Petscop

Petscop is a faux-PlayStation exploration game, in a similar vein to Yume Nikki. When started, the game shows a splash screen for "Garalina". The copyright listing on the title screen also says "© 1997 Garalina".

Reality

Real or fake?

Petscop is not a real PlayStation game. The game demonstrates capabilities far beyond what the original PlayStation was capable of, and an absence of its limitations. The game features very precise real-time lighting effects, and does not exhibit the problems that would manifest from the PlayStation's lack of floating-point precision or perspective correction. The color depth is also too high to exist without heavy dithering.

It is very likely, if it is a game, to be written in a modern engine (such as Unity), rendered at a low resolution with NTSC-like shaders.

The Sony and PlayStation logos in the beginning of Petscop 1 were spliced in to help the illusion.

Twitter account @Petscop

The Twitter account is fake. Someone figured that Petscop was going to go viral, and squatted on the name. This is generally known as gamejacking — someone other than the storyteller attempting to interfere with the story. So far, there is only one tweet, though.

Origins

Petscop was originally posted to Reddit's creepygaming subreddit, by a user who had just registered and has not posted anything before or since. It is likely the author, "seeding" the story. There doesn't seem to be any other points to who is behind the story.

Some fans suggest that it might be "Night Mind", a YouTube commentator on horror/creepypasta games, who has said that they were "working on a project" and "wouldn't tell anyone they were behind it until it was over". Of course, this means absolutely nothing.

In-universe

Origins

This section is not finished.

Something about Paul's mother having had it in her attic for years?

Note included with the game

Paul (or the uploader, in any case) included an annotation with the Petscop 1 video, from a note supposedly included with the game:

The note that I found with the game:

I WALKED DOWNSTAIRS AND WHEN I GOT TO THE BOTTOM, INSTEAD OF PROCEEDING, I TURNED THE RIGHT AND BECAME A SHADOW MONSTER MAN

6/13/97
For you:
Please go to my website on the sticker and also go to roneth's room and press start and press down down down down down right start

There was no website mentioned in the note.

Others

This section is not finished.

At least one other person has played Petscop. Paul is talking to them at the end of Petscop 8, but we are only given one side of the conversation.

In-game

Pause menu

The pause menu shows a small screenshot of the in-game view, the number of dinglebops, one of many text messages, and several options.

Options

• Resume Game: Unpauses.
• Options: This option has not been used during a video yet.
• Pets: View a list of pets, or when standing in front of the Child Library, drop a pet.
• Book of Baby Names: This option is shown to not do anything in Petscop 6 at 8:40. Paul comments that it may have given suggestions for names, if you could rename pets.
• Quit Game: First shown in Petscop 6 at 8:38. Presents 3 further options, neither of which have been used during a video:
  • Just Quit: Assumedly would return to the title screen without saving.
  • Save and Quit: Would save and quit. How and what this game saves has not been explained.
  • Don't Quit: Would likely cancel out of the menu.

Given the strange wording of the Quit Game options, there may be some significance with the Quitter's Room.

Cheat Code

The note reveals a secret code to be entered in Roneth's room while paused. Doing so causes the Even Care music to stop playing, and makes the exit to Even Care lead to the Newmaker Plane.

Messages

This section is not finished.

The pause screen has a message in the top right. The message changes at various points in the game:

• Petscop 1, 4:00, Roneth's room: "We hope you are enjoying the game."
• Petscop 6, 5:42, by the Windmill camera: "Have you found anything weird lately? There is much to find in this place."
• Petscop 7, 5:03, Child Library: "Take them home!"
• Petscop 9, 12:53, Daisy Shack basement: "You're in the other place too!"
• Petscop 9, 13:59, Child Library: "The pets really seem to like you. Thanks for playing Petscop."

The message "You're in the other place too!" may refer to how the actions in Pen's room affected Care NLM in the daisy shack basement, or the appearance of multiple player characters in the world.

Loading Screens

This section is not finished.