Battlefield Waltz Review

A review code was used with many thanks to Reef Entertainment.

The Cursed Sword

In a small village in Ortesia an unexpected invasion happens. Lan, our Main Character in Battlefield Waltz, loses everything when her father is killed, and she has to protect her family. Rumour has it that the Cursed Sword is hidden near Lan’s village, and it has immense power, power that could win any war. When the need is dir,e and Lan almost loses her life, she gains an unexpected new power: The Cursed Sword.

Fated to live on the battlefield forever with the cursed sword, Lan is enrolled in the famed military academy Nirvana. This becomes her new home as she has to hone her skills to become worthy of using the Cursed Sword. Along the way, she meets new people, makes friends and finds a place where she belongs.

the loading menu of Battlefield Walz — The main menu of the game

The Waltzers

In Battlefield Waltz, there are six love interests you can play. At the start, it seemed like only three routes were unlocked, so I just went with those three first. Before playing the game, I searched online for a specific route order but found that the order didn’t matter too much, so I just followed the game order. So the route order I went with was Abel -> Lustin -> Pash -> Nike -> Tifalet -> Wilhelm.

Abel

Abel is the best fighter at Nirvana and can beat anyone, including the teaching staff. He doesn’t interact much with the other students and keeps mostly to himself. At first, it seems that Abel is arrogant and doesn’t want to be seen with the other students like he feels he is better than the others. But once we get to know him, we see a softer, kinder side to him.

This was a good starting route to introduce Battlefield Waltz. It set the theme for the continuing threat Lan had to face in almost every route. But other than that, I wasn’t impressed with Abel’s route. What I was surprised about is that Abel was super jealous and protective of Lan. No man could be talking to her or be near her. But the romance didn’t quite catch on for me in the end. And I had some issues getting to the good ending for some reason, I was not into the ending as much anymore by the time I got the good ending.

Image of the top of the class student, Abel — The top of the class student, Abel

Lustin

Lustin is a prince of the small country of Vaihazard. He is second in line to the throne, and acts like it. He loves his carefree life at Nirvana, and he especially loves the nightlife, sneaking out after curfew almost every night. From the beginning, it’s clear Lustin knows he is good-looking and loves to woo any female he thinks is beautiful.

Lustin was protective, playful and sweet whenever Lan was involved, and I found myself smiling all the way through his route.

Storyline-wise, this route in Battlefield Waltz was a little strange. The cursed sword had almost no part in the story, and in the end, they had to quickly wrap up that particular loose end. And even the conflict ended way too easy for my liking. But honestly, I just wanted to see Lan and Lustin’s happy ending, so I wasn’t too bothered.

Image for Lustin, lover of women and the nightlife — Lustin, lover of women and the nightlife

Pash

He comes from the nation Diagroth. He is the nephew of the current king and has grown up in a military environment. Now, he is at Nirvana to improve his fighting skills. Everyone around him has been tough on Pash growing up. They all push him in training to be worthy of the Diagroth “protection”. Pash has grown up around a lot of strong women, and as a result, he gets nervous around them. He often acts tough, loves fighting and loves the food from his home nation.

This route in Battlefield Waltz dragged on a little too long for my liking. It was very clear where the route was going, but Pash kept being completely clueless and not stepping up. The romance was cute. They both had no prior relationship experience, so we get that first love trope, and it was adorable. Overall, an okay route.

Image of Pash eating his home nation's food — Pash loves his home nation’s food

Nike

Nike is sort of the odd one out at Nirvana. He is not good at fighting and doesn’t put much effort into improving his skills. And thus he is signed up with the medics, he is content with this. Nike can often be found in the forest collecting medical herbs or experimenting with herbs. Nike is quiet and compassionate, and tends to be in the background.

At first, I was not particularly looking forward to playing Nike’s route. But about two chapters in, the story got interesting. Unlike the other routes in Battlefield Waltz, this one revealed some information on the war that we didn’t know yet. And that was a breath of fresh air, because almost every route up to that point was very similar. I enjoyed the route far more than I initially thought I would, and the slow-burn affection Nike and Lan had was a nice change from some other routes. Nike did remind me a lot of Orlok from Piofiore, though.

Image of Nike, who is brewing potions — Brewing potions with herbs from the forest

Tifalet

Tifalet is the most powerful mage of his time. He owns a shop in town where he has all kinds of healing medicines and cures. Tifalet is a very handsome man, and almost every woman is immediately drawn to him. But he always rejects them, even complaining about the attention he gets.

I would’ve thought that I was going to like Tifalet a lot. But upon starting the route, I just didn’t get into the character. Their relationship came about a little unnaturally. They often see each other when Lan delivers Lunaria flowers, but aside from that, they didn’t talk a whole lot. And then, all of a sudden, Tifalet confessed in weird and vulnerable circumstance for Lan.

Plot-wise, I was super confused as to what was going on right until the end. In my book, this is a good thing because it kept the mystery going. And a lot of bigger picture information was revealed, which I had been waiting for.

A vulnerable image of Tifalet, the woman magnet — Tifalet, the woman magnet

Wilhelm

This is the last route in Battlefield Waltz to play, and can only be unlocked if you have completed all the other routes’ happy endings. In all the other routes, we know him as the boy in the sword, the sort of spirit guide that gives Lan power. One day, grown-up Wilhelm suddenly lies at the foot of her bed. Having woken up outside the sword and back to being the owner of the Cursed Sword.

The route started off slow. It mostly focused on Wilhelm being stubborn about not wanting to adhere to Nirvana’s rules. But plot-wise wise it picked up about halfway when the Cursed Sword was actually used to its full potential. The romance was a slow burn for sure, but once we got a glimpse of it, it was so rewarding. This route was definitely my second favourite, after Lustin’s, which was mainly because of these characters’ personalities.

Image in Battlefield Walz of Wilhelm, the new Cursed Sword owner — The new Cursed Sword owner

Visuals and Sound

The visuals of Battlefield Waltz were pretty. The normal reading parts’ artwork was detailed, and the character designs were well done, with each character having their personality and nationality marked by their appearance.

The BGM lacked a bit. While the music was nice, there wasn’t a lot of variation. The opening song was good though, I liked listening to it.

The Exploration menu of Battlefield Walz — The Exploration menu

Overall Thoughts of Battlefield Waltz

My overall impression of Battlefield Waltz was good. It was not mind-blowing, but I enjoyed myself. I think story-wise they didn’t use their full potential. There were some topics that were set up but never really used, like the Cursed Sword, the attack on Lan’s village and her mother and Nina. In some routes, those topics were talked about a little, but they were all dead ends.

Like I said, very little was done with the Cursed Sword; in a lot of routes, it didn’t even have a purpose right up until the end. I would have loved to see Lan being a badass swordsman and learn to use the Cursed Sword to its full potential, but in most of the routes, she didn’t even train with it, let alone really use it.

Screenshot of the memories that the Cursed Sword had — You have to unlock the Ancient Memories of the Cursed Sword

The characters in Battlefield Waltz were such a positive part. Each character had an interesting back story that gave information on the different nations in the game. So, through the routes, we got an explanation of the world of Ortesia. They even have a map of Ortesia and flags for the three most mentioned nations on the Battlefield Website, which is so cool. I loved that they made the time and effort to create something like that.

With all that said, I still enjoyed the game. I really liked all the Nirvana characters, how Lan suddenly made friends she never had before and learning about Nirvana and the general world of Battlefield Waltz.

Conclusion

I would recommend Battlefield Waltz, if only for the world-building. That is where the game truly shines, but I wish they had done more in the story with the Cursed Sword. Overall, I did have fun playing the game.

Final verdict: I like it