Petscop is a YouTube horror web series created by Tony Domenico and styled as a Let’s Play. Its protagonist, Paul Leskowitz, explores and records a supposedly “long-lost PlayStation video game” called Petscop. Twenty-four episodes ran from March 12, 2017, to September 2, 2019.
At first it looks like an ordinary puzzle game in which a character named Guardian captures “pets.” But following a code on a note attached to the game box opens a hidden area, the Newmaker Plane — a vast grassy field, pitch dark except for a spotlight following the player — with a network of tunnels underneath. Through references to real-world events and people, it slowly emerges that Petscop was made for a specific person who did something horrible: Marvin, who kidnapped his own daughter in an attempt at “rebirthing.”
Paul comes to realize that landmarks on the Newmaker Plane may correspond to real locations. After he apparently travels to one of them his voice is gone, though his videos continue to be uploaded without narration. The series drew wide coverage for its storytelling, its authenticity, its surrealism and the community of viewers working to decode it.