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Petscop is a YouTube horror web series by Tony Domenico, made to resemble a YouTube Let's Play series.

The videos follow Paul Leskowitz, the protagonist, exploring and documenting a supposedly "long-lost PlayStation video game" titled Petscop. The 24-episode series ran from March 12, 2017, to September 2, 2019. The series received widespread coverage for its storytelling, authenticity, surrealism, and its active community of viewers.

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 seems like a standard PlayStation puzzle game, centering around the player character—named "Guardian"—capturing strange creatures known as "pets" by solving puzzles. Paul notes that the game is unfinished and lacks playable content. 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.

Guardian or Newmaker – The player character that Paul controls. Marvin – Marvin exists as a character in the game, and as a person mentioned in real life. Paul identifies him as the strange, green-faced creature in "Petscop 8". In certain recordings, Marvin is seen playing sections of the game which specifically address him, implying the game was made for Marvin to find. Marvin later turns on Paul, and somehow hurts him physically in "Petscop 23". Carrie Mark (Care) – Care is depicted in the game and is mentioned to have existed in real life. His tombstone is found by Paul in the game, and he is later implied to be Rainer's brother, making him the cousin of Care.

Belle (also known as Tiara Leskowitz) – Throughout the series, Paul addresses a specific person, even in its first line: "This is just to prove to you that I'm not lying about this game I found." In "Petscop 22", Paul refers to this person as "Belle". A person named Tiara, first mentioned by the Tool and in a note in "Petscop 5", is depicted as an in-game character. Rainer is or was the lead developer of Petscop, and his motives for creating the game are unclear. Rainer had somehow been in contact with Paul in his childhood and may have been the person to give him Petscop.

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 Petscop YouTube channel, as of July 2023, has over 396,000 subscribers.

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 further 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. 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.

Quick Facts

• The videos follow Paul Leskowitz, the protagonist, exploring and documenting a supposedly "long-lost PlayStation video game" titled Petscop.
• 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.
• Marvin later turns on Paul, and somehow hurts him physically in "Petscop 23".
• Rainer had somehow been in contact with Paul in his childhood and may have been the person to give him Petscop.
• 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.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Petscop". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.