The amount of assets is astonishing, every scene takes its time to show off all the details we often left to imagine in other games. From the insane buildings to the colored spikes in each and every shoe of the girls.

It also doesn't shy away from a nice build up, meaning scenes displaying affection beyond words in a screen, a true labor of love.

The online downside are the animations, which are lacking most of time, and/or being slow -thus not matching the intensity desired, although at this point you can forgive it given the amount of care everything else received.

Must play.

Well, this game is next level.
Sure, it looks old at the start (I don't care about that personally, but some do) but improves a lot as the game continues (models, backgrounds, animations...). Lots of content, scenes... But not really a game where you want to "skip to the good part.".

The story/worldbuilding is very good. A lot of mystery AND a lot of revels too! Things go forward and are unraveled to you, some blind spots here, some stuff you can predict there... It's not mysteries for the sake of it. It's really, really nicely done on that part.
You'll have to manage your morality (dom/sub and good/evil) but also some stats for your sister, brother, and others (just enough to shape your experience).

I didn't try the sub route (yet), but being able to be "dom" in a Femdom game is great. They have the power, you need to prove that you're worthy to be an equal (not from the start, but you can climb the ranks). I really like femdom where you don't have to be a worthless beta... But being alpha is not enough to have them crawl before you. There's a power dynamic, take nothing for granted... I really like that, and I'm someone who usually likes to be the good guy... So it needs to be done well enough for me to enjoy this kind of thing... And this game is doing that pretty well.
If you can't stand the idea of being less than the ultimate alpha... This game might not be for you. If you enjoy fighting for your life/privileges (or to be a sub, I suppose), this game has a lot to offer!

Can't wait for the next update, can't wait to see the game completed (not too soon, but eventually I'll want to see the full picture).

I going against the grain andf giving it a 3.25 /5 here are the reason;

Femdoma and femakle perspective too much, I would have enjoyed if t were simply femdom, bexcause variety is good, but a huge chunck of the story is dominated the mc's sis, which I don't enjoy.
World is setup excellentkly, so ar ethe locations and writing and variety of locatioon.

The only reason I am giving irt 3 after so long, as tyo me it seems tghe mc's story is meaning less atthids point,i.e, it feels as if his choices amount to nothing majpor, he have his small narrativbe weigth.

I would have enjoyed it mpre if it were4 simlpy mc or his sis but split perpective causes issues, as you arwe asked to shift perspective rapidly.

other issue is the sex scenes are boring as they seems to be fdrom an era before modern types of renders of animted scenes. which is a bummer, as the scenes are neither interesting nor hot, the piint of AVN.

if you are in for female centerixc story where roles of male and feamle are reverserd fm tarditional avn , you will enjoy it . For me it I can only say it is not for me.

I really like this game I never minded femdom games only extreme femdom games I don't like so I'm glad I can skip the scenes I don't like. I played the dom and k4sub path so far the dom path I have enjoyed playing the k4sub path i enjoyed it a tiny bit less not because of the story the story is great just sometimes wish I can punch one of the women of how the main protagonist is treated lol.Be nice to see if there is a rebellion path' better to die free then live as slave but seeing this is a full on femdom game most likely not.

Either way great game you are making really enjoy it.

Just finished E8S1 and looking back at it, I can say the game is as close to perfection as one can think of. Many options to choose from when it comes to branching. The graphics are amazing tbh. Animnations are good too. And music changing according to your morality choices (getting omnios if you go evil for example) is a very nice touch. And storyline is captivating - I literally spent a couple of nights welcoming dawn with the game without even realizing the time that has passed. This is a true treasire of a game for people who are into BDSM. What more to say than 5/5 star rating from me and full recommendation to try the game. It is very much worth the time. See you on the Dark side.
P.S. So you need more convincing? I will give you two: Veronica and Astrid.
Now begone with you SLAVE! Download and PLAY!

There is no doubt that this AVN is one of the best you will find, Top 3 without a doubt... I see many complain about the NTR or about how the excess of femdom was a feminist propaganda but for starters with the NTR I am not sure that your LI torturing slaves counts as NTR... and femdom although it is not to my liking, in this game It is very well done, it is not feminism because the LI practically do not care about the gender, they only appreciate "power "and respect whoever has potential, if the MC shows pragmatic thinking they will treat him as an equal ... Which seemed curious to me, the Dev does a lot of emphasis on her sadistic side but the game rewards you more for being pragmatic

Can't save/load games, making it completely unplayable. Otherwise, all I could tell is, the UI is a fascinatingly terrible purple and yellow eyesore, MC is horrifyingly ugly, and there doesn't seem to be any gallery.

It's one of the best AVNs, easily top5 for me for sure. Story is interesting, characters are many, varied and pretty well written, girls are hot and scenes are good as well. Currently at version 0.8, can't wait for updates. I'm gonna be sad when it ends, we need tons more such AVNs.
There's a lot of content already and quality seems consistent which is also a feat in itself.
Graphics could be somewhat better, girls are not realistic, so a bit old style, but still manage to be hot, especially with how they are written to beahev and speak.
It's the product that should be on Steam when it's completed and worth paying for which is, let's be honest, fairly rare for AVNs that are usually a quite niche product and made by small / inexperienced teams or individuals even. This is pretty pro and absolutely worth supporting.
I am shocked it doesn't have 10 times the reviews it has.
p.s. I'm not sure why so many reviews say "it's ok if you're into femdom" - i find it somewhat entertaining to some level but not into it and my playthrough is not submissive and there's plenty of content and i enjoy it. So this is not a 'submissive' game it's just the world that has most males kinda shitty (not necessarily MC).

In my opinion, the game has become too dated for 2025, specifically its story!

In addition, there is no noticeable progression in animations, music in the background, the quality of the picture, and simply why all the girls have the same figure and moreover the same holes? They are all the same Barbie dolls, there is no interest.
When every second developer can do at least several times better.

Just because of nostalgia in 2020 when first introduced to this game, the way it surprised, I'll give it 4 stars, but seriously, dev... make at least some girls unique holes and figures, some distinctive features besides their hairstyles and appearance and most importantly remove such huge answers, you are given 4 answer options in each of which are at least 100 letters, they take up the entire screen)

An extremly ambitious game that does better than most in not crumbling under the weight of its own complexity.

The different routes and replay value on offer is quite insane. If you are a switch and enjoy playing as both the dominant and submissive you will be able to enjoy many playthroughs seeing how different versions of the two protagonists play off each other. Even as somebody who only enjoys one side of the coin, like myself, I certainly feel I got a complex and deep experience with room to consider a second playthrough. The story and interwoven mechanics here, whilst not perfect, are certainly impressive and enjoyable.

The girls are pretty and numerous, but nothing mindblowing. They sort of blur together visually but their personalities and the social dynamics are clearly the main focus. Sex is good, but rare. You will get scenes, but not that many and they are actually quite a bit more vanilla than the premise and tone would have you think. There are some expections of course, some harder stuff sneaks through. But overall this game could do with more sexual content and for that content to live up to the hype more.

This is a game that I don't feel compelled to check on constantly. I leave it for 18 months or so, come back, and I am always impressed by what has been added. It certainly lacks in enough areas to make it exempt from a 5 in my eyes. But a very strong game for sure.

I really don't like games that involve humiliation, whether it's with the girls in the game or with my character, but this game here won me over. Its story is too good, it's full of mysteries and unanswered questions that leave the player curious and anxious for the next chapter. In addition, the game itself is very interesting. I'm committed to always keeping my character at the highest rank, and for those who don't like humiliation content, you can avoid it with the choices. Anyway, it's a game that deserves to be played.

I generally have a rule that I don't review as-yet unfinished games, but this will be one of the exceptions. I really only do this when I just know that the game can't really reduce my score at this stage.

I think the game is fantastic. It's a visual novel in a future dystopia revolving around the machinations of an evil dynastic megacorporation. The story is interesting and the game features many variables and different routes, some even just subtly different - it's very impressive. Both sub and dom pathways, lots of relatively hardcore and even extreme BDSM. It covers many desirable kinks. The models are very hot, if a little samey in build.

All told, I love it! Ideal. Can't wait to see the rest.

I got really into this game a while back, and was a patron. I still play it on occasion, but it's clear to me that the devs have kind of run out of steam on it, since the last update (even though it did develop a potentially good femdom character, Angelica). The best thing about chapters 1-7 for me was the snappy dialog and the power-politics and intrigue between the sisters, neither of which seem to be present anymore -- I think the plotlines have become bit too tangled, and the narrative spine of the story is pretty much gone.
My five stars are there simply because of the hours of fapping fun the game has given me, playing (and also majorly modding) the "Secret Sub" route.

The female models are beautiful. The renders start out average and become very good over time. The writing is very good. There's a good amount of content and lewd content for a 4 1/2 year old VN. The story is a dystopian off-the-rails batshit crazy excuse for explaining the sadistic femdom cruelty in the game, and that kind of ruins it for me.

Fair warning: going down the good+maledom path is a complete waste of time that will trigger players that aren't into femdom because the vast majority of content that players see is still femdom, it's just not directed at the MC. The developer should've used the effort spent on the nearly-fake maledom path to develop other content instead of pretending to provide a maledom route. You definitely need to read the "Developer Notes" section of the first post in the discussion thread before playing.

Overall: 3.5/5 If you're into femdom and humiliation, you'll probably enjoy it immensely. Otherwise, you need to run away.

Good things for all tastes but the story is also good. The storytelling in this, makes me forget why i started playing this. If all lewd scenes were removed in the next updates, it would take too long to notice.