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

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. 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.

- Story: It's like a wet dream of a dominatrix or someone who enjoys femdom a lot (not my case). I appreciate that there is a DOM path (not that bad). That being said, the developer made a great job at making it interesting and engaging for most of the game, personally I don't like how the main plot is progressing in late chapters, It feels like the developer is overcomplicating things, adding dialogs and background to stuff I didn't care.

- Characters: MC and girls are fine (I suppose, for a game like this). Mc's best friend, he could as well not exist, you barely see him. MC's brother, his scenes were boring.

- Renders: A bit outdated.

- Animations: Only a few during late chapters and they were bad (though it's better bad than nothing IMO)

- Music: There were some interesting tunes.

- Others: I'm not sure if this a bug.Everyone mentions MC's dick being "enhanced" by Veronica (many times thorughout the story, even the MC admitted it xD), however, I couldn't remember that ever happening which was super weird and kind of a letdown.

Overall, it's worth checking out specially for those who enjoy Femdom and Bdsm, also it's cool that choices here matter. So I'd give it an 8/10, it was fun to try something out of the ordinary.

Base storyline is solid and interesting, but there's far too much mysteries. It becomes exhausting to get another name that characters can't talk about. Also the dialogs "You're the smartest person", "You cannot trick me I'm so smart" etc. are too cliche, sounds really bad after some time.

Art is nice, I really appreciate the fact that there are few completely different story branches, with completely different arts, situations etc. It's not that common.

Overall the game is good, I can recommend it to anyway, whether you are top or bottom.

Why am I reviewing this game? - It’s pretty obviously a fdom/msub game and I’m really not into msub. Well I stumbled upon this game quite a while ago, but I never finished it or remembered it well enough to review it. It has the bdsm, mdom, fdom, slave and spanking tags, so I checked out the summary where the creator claimed that there would be a dom path and that you could avoid the harsher femdom and amass power and influence to get mdom content and turn the tables. Considering the high rating I decided to give it a chance.

First off – I played through all (mdom) content of season 1 (act 1-7). I then installed sancho mod and checked whether I missed any interesting scenes. With season 2 (act 8 Part 1) I only checked the scenes with Sancho mod because my rating of this game was pretty fixed already and I just wanted to make sure there was no content that’d change my mind. (and get it over with)

Second – this review is for people like me who are into mdom but not interested in msub content and want to know whether they should give this game a try. If you are into fdom/msub stuff then you probably already know this game – if not – give it a try – you’ll probably love it.

Let’s start with the simple stuff – strengths and weaknesses. The game has pretty good background music that is used well, the story is pretty interesting (at least at the beginning- it wears out its welcome), the fdom content is inventive and varied, the characters are pretty and there are quite a lot of choices that influence the story.
Negatives – The women look (with few exceptions) incredibly similar to the point that you usually recognize them by their hairstyles. The creator keeps introducing more and more women until it gets hard to keep track of who’s who and how they are all connected. The walkthrough is a necessity because there are a shitload of points, flags and choices to keep track of.

So let’s get to the interesting part – is this game worth playing for the maledom?
In the game’s introduction the creator writes that “she likes submissive males (to abuse and get off on sadistically) and dominant males (actual sex)” – to me it seems that this is the main problem of this game – the creator’s understanding of mdom and mine are completely different.
You collect dom point after dom point and use a walkthrough to get the best result and your reward is … drumroll …. - vanilla sex!!!!
fdom/msub scenes are varied, sadistic and obviously lovingly made – mdom scenes are you having sex with a woman as an equal partner. Because that seems to be mdom to the creator. Every male who isn’t a “worm” is a “Dom” when he dares consider himself an equal to a woman. Sex scenes are pretty vanilla with a woman telling the MC when to start, how to act and when to stop. She might even get generous and suck his dick. Actual content where you dominate a woman is either really light or under the orders of another dominant woman who uses you like another toy to dominate another woman.

The MCs sister – kind of a second protagonist – seems to be the actual protagonist. You also can only choose whether you want her to be an evil bitch or a good bitch. She theoretically has dom and sub points but those change jack-shit – even if you make her take every single sub option it only changes some dialogue lines about her – sub points options disappear after a while and don’t change her personality at all – she just starts using men as furniture or humiliate them (Jake) for no reason with no way to change that. Because we can’t have a submissive woman.

Considering scenes – like I said mostly vanilla sex, if you dominate someone it’s always with another woman involved who calls the shots. (light spanking (once), light domination, domination, device bondage, watersports, snuff)
The game tells you that if you rise high enough you get to take advantage of the people below you – this might not be a lie but it is definitely an exaggeration – if you try to take advantage of (piggy) and try to put a bondage hood on her, your sister countermands you. If you tell Hyori to give you a blowjob you get a minuspoint (and it’s once again vanilla sex). The game also considers it a dom-scene if you help a woman cheat on her boyfriend/lover as the bull (more vanilla sex, all you can do is act on yet another woman’s orders).
In season 2 you can so far (very lightly) dominate your housekeeper (1 scene) but all other scenes are more of the above. Maybe there will be more real domination content in the future (you are supposed to take a supervisor position with some female slaves) but at the moment you have an extremely tedious slog of a game with no to very little mdom content. It’s very much not worth it. It also feels like fdom scenes are more inventive and better made. (most of it is msub content fdom on fsub is a lot rarer)
I also starting to doubt that we’ll ever get to dominate any/all of the Karlsson sisters. More likely that you’ll get a single ending slide if you turn the tables. It looks more like you’ll have to choose to be one sister’s partner.
Considering that I fucking hate all of the sisters and want to either execute them french revolution style or break them and turn them into slaves I don’t think I’ll bother with the game in the future unless the creator changes course by a lot.

To make one thing clear - the three stars are for the game in its entirety - if I just rated the mdom content it would be one star and that only because there's no lower rating.

One of the kind best femdom games on the market!
it's so good, story is amazing, much more story branching, a lot of unique choices with end in different routes, characters are beautiful as hell!
Great avn overall.

i am not too much in to dom/sub/slaves kink but this game was worth my time.
very nice made with great story/plot. to say it simple you maybe not in some of the tags of the game but its a game you must try once or you really loose the meaning of F95 existence and some great work from this developer.
not a fast game as you must discover all the characters (they are many) and the story behind them but have a lot of action and choices. looks like Dev has throw in a lot of hours and the result looks amazing. you could even make a movie out of this game without changing anything.
p.s. to Dev keep up the good work and thank you for you creation