Platform: PC, Google Play
Genre: Adventure, Visual Novel, Puzzle, Simulation, History

2013’s puzzle simulation title Papers, Please -a title that combines passport-stamping & immigration with allusions to the East/West Germany wall conflict- was a huge inspiration for many indie developers. So much so that we have seen games that delve into their own country of origins’ social politics while making a visual novel-slash-puzzle title out of it.

2025’s latest indie title emerging out of that creative well is Game Changer Studio’s 1998: A Toll Keeper Story. In the current games release sphere of 2025, this one stands out among the rest. And it’s not just the gritty and retro-esque Southeast Asian-styled Vanillaware-influenced artwork and animation (but with heavy inks) that will visually grab you.

Keep Calm & Tariff On

The premise of this indie adventure game is simple: you play as toll keeper Dewi, a pregnant mother trying to make ends meet with her government job. Just like its aforementioned inspiration, you have to collect money and let the right cars through your toll while deterring those who break the law. Classify the correct car with the appropriate fare -bigger cars mean bigger toll fare- and make sure their license plates are correct and the actual cars not overweight. If you do it wrong, you get fined, meaning less money to support your household.

With each day that passes, you get new stipulations & rules from your boss (who adds sexist AND creepy side notes for Dewi’s eyes only). You can choose to reinforce them for more money to pay your rent and stay alive, or you can bend a few rules so you can do what’s morally right that’s laid out by the game’s narrative and environmental storytelling.

What sets this one apart from other similar titles is its topic alone: the game’s plot takes place in a fictionalised country that mirrors Jakarta, Indonesia, and is an obvious allusion to the May 1998 Indonesian riots. Dewi and her husband Heru are in the eye of an upcoming storm, with Heru siding with the protestors of the current government. Her best friend Sita is part of the upper-class, whom the rioters & protestors are against, so there will come a time when Dewi has to pick a side. She’ll also be offered to send out flyers to passing cars in exchange for money, or even baby health products so that her delivery goes as smooth as possible.

The toll job isn’t the most lucrative, so she has to be meticulous at her job lest she gets fines. This one time, Dewi was getting pleas from a car with two women to stop the person in a black car tailing them. I prompted Dewi to do her job; let them through since the alleged perpetrator has the money and isn’t breaking traffic laws like having the wrong license plate or loading too much cargo. The next day, there’s a newspaper that pops up before you start your gig: two women dead in an alleyway.

This almost made me want to replay the day so I can set things right. Almost. But I’m the kind of critic who just rolls with the punches after making my proverbial bed, with the guilt over inadvertedly causing public unrest hanging on my head. Loads of story bits and incidents like these will make you think more on what you should do, how powerless you can be in certain situations, and how tough the country was during that point in history.

So much so that I can forgive some of the bugs and interface issues in the title. The government prompts and reminders on how fares for class works sometimes end up obstructing the dialogue at the toll gate bits, even when I moved them away earlier. I did try to turn on the radio in one Day, with the entire foreground suddenly being transparent even when I put away the radio option. Though there’s nothing a good restart of the Day cannot fix. The cutscenes and diary entries from Dewi do veer towards soap opera levels of drama and prose, so your mileage for this sort of packed writing style may vary.

Rebirth Of A Nation

As you carry on in your job, 1998: The Toll Keeper Story slowly becomes an unpleasant experience and one pseudo-history lesson you won’t forget, but it’s clearly by design. Game Changer is telling one of Indonesia’s most tumultuous time in history in the most tactful and emotional way possible. While it does get overdramatic in a few parts, this game’s narrative has yet to be done at all by others, and in visual novel-esque format to boot. Using the template set out by other adventure games like Papers, Please is also smart while adding a Southeast Asian spin to it.

All in all, 1998: The Toll Keeper Story will leave a huge emotional mark on its audience, niche as it may be. It is not a story for everyone, but one worth telling and experiencing once. Chalk this one under “Games for Impact” for any awards show that highlights indie games that touch on social issues and world history.

Final Score: 90/100

Review copy provided by publisher.