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

Short summary:


Do you like it when girls make you lick their dirty boots and drink their piss? If yes, this is the game for you - it’s got plenty of ridiculous degrading femdom. If not - its a hard skip.


There is no meaningful or believable story. Writing is ridiculous, character actions are unbelievable. Oh yeah, you get so many of the characters, often poorly introduced, and many with samey looks, that they eventually blend in together. There is a lot of content, but that’s because most of there renders are pretty low effort - lots of sci-fi looking asset flips, flat boring lighting, overdone expressions, awkward poses.



Good Things

• Satisfies specific kink, if you are into it
• Girl bodies are generally pretty good, but samey. Tits looks good upclose
• Huge number of scenes
• Choices seem to actually matter

Bad points

• Idiotic story, actions, writing
• Models are often marketplace asset flips, you've seen them a hundred times already
• Faces are mostly too smooth and don’t have enough variety
• Expressions are not good
• Renders are mostly low effort, with boring lighting
• 90% of the sex scenes are: girls stepping on guys, making them lick dirty boots, floor, or pussy. Get very boring very quick

Ok, I tried this before and really couldn't get into it. Femdom is not my thing and I felt it's all about this, like so many 'specialized' games here.

So obviously I tried again and what really drew me in now is the writing. Especially so, the development of the characters. It is interesting to see the change in them as they succumb to power over time. Some is a bit over the top (like the Sister on the evil path) but all in all, it is a great study of how power can corrupt you.

So even if the topic isn't your thing, it's worth reading for the story. It really is excellent.

[v0.8]


I initially would have given this 5/5 as it ticked so many boxes on first walkthrough.

But I lost my saves since 0.7, so I redid the whole thing, now, when 0.8 came out, and, well, obviously the feeling is not so excited, and you start to notice things that poke through.

First things first, major kudos to devs for keeping open different paths for MCs! There's a ton of work and content gone into the game, you can see that! The game can be considered a genre classic.

As I am only interested in maledom, I wouldn't have played the game at all, if it weren't possible.

As it is, I wasn't sure what path to choose for the female protagonist (you have to switch occasionally between them), as ideally I would have liked her to be subservient to MC, regardless of what she is to others. But finally I chose dom path for her too, so my review is solely for this combination:

dom male MC + dom fem MC + they team up

So, let's go:

1. Loads of content. 99% (or even 100%) of sexual tensions are powerplay, domination, bdsm, slavery and assorted things associated. You can happen to have a murder or two, too.

2. As I understand, game is heavily femdom (also due to the plot setting), but it is quite possible to carve a semi-mdom MC, too, if you wish (and I do).

3. The writing is pretty hot on many of the dom scenes (especially ones involving heavy hitters like Juliette and some others), but can turn pretty bland and repetitive in others, point in case MC being reminded of his miraculous high status and possibility of dropping back into oblivion. Due to that among other things, it is no true mdom, but rather being given a female euqal rank in a femdom hierarchy. The hints are dropped all the time that he could top the hierarchy at some point (in competition or in team with the female MC).

4. On repeated walkthrough the visuals start to feel quite average. There are issues with all female models following a pretty similar "beauty standard" body plan, even though we have different ethnicities. Now, considering how we are reminded frequently that females are competing in the hierarchy as well, and they all need to keep up fit, that's sort of understandable. However, males, even though they are underrepresented, have much more varied body plans. When you see two females next to each other, you can differentiate between them, but if you don't see their faces it might become more difficult, especially with some secondary characters. Faces and haircuts are different enough.

The sameness goes towards sex scenes as well, which felt very hot on first walkthrough. On repeated one you start to notice the fact that they seem very repetitive, and there does not appear much attention given to detail. Dialogues during scenes frequently save the day, but not always on re-read.

For example, while the fetishes witnessed should elicit strong emotions from participants, they frequently keep wearing the same, or only mildly affected expressions. That goes also for body poses, which hardly change during scenes, even if flogged, for example.

This is particularly noticeable, when any of the character's heads are ground to floor by stepping on them with the foot. Also, if you opt for male MC to, well, kill a criminal by stepping on his throat. Okay, you may dislike graphical portrayal of violence, but if you do have that actual scene in the game, it should look like it's happening, instead of MC supposedly hovering his feet right above the throat, while the affected criminal is lying motionless (he does not appear to be paralyzed the way it can happen with some others).

(On that note, I was mildly peeved with the idea that MC decision to kill/spare that guy [who framed him and due to whom MC started game in jail] didn't include the obvious choice to keep the guy alive for the purpose of a possible future witness. Instead the decision to spare would assume I did that because I was playing a good guy, instead of being cunning).

Similarly, when doing the MC dom scenes, they are frequently repetitive and.. well, only sometimes expressively dominant. Also, we are very limited in actual expression of kinks, there is, I think 1 or maybe 2 golden shower scenes, and no anal (except by dildo/pain device), if I remember correctly.

5. I agree with some other reviewers, that there is a huge proliferation of characters, many of which are used just to drive the plot and have no interaction with either of MCs. That might be OK, if there is a real need for that. As it is, v0.8 introduces yet ANOTHER missing daughter of Karlsson, who seems to be a possible major character, with yet another bunch of complications.

In short, the game starts to feel dragging out. At the end of 0.7 I felt that we are due some fun gamehost event. Now with the 0.8 test version (albeit partial, yes), we get a tonload of conversations and plot reveals, but are still sitting in the same pre-gameshow place. The male and female MC both have a number of slaves to amuse themselves with, which are practically completely underutilized. Instead we are given yet another (personal assistant) with whom we simply have no time to spend with, except for the potential bj scene.

So in the end, I give game 4/5 -- 5/5 for premise; 4/5 for plot and dialogues; 3/5 for visuals; 2,7/5 for (male)dom

If the game doesn't nosedive, I would still eagerly hope for next versions, hopefully giving some actual leverage to MC and some scenes to express his very evil+dom score I've racked up.

It's good but it's dragged on for too long at this point. If you're first discovering it, it's a lot of content and it's easy to overlook flaws. But now with it being separated into seasons, long update cycles, and things getting repetitive and not really advancing, it's hard to really care.

There are just way too many characters and this mystery setup is falling flat to me now. Astrid also just randomly showing up and being the paragon of virtue with the other characters suddenly dropping their previous dark character traits also feels inconsistent and that the writer fell in love with the character. Maybe that doesn't matter to you, so this criticism won't apply, but for me it takes me out of the setting and logical consistency, it's an evil dystopia, I'm excusing a lot of stuff and chalking it up to a video game, but now they selectively have morality.

I previously thought this was an easy 5 stars and arguably the best game on this site. Maybe it still is in the top 3 and I'm being overly harsh, but as of Chapter 8 Test I just don't care about the story anymore.

Update: 0.8.2A Final

This recent update was more of a return to form. It's tough to rate still, but it's at least a **** game, maybe still a *****. There are definite issues with it, but judging relative to its peers on F95zone, it's just still a strong overall work. Writing is great for a porn game I suppose, but at times a little uneven and meandering. It's just really hard to rate such a long running project at this point.

But one thing that can't be denied, the quantity is extremely high. The dev, Tess, is without a doubt someone that is committed and has high work ethic, and that's clear compared to most others in this niche who tend to try to just make a quick buck and scam patreon subs. This is not a game that is being extended just to pad it out, this is a creative outlet for a dev that clearly wants to tell a specific story and make a specific game, and I hope she continues to maintain her vision. The top professional game devs have all said gamers don't know what they want, and that they make the games they want (or at least that's what they want to do, obviously real world executives decide what happens). Since this is Tess' vision, it has a certain soul to it, and whether that resonates with the player or not is pure preference.

this is the last straw for me. I was excited for the first 2/3 updates but now I can say with confidence that this game is repetitive, slow and a tad cringe. the sex scenes are as exciting as a walk from the sofa to the fridge and despite all the bs talk about the peak condition most characters have an ugly flat ass. juliette is supposed to be a blonde bombshell but her body is so bad, just look at the pic of her ass on the main page (idk how the first comment in a thread is called)

When talking about a scientific advancement in gravitational fields (or some other kind of cringe made up field) made by a 18yo hot supergenius:
"It's beautiful. elegant even" -the ultimate supergenius, the mother of MC and we dont even know who else who maybe hooked up with the super ultra boss Alexander. and despite being dead, he's still somehow "gathering data" and revealing new things. Call the ghostbusters..

+ nice idea for story
+ music
+ renders

- avn quickly become very monotonous, most of the time you see pussy eating scenes. There is literally tons of these scenes.
- Olivia is dumb as a rock (especially when you realize, how important she is)
- you can't punish any of these cruel bitches
- forced lesbian content
- poorly done straight scenes
- too many characters. What is even worse most of them have exactly the same personality - cruel and sadistic
- DOM route is a real joke. First of all mc don't have a personality to be dominant, and this don't even change during game progress, he is boring/bland/dull wimp. So yea, this path don't have humiliation content, but you are still a sub and behave like one
- no revenge plot, or maybe even simple situation like for example - prisoners trying to assault some of these girls? This game is enough brutal to do something like that
- lot of meaningless and boring conversations that lead to nowhere
- girls keeps reminding you every fucking time how badly you can end if you drop your rank, or how much power you can get by raising it, Just stop, i already know that
- one of the most boring avn i ever played

nice beginning, but later story becomes really boring, 2 stars

Great game! I like how there's so many branching story paths. I really feel spoiled for choices. It's also interesting learning more about the world and how characters feel distinctly different. I wish there more vn characters like Juliette.

This VN is going the road of having too many characters, too much scenes per "ingameday" while "not enough time passing" which leads to a fuckfest of sort.

Which is obviously not very good since it destroys the rythm and pace of the otherwise interesting story.

Girls and kinks are diverse, which is good, but not exceptional with that many girls. Different POV characters is unusual for me, not badly done, but it's not very well cut.

So I'll play next updates, but I'm keeping open the possibility that this goes in a way which I find very inferior to what it could become. It can also become better, all remains open at this point.

Boring, text simulator. Premise is good but the entire thing needs a rework because at it's current state, it's a convoluted mess . Renders are pretty average, lack good lighting and poor textures. Models are copy&paste from other games. In sum, it has potential but at it's current state, it's a hard pass.

Immersive story, good amount of lewd scenes and you can avoid the sub/dom route depending on your choices and has a good amount of content in it. I like where the story is heading and am always on here to check if there are updates. Honestly one of the better games I have come across on here.

As there are author films, there are author porn games. And this is one of them.

The creator of this masterpiece has a very strong idea of what kind of story they want to tell. They have some very strong fetishes (femdom obviously) and they're ready to explore them to the extrem. And although I am not peculiarly a fan of this fetish, I had a lot of fun exploring this decadent and dark world. Because it's not a generic porn story, but someone's very real fantasy. And that's fascinating.

The game will lead you to some unexplored path and you'll have to ask yourself "am I this person?" That's a very unique feeling.

On a more technical note :
- graphics: models are a bit old and some proportions aren't very realistic, but it works. Besides, the game has some crazily good environement.
- sound: the music is very atmospheric.
- story: a bit convoluted perhaps. But characters have very strong personalities and you will want to know more.
- gameplay: it's a VN with very numerous choices. No two stories will be the same. It's really impressive.
- sex scenes: you'll see fetishes you've never seen before. But I really appreciate the fact that the author decided to warn us before some choices that could lead to some conlusions (NTR, most evil or violent scene...)

Pros:
Pretty much nothing.

Cons:
Highly cringy and unlikable characters to give you an idea of how unlikable they are i would like to say that this is the only game on this site that has fans that are only playing the game so they can kill most of the characters at the end of the game but to their surprise that ending wouldn't be canon but just a soothing content for all the players who think they have avoided the humiliation and torture in the game.
So every character that they have waited years to kill will be alive again in Devs next game. Seems pointless isn't it?

Models aren't that good looking either.

No animations for more than half of the game.

False attempt at a Dom path just to get a wider audience, in truth it's a "lie low" path where you are always trying to save your ass, sometimes that's literally the case. There's hardly any change in MC's character, no matter which route you chose, he is always a dumb sub, who can't do anything but be scared, Just a little less in Dom route.

Highly convoluted choices or paragraphs???, they are so long and so many but non of them matters, mostly.

Conclusion:
If you are into femdom ,congratulations, this would be like a wet dream of yours but if you are playing the game for the Dom route you will be disappointed or you might become one of those who are just waiting to kill everyone. Which would never happen, not conically at least.

I'd have to say that Karlsson's Gambit is one of the best examples of the potential that Adult Visual Novels have. The idea that this REMOTELY qualifies as a 1 or 2-star experience is genuinely laughable.

Pros:
+ the story is engaging, and the main roster of characters are all distinct. Be warned that it has a heavy focus on femdom, however I'd argue that even if it's not a big kink of yours (as it isn't for me, I don't really like femdom), if you're smart enough you'll actually come to still enjoy the AVN due to it's integration into the world. Not only that, but you are given many opportunities to either avoid the more extreme elements, or just not participate in it.
+ the amount of choices and content in the game is INTENSE. I have some issues with the fact that in some instances you have to do things in a specific way to get a desirable outcome, however I still believe it's better to have a variety of choices and learn to navigate through that labyrinth, rather than just having a kinetic novel where every choice is out of your control.
+ visually, it's great. I wouldn't say it's a total work of art, however I believe with the sheer amount of content in the game, having some ridiculous 4k visuals with actual animations would result in a game file size of like 20GB, which is just ridiculous. The models, lighting and posing are all great, and the instances of clipping or unnatural movement of objects ultimately ends up being too trivial to truly complain about.

Cons:
- an unfortunate problem that feels like it's creeping in more and more for anyone doing the dom route is that the story goes on, the emphasis on femdom clashes with the significance of the main protagonist. You are shown, ad nauseam, that you are arguably one of the most important people on the face of the Earth. No exaggeration. So, when you're choosing to go the more dominant/liberated route by climbing the ranks, often times the game still tries to enforce the idea that all of these women can ruin you, when the people that actually know of your importance should instead be trying to curry favour with you. They all constantly hold information from you, lie to you, attempt to manipulate you, use you. Even the people that are unaware of the full extent of your importance know you're valuable, and yet their behaviour doesn't really change because of that, but more simply due to your current position.

That works in terms of the overarching world, but think about the end of the AVN: will the end just be that you're on top? If so, what opportunities will you actually have to dominate anyone already on the top level? Because the entire structure of the narrative is built around the levels you are assigned, it means that people doing the sub route will ALWAYS have more content to view on that specific route, because it plays into the established rules rather than working to attempt and push against them.

This also means that every time you uncover a lie or avoid a trap, it doesn't actually feel as rewarding as it should be. You don't get any ability to push back or seek revenge, in fact, you as the protagonist aren't actually ALLOWED to feel a desire to seek revenge.* If it was merely an inability due to your status still being several levels lower on the hierarchy, I'd understand, but he doesn't even seem to have the THOUGHT of what he'd do in a higher position. Everything else in the story is pretty clearly written on the board, the twists are all pretty easy to predict, so the fact it's not even being HINTED at gives me some concerns. Keep in mind this is less a major problem now, but it's a negative undertone that has the likelihood of becoming a major problem, as this is one AVN that relies HEAVILY on a satisfying conclusion.

- I will mention this in the negatives, but the amount of times I had to redo my choices because I had to get a specific amount of points with a certain person could be tedious. There are so many variables in the AVN that you're almost obligated to use a guide, especially if you don't want to be the dominated. This is because of the dev's personal enjoyment of femdom, so I understand their design choices and the story beats, but nonetheless it can still be frustrating.

Ultimately, at time of writing [v0.7b], I give it a 9/10. The third act will really make or break the score, because it could easily be pushed to a 10, or to a 6.

EDIT [v0.8 Test Part I]:
+ *Tess has actually worked to improve one of the issues I had, which is that the MC lacked any real opinion on the fact literally everyone has been lying to him. Multiple times people comment "oh, here's this time I lied to you" and he rightfully get pissed, which is what I've been waiting for for aaages.


I'm still of the belief this is a 9/10 AVN, however the update has proven to me that sticking the landing is indeed going to be a difficult task.

So this is a game where the tags are almost an outright lie, and so are the dev notes. To begin with, you are going to be the bitch 99% of the time. Assuming you are using a walkthrough, which here is almost mandatory, the points are virtually useless. Any dom or avoiding femdom stuff doesn't do anything until waaaaaaaaaay later and it's minimalistic at best. 99% of the time you are going to be the bitch and you don't get a say in this. You have no choice in what you see or don't see, and you can't just refuse scenes that you have no interest in. Based on reading the dev notes and genres, its implied that you would be able to break out of this femdom mold and make it more maledom oriented but that is a lie.
The story also makes no sense. A bunch of skinny highschool tier girls that gossip and bitch amongst eachother dominating and overpowering buff muscle dudes that are twice their size? Underground torture labs using advanced sci-fi tech? Open slavery of people that you can break out of suddenly with dumb pretend K points? It's just dumb and unbelieveable and poorly written. There are also so many characters and I don't even remember all their names because they come and go, phase in and out and serve little to no purpose. It's a total waste. There's also this really dumb feature of playing your sister as the second character and you have choices that fuck over your mc. ??? Why would you ever include this. Why would I want to screw over myself and sabotage my own choices? The sister also is taken out of your control and forced to do shit that you would not choose her to do either. It's just bad. This game is bad and is obviously held in such high praise because of it's heavy generic evil femdom stuff. Avoid this game unless you are just absolutely desperate to get your nuts crushed by bland honey select model evil villains straight out of a comic book. Awful.

Karlsson's Gambit [v0.7b Final]


Cons:
Boring Story
Too slow burn
Boring Characters
Cringy scenes
lame sex scenes
too many choices that don't seem like they matter


Conclusion:
After reading all the rave reviews here, I had to ask myself if I played the same game.
Because this game was such a chore to play, and bored me to death.
There was absolutely nothing in this game I found to be slightly entertaining, but more cringy and incredibly boring.
I don't care for femdom, so I tried to stear it more towards maledom.
But it really doesn't seem to matter what you do, because you get forced in to this shitty femdom storyline that doesn't make any fucking sense, and have to watch some fucking dweebs get humiliated.
You get bombarded with 4-5 choices that are often times too convoluted.
There's no action to be seen here, but just scenes that are really dull.
There are too many characters and they are so uninteresting and cringy, that I just want them all to die.
I guess this game is supposed to be for fans of femdom, but then again I don't see why they would like it, when there's little to nothing interesting in this game.

Amazing looking game, made with quality and passion.

One of rare games where you can take such a different paths and decisions you're making in game have such a huge meaning.

Person who made the game is clearly into BDSM for real and you can see passion and real interest in making the game.

Lot of different kinks and paths, so there is something for everyone to enjoy depending on the paths/decisions you make.
High quality and enjoyable game, good looking girls and very different from each other so can find whatever you're looking for.
Interesting world, good writing and fitting for femdom.

The storyline is actually quite interesting and I definitely liked the artwork. I like the way it's written overall and the play on femdom and more extreme fetishes, kind of wraps around the idea of a "taboo" game. Really enjoyed it, big 5 stars for the great content.

MY GAME! I have a love for this game like I rarely experience. Yet, it is so far from my usual criteria, and the themes are not my style at all. However, it has something completely different from everything else. It doesn't resemble any other game; it deserves the word: ORIGINAL. Finally, a game that isn't a mere copy-paste of another. It's just amazing... Yes, the beauty of the images and the girls is undeniable, but the writing... the universe, the lore, it's impressive. It has the potential of a TV series, but far better written than what we are served nowadays.

The storyline is incredibly strong. It has hierarchy, suspense, and it feels like there's a before and after the game; there's depth, really. If there ever is a book, I'll buy it without hesitation. So why is it far from what I'm used to? I don't like causing harm, even virtually, and here BDSM and submission are central themes. But... it's so well justified and portrayed. And there's meaning behind it. It's the women who dominate and reverse the roles, it's unsettling but so right, so well thought out. You get used to it, you get attached to it.

The gameplay... WOW... the choices have real consequences, giving it dimension. There's an enormous amount of branching, routes, and paths; that's exactly what I look for in a choice-based game. It's all perfect. I find it flawless, and words fail me to compliment it further.

What do I prefer in this game? The music... a masterpiece... the game's themes put me on my knees. I sometimes turn on the game just to listen to the music, as if it were a Final Fantasy or a game on the Super Nintendo. It's incredible how each piece transcends me. The music adds depth to the dialogues, a new language that conveys intentions beyond words. While everything is great in the criteria we expect from such a game, for me, the game's music is on an even higher level. Do as I do, don't stop at the tags; enjoy it. It deserves recognition. Thank you KG... truly, thank you.

this is one of the best games (of this kind) i had ever played. the writing here is top notch, especially compared with other games this kind, and its all based on dialogues and thoughts.
I love the mind games that are going on and how you can feel the desperation. there also some twists that i dont saw coming. this game is mean, evil, sick, twisted minded and i love it.
many decisions really impact the story, as for that, you can play this game either as sub or dom, evil oder good.

music also contributes significantly to the atmosphere and is well used here.

the rendering is nothing special but good. not much more to say about this.

I won't go into the delicate details. if you're into femdom, you're bound to be satisfied. it might even be too extreme for some.
i dont now about that other part, how was it called, male domination? sounds weird.

hope to see more like this in the future