The Enigma that is Petscop
I don’t even know where to begin starting to explain this “game”. This is probably the game that is most closely related to the interactive game Bandersnatch which I wrote about in the last article. Originally I don’t think this game even existed, it was never released and the only known evidence of it was from a series of videos that was posted on YouTube in 2017. It was on a channel that was recording it as a “Let’s play …” style of video by a guy named Paul who supposedly owned a copy of the game and he was recording the video’s to prove to a friend or relative of the game’s existence. The game was purportedly developed in 1997 by a company called “Garalina” which is a completely fictional company. Therefore no actual physical copy of the game exists. Are you confused yet? If all that is true then how can the footage exist? The answer to that is that the whole thing is actually a re-enactment of Playstation game (as far as I can tell) as a medium to tell a “creepy pasta” type story. Even so it’s hard to believe that all the footage that was created had been completely mocked up, it would have been a lot easier to actually make the game and then film the footage from playing the game rather than mocking up the whole thing. However I am no expert in making digitally enhanced videos, maybe these days it isn’t that hard to make a video of a completely fictional game. The video series spanned 24 videos or episodes with a total running time of 4.5 hours. It was published on YouTube in 2017 in an episode format and after some time the author made himself known on Twitter and admitted that the whole thing was a “creepy pasta” story told through the medium of a non-existent PlayStation game.
What Exactly is Petscop About?
If you haven’t watched Petscop and would rather see it for yourself than have it explained and potentially have spoilers revealed then scroll to the very bottom of the page and click on the YouTube video link to the original video series at the bottom of the page. If you have already seen them or are cool to find out more and aren’t bothered about having some spoilers revealed then read on. So the game starts out looking and sounding like a very authentic PlayStation made for children with cute, bright visuals and a seemingly innocent premise. The atmosphere of the bright visuals and chirpy music make it seem like a happy-go-lucky game and looks very much like something that could have existed as a real game for the PlayStation released around that time. That is part of what makes this non-game game so much of an enigma. The players character is a very strange being that is completely unrecognizable as being related to anything besides having some humanoid traits. It has a very weird, large puke-green colored head in the shape of an upside down pirahna plant head with tiny, sunken in circular white eyes with no pupils. In the center of the opening in it’s pirahna plant-like head there is a small purple protrusion which is either it’s tongue or the bottom of an underlying head that is wearing a mask. The rest of the body looks humanoid except for the empty space where limbs should be. The other distinguishing feature is it’s feet which a massively large and clomp around in an exaggerated motion as the character walks around.
This very strange character that the player controls is simply called “Guardian” although none of it’s traits reflect anything that is remotely related to his name. He is in a very brightly colored but sparse land or plane which has only one road that leads into nothing (this is the case apparently because the game is not complete). This overworld has nothing except a sign and a branch that leads to a building called “Even Care”. The sign at the start states that you are in the “Gift plane” and that it has closed and that 48 pets remain in it’s 8 buildings and it encourages the person reading to take home any pets that they can find in the buildings. Only one building exists, as the game is unfinished and that is the “Even Care” building. When Guardian enters the building he is sees a picture displaying two pets which are described as “two friends – Toneth and Randeth”, one of them is a bird that kind of resembles the head of Egyptian God Thoth (who has nearly all the same letters in his name) and the other is simply a flower. In the building the Guardian finds a pet that is a cross between Toneth and Randeth known as Roneth and 4 other pets. The player Paul who is controlling the Guardian in the game catches the 4 other pets before entering a code (given to him in a note that came with the game) in Roneth’s room. Once the code is entered the entire game changes from it’s happy-go-lucky atmosphere, the music stops and once the Guardian exits the Even Care building he is no longer in the Gift Plane but in the “Newmaker Plane” which is a very dark, bleak and creepy place. From this point on the game takes a completely different turn in it’s story line and becomes very abstract, symbolic and convoluted. The rest of the game is far too complex to explain in an article like this, it’s best to simply watch it for yourself which you can do by visiting the YouTube link in the “Relevant Links” section below.
Petscop Now Exists as a Game
If you haven’t seen this game on YouTube yet I’m sure that you a very confused from what you have just read. The rest of the game becomes purposely strange and abstract in order to elicit an unnerving and creepy atmosphere. It starts to elude to dark events that occurred in real life relating to specific people, namely children who were psychologically abused. I bet you didn’t see that one coming hey? Well I did say this was a creepy pasta story and this is where that aspect comes in. The start of the game was an intentional bright and happy façade to catch the viewer off-guard and by now the viewer is so intrigued by the story that they are hooked and can’t help but want to watch more and more in order to have the mysteries that this game is concealing revealed. Speaking of getting hooked it’s worth noting that the logo of the fictional games development company Garalina starts out zoomed in on the space inbetween the G and very much resembles a fishing hook. This video series went viral when it was released and has racked up thousands of views and hooked many viewers that have become hardcore Petscop fans that couldn’t get enough. It had become so popular that one of these hardcore fans actually went to the effort of recreating the entire game as a real game that works on the PlayStation! So you can actually download the Petscop ROM and play this strange creepy pasta game for yourself. Even though this game is completely unique there are two games that I consider to be similar to this in their execution or strange nature. I’ve already mentioned one being the interactive movie Bandersnatch and the other is Yumi Nikki, both of these games share the same creepy pasta nature of Petscop. So if you like those games then you will probably like this game too. You can find a link to download the game from an itch.io page in the Relevant Links section just below.
Relevant Links
- Petscop complete, original YouTube video series from 2017 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e6RK8o1fcs&list=PLIEbITAtGBebWGyBZQlkiMXwt30WqG9Bd] All 24 videos and the Petscop soundtrack.
- Itch.io webpage for Petscop Restored by Nitroyuash [https://nitroyuash.itch.io/petscop-restored] This remake is playable on a real PSX as well as via emulator and you can download it for free. Enjoy!
