“Night Shippers,” a co-op horror game developed by Young Buffalo, a small Vietnamese indie game development team, is capturing the attention of global gamers. Released as a demo on Steam in November 2024, the game quickly gained traction, garnering 30,000 players and 10,000 wishlist members in just 45 days.
The reality of delivery work in a game
Night Shippers is a co-op horror game where 1 to 4 players work together to complete a hellish delivery job. Players take late-night food delivery orders and must navigate dark alleyways infested with ghosts and monsters to complete the deliveries before sunrise. Failure to complete the mission before sunrise will result in eternal damnation.
The game’s most notable feature is its theme of the daily life of a delivery worker, a profession very familiar to Vietnam and Southeast Asia. The development team revealed that they were inspired by delivery-themed works such as the Chinese film “Upstream” and the Thai film “Ghost Delivery.” While delivery work is a common and relatable profession in Vietnam, it is undoubtedly a subject underexplored in the gaming industry.
Vietnamese culture, reproducing the dark streets at night
The development team put particular effort into ensuring the game’s setting was authentic. The game’s maps were modeled after the developers’ hometowns. For example, the “District 13 Market” map is based on the Andong Market (formerly District 5), and the atmosphere of Hanoi is captured in the “Dan Phuong” map.
The game faithfully recreates the yellow streetlights, narrow alleyways, the sounds of motorbikes, and even the voices of street vendors selling dumplings and noodles late into the night. Food delivery options include familiar Vietnamese dishes like pho (rice noodles), banh mi (baguette sandwiches), and bun cha (rice cake). These details have been a huge hit with gamers.
A different horror experience every time, guaranteed to be worth repeating.
Night Shippers incorporates rogue-lite elements to create a unique experience with each playthrough. Procedurally generated weather, ghost locations, and random events ensure endless replayability. Players must avoid traps, outwit monsters, and discover hidden shortcuts to reach the sunrise.
As you progress through the game, you’ll earn money to unlock new gear, vehicles, and special delivery abilities. These upgrades accumulate each night, increasing your chances of survival.
Challenges and Growth of the Generation Z Development Team
Founded in 2023, Young Buffalo is a small team of seven, mostly from Generation Z. The initial development process was challenging, with the first prototype receiving harsh criticism for being “too raw and rough.” However, after relentless refinement, the demo version received an incredible response.
Despite this, the development team opted for quality over a hasty release. They are aiming for a March 2026 release, three months later than originally planned, and will use the extra time to add more maps and monsters, remove unnecessary features, and polish the game.
Advice from Google experts and the future of Vietnam’s gaming industry.
The timing of Night Shippers’s rise coincides with a period in which the Vietnamese gaming industry is gaining international attention. At the 2025 Google Apps Summit in Ho Chi Minh City, Aditya Swamy, General Manager for Southeast Asia, India, and Australia at Google Play, emphasized that Vietnamese games need to focus on original IP and unique creativity to achieve international success.
He advised that rather than simply attracting gamers with initial curiosity, it’s more important to retain them in the long term. “Today, lifetime value (LTV) is considered more important than download volume,” he said. “Therefore, developers must design deep gameplay, balanced difficulty, and rich content layers to encourage repeat play and prevent gamers from quickly becoming bored.”
Young Buffalo appears to be taking this advice seriously. The development team’s CEO is respectful of Thiem Pho Ain Hai, but candidly admits that Night Shippers still has a long way to go before achieving similar popularity. This focus on completing the product rather than rushing to a release echoes the sentiments of Wolffun CEO Nguyen Dinh Khanh, who emphasized that games should be considered models capable of generating real revenue, rather than relying solely on temporary viral effects.
Could this mark a new milestone for Vietnam’s gaming industry?
Night Shippers, following in the footsteps of Thiem Pho Anh Hai, once again proves that Vietnamese indie games can make a mark on the global stage. The combination of a unique cultural background, local relatable themes, and universally relatable gameplay points the way forward for Vietnamese games.
With Night Shippers scheduled for release in March 2026, gamers around the world are watching to see if it can continue the success of ‘Tiem Pho Anh Hai’ and open a new chapter for the Vietnamese gaming industry.
Night Shippers is available for Windows via Steam and supports ten languages: Vietnamese, English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), French, German, Brazilian Portuguese, Latin American Spanish, and Russian. This is a strategic decision aimed at the global market.
A demo is currently available to play on Steam, and you can add it to your wishlist to be the first to know when it’s released.
Steam page demo version link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3964660/Night_Shippers_Demo/
