September 7th

Introduction

Some short games are short because that's all their idea needs; others are short for reasons that have as much to do with a platform's policies as with creative intent. September 7th, released 6 January 2023 by solo Russian developer EMIKA_GAMES, is worth reading through both lenses at once. On its own terms, it's a roughly 40-minute, jump-scare-heavy walking simulator about a sinister take on a Christmas elf legend, and it sits Very Positive with English-speaking players, 85.9% across 654 reviews. Read alongside a specific, independently verifiable piece of the developer's history, it becomes a more interesting case study in how a small studio adapts to the realities of selling short games on Steam.

A haunted-house ride, effectively executed

Reviewers who enjoy this specific format describe it in almost identical terms: a tightly paced sequence of jump scares delivered with real craft, closer to walking through a haunted-house attraction than playing a conventional game. One reviewer calls it "another good one" for existing fans of the developer's catalogue, specifically praising how consistently it delivers scares across its short runtime. Visual presentation earns specific praise too, with the game's opening playground area and an apartment building singled out as some of the developer's most visually effective work. Steam's own achievement data backs up a related, repeated observation from reviewers: this is a fast, easy game to fully complete, with most of its thirteen achievements earned by well over 80% of the tracked player base — exactly the profile of a game built to respect a completionist's time rather than demand a long grind.

A real story worth knowing before judging the length

The most substantive review in this sample raises something worth verifying independently rather than taking on faith, and this review did exactly that. That reviewer recalls reading that EMIKA_GAMES had previously announced quitting game development after Steam's two-hour refund window let players finish and return the developer's earlier game, Summer of '58, in what the developer described as unsustainable numbers. Checking that claim against contemporary gaming press confirms it's real: multiple outlets, including GameDeveloper.com, PC Gamer and Kotaku, reported in August 2021 that the developer — real name Alexander Reshetnikov — announced an indefinite hiatus for exactly that reason, following Summer of '58's July 2021 release. September 7th arrived roughly a year and a half later, and that same reviewer frames its short length, modest price and easy achievement list as "the logical next step" — a design deliberately built to survive a refund window that had previously threatened to end the developer's career. This review can confirm the earlier controversy happened; it can't confirm the developer has stated this game specifically as a direct response to it, so that connection remains a reasonable, well-informed reader's inference rather than a confirmed fact. Either way, it's genuinely useful context for judging a 40-minute game's price and length fairly, rather than in isolation.

Where the format runs out of room

Not every reviewer is won over, and their specific complaints are consistent enough to take seriously. More than one states plainly that horror built almost entirely on jump scares, with little sustained atmosphere or story underneath, simply doesn't work for them, leaving nothing to hold onto once the surprise value fades. The store page's own description concedes the plot is "simple to the point of banality," and several reviewers confirm there isn't much narrative substance to discover beyond that admission. A more detailed critical review goes further, arguing the developer has real, demonstrated talent — good graphics, strong sound design, clear mechanics — that keeps getting spent on the same short, jump-scare format across many releases rather than a single larger, more ambitious game.

What Steam's refund window actually asks of a game like this

It's worth spelling out exactly why this specific piece of context matters for judging a 40-minute horror game fairly. Steam's standard refund policy allows a full refund for any game played less than two hours, regardless of how much of it was completed — a reasonable consumer protection for most releases, but one that creates a specific, perverse incentive against very short games: a player can finish the entire experience and still request their money back, something structurally impossible with a 40-hour RPG. Summer of '58's documented refund crisis is the clearest possible illustration of that problem playing out against a real developer's livelihood. Judged against that backdrop, a game deliberately built to be inexpensive, fast to complete, and generous with achievements looks less like a developer cutting corners and more like a rational adaptation to a policy that specifically punishes short, well-made games more than longer, padded ones — worth bearing in mind before assuming a low price and short runtime automatically signal low effort.

A recognisable formula, executed with real craft

Reading across reviews of this developer's other short horror releases, a consistent picture emerges of a studio that has settled into a specific, repeatable formula: walk between a handful of distinct locations, encounter scripted scares timed for maximum surprise, and finish inside an hour with a clean, fully-completable achievement list waiting at the end. Reviewers who've played multiple entries in that catalogue tend to rank them against each other rather than against the wider horror genre, and this entry lands, by that internal comparison, among the more visually accomplished examples — a reasonable way to think about where it sits if you're already a fan of the format, even if the format itself isn't reinventing anything.

Final Verdict

September 7th delivers exactly what it sets out to be: a short, well-crafted jump-scare experience that respects both a player's time and, per its own developer's documented history, the realities of Steam's refund policy. It won't satisfy anyone looking for real narrative depth or sustained atmospheric dread, and its short length is a real, if partly explicable, limitation on its value at full price. Worth picking up on the frequent discount for a quick, effective scare and an easy completionist run; know the context behind the format, and adjust your price expectations accordingly.