Petscop

Petscop is a horror and creepypasta web series released on YouTube, made to resemble a YouTube Let's Play series. The videos follow protagonist "Paul" exploring and documenting a supposedly long-lost PlayStation video game, titled "Petscop". Paul soon discovers that the game may be linked to his own past. The 24-episode series ran from March 12, 2017 to September 2, 2019. The series received widespread coverage for its elaborate storytelling, authenticity, surrealism, and its active community of viewers.
Plot summary.
The main character, Paul, has found or received a copy of the titular unreleased game "Petscop" supposedly developed by the fictional company Garalina, uploading recordings of its early levels. Initially, the game has a vibrant and cute aesthetic, centering around the player character - named the "Guardian" - capturing strange creatures known as "pets" by solving puzzles. Paul remarks on the unfinished nature of the game and its lack of playable content. The first four episodes are recorded by Paul for a specific, unnamed, person. Later, Paul acknowledges that his recordings have found an audience on YouTube, though he still narrates directly to the unseen character, and occasionally speaks to them on the phone.
The game box, however, came attached with a note containing codes and instructions. By following these, Paul is able to access a darker, surreal, hidden section of the game. The new area, known as the "Newmaker Plane", is a vast grassy field, pitch dark except for a spotlight following the Guardian. The field has sparse landmarks, and a large network of tunnels and underground chambers. The area still loosely follows conventions of puzzle games, and Paul attempts to reverse engineer the puzzles (and the internal logic of the game) to continue progressing. As Paul finds more content, it is slowly revealed - through references to 'real-world' events and characters - that "Petscop" was designed for a specific person who did something horrible.
The series' overarching plot involves a man named Marvin, the disappearance of his childhood friend Lina, and an incident in which Marvin kidnaps his own daughter, Care, who he believes to be Lina reborn. There is a recurring focus on "rebirthing", a failed attempt to rebirth a girl named Belle into a girl named Tiara, and a growing connection between Paul, his family's past, and the game. It is later implied that some footage is not from Paul's perspective, introducing new viewpoints from Belle and Marvin, who are all playing "Petscop" simultaneously"." Marvin solicits Paul's help to find landmarks on the Newmaker Plane, and re-enact the process of rebirthing his daughter, Care. Later, Paul realizes that the landmarks on the Newmaker Plane may have significance to real-life locations; after presumably traveling to one of the real landmarks, Paul is not heard from again, though his videos continue to be uploaded without narration.
The series uses its YouTube medium to deliberately omit critical information. As a result, it has few concrete details, and ends without a definitive explanation for the game or Paul's connection to it. In the finale, Paul breaks Care's rebirthing cycle, spiting Marvin. Belle, who is implied to have been the unseen character, finds Paul, asking him if he remembers being "born"; when they were both smuggled away as children by Lina. Paul embraces Belle as family, and they enter Lina's skirt.
Reception.
"Petscop" has received coverage from many news sources, such as "The New Yorker" and "Kotaku": "Kotaku"s Patricia Hernandez wrote "if this is an internet story / game, then I am in awe of how elaborate it is", and for "The New Yorker"s Alex Barron, it is "the king of creepypasta". The series' popularity was largely cultivated by its coverage by several popular YouTubers, such as Pyrocynical and The Game Theorists. The Petscop YouTube channel, as of 2020, has over 350,000 subscribers.
Interpretations and cultural links.
"Petscop", as a video game, is fictional, although this was obscured for the entire run of the series. Some viewers were initially unsure as to whether "Paul" and "Petscop" were real, until far into the series when it became more surrealistic. "Petscop" was not officially identified as fiction until after the finale, when creator Tony Domenico - who had remained anonymous for the series' 30-month run - revealed himself on Twitter. In his only interview, Domenico admitted that, while there is a concrete plot tying the story together, he chose to omit most of it, sometimes scrapping footage that was already done. "I hoped to get across a feeling like there’s ... something strange and complex happening in the background, and you just aren’t getting a full view of it." In the darker sections of the game, there are many references to child abuse, childhood trauma, and irreparable corruption, making those recurring motifs throughout the series. In addition to these themes, Domenico has cited the "Marble Hornets" and "Ben Drowned" web series as influences, involving the audience by hiding things in each video. He also named the 2006 David Lynch experimental film "Inland Empire" as the strongest influence for the series, and noted that "too much is lost in that translation into words".
The series also includes allusions to Candace Newmaker and her death in rebirthing therapy. Throughout the series, the word "Newmaker" appears several times; the name of the central location, and as a title given to Rainer, the Guardian character, and/or Paul himself. In addition, there is an area known as the "Quitter's Room", the repeated question "Do you remember being born?", and a character named Tiara. Domenico has stated that while the references were intentional, he later regretted them. Other references include a quote from the book "Daisy-Head Mayzie" by Dr. Seuss, and the imagery of the character Care crying underneath a large flower, which at first appears to be growing from her head.