PETSCOP: A Virtual Void of Misery

(light rain falling) (eerie music) (light rain falling) (eerie music) (thunder cracking) (eerie music) (music stops abruptly) - Previously. (eerie music) A person named Paul plays a video game, called "Petscop." The game? Isn't what it seems. Contrary to it's outward appearance, It's loaded with themes of child endangerment, psychological abuse, and the constant insinuation that this game is alive. Inside the game, Paul finds a character named Marvin. Marvin has purportedly done something unforgivable, obscurely told to us by an equally enigmatic game developer named Rainer. Rainer's convinced that Marvin caused a Windmill to disappear. And, not only that,

but so too a little girl named Lina. This story intertwines with that of a little girl named Carrie, Who Paul finds planted all over "Petscop." According to Rainer, at some point she was taken. Locked inside of a school basement, and forced into isolation by her own father. Her father named Marvin. (eerie music) Throughout "Petscop," Paul discovers that characters can speak. They can alter textures. They can exhibit autonomy. And they all act like disjointed fragments Of a human long gone. You see, this game can record you, playing you just as much as you play it. It

causes Paul to encounter bizarre synchronicities, characters walking toward paths that don't exist, entering rooms that aren't there; they exist in limbo, with some being trapped in this game for entire lifetimes. "Petscop" is more than just a kid's game. It's building something. Telling us something. Entrapping everyone who plays it within it. It's a prison. (eerie music) (soft whooshing) Inside the machine. (eerie music) (quiet static) (joyful tune) Buenos noches, amigos, y feliz Halloween. Before we begin, I'd like to tell you guys about tonight's video sponsor, Babbel. So some of you may not know this, but I live

in the great city of Houston, Texas. All my life I've grown up around friends and family That speak fluent Spanish. However, there have been far too many times than I can count right now, where I've wanted to respond to someone speaking Spanish to me, yet lack the confidence or even knowledge of what to say back. (phone ringing) (Nexpo and Grandma speaking Spanish) And that is why I've recently taken up Spanish lessons with Babbel. Babbel is one of the top language learning apps in the world Designed by real language experts to help you engage in real

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you so much again to Babbel for sponsoring this video. Now... (Nexpo sighs) It's time for "Petscop" too. (Nexpo chuckles) (upbeat select screen music) (spooky select screen music) (eerie select screen music) (eerie music) "Petscop 18" opens with a view of the game's back end, before the player explores the category "Extra Stuff". While in here, we're shown concept art of various pets and our player character, who we finally learn is called The Guardian. Interestingly when showing Toneth, we learn that the original concept depicted them without a broken leg, implying that the car accident Rainer referenced prior happened

after "Petscop" began development. (eerie music) "Petscop 19" explores the "Recordings" section. Here, we observe hundreds of archived gameplay files from various generations of "Petscop." Curiously the most recent one is labeled "family", implying that the gameplay we're viewing right now may not be Paul... But them. I mean, after all, he is a bit quiet. From here, we can see troves of names from earlier Generations, suggesting that these early adopters may be some form of beta testers. This is further supported when they scroll all the way back To the very first one, in which we can observe

a test room with highly rudimentary movement. Now, given what we know about "Petscop's" odd choir sound, combined with the various states the game's been presented in, it appears that these various generations are all it's been. "Petscop," like any game, has evolved through development, undergoing a myriad of changes that we can cycle through within its back end. Somehow, though, this concept has been integrated into "Petscop's" actual gameplay, which is quite the bewildering mechanic. After this, they find and select Mike's recording from Generation 2, dropping them in a room with a canvas. As he plays, we can

observe that "Petscop" was, at one point, nothing but a simple adventure game focused on collecting eggs. Now, this is fine in and of itself, however once he collects one, the game states this: "What? One of the eggs... was in Daniel's game? What an unfair trick! Have you found every egg in the office?" This all but establishes the identity of Rainer. It was an alias, for Daniel, Someone we were previously informed was Carrie's cousin. Now, with this context, let's think back here. (spooky music) All right, so Mike's gameplay begins in a room with a canvas. Toneth's

description mentions a painter. Toneth's description also references both Michael and a car accident. On top of all of this, Roneth's description makes reference to a baby brother looking both ways on a road, which ultimately leaves me to wonder, What if that story wasn't about a dog, but Mike? Daniel's little brother? As the video draws to an end, we observe bits of gameplay from other players. Care, Belle, James, and Amber, all exhibiting wildly different gameplay styles. In some capacity, these gameplay styles seem to have carried over to the final game, though, as all the way back

in Amber's room, we can observe the real one, just sitting there. Just like the pet. (eerie music) (upbeat suspicious music) "Petscop 20" focuses on Marvin. At the beginning, we can see him start a new file, poke around the Gift Plane, and collect a few pets from Even Care. Curiously, much like Paul, Marvin begins to exhibit difficulty in distinguishing his right from his left, and upon checking out the controls, we observe that, for some reason, they're flipped. On top of this, it appears to be unfixable, given the repeating error sounds that play thereafter. (upbeat pause screen

music) (error tone beeping) This game is stuck in this control scheme, and for all we know could've been this way for Paul as well. Moving on, Marvin enters the secret code found on the game's note before heading outside. From here, he wanders around aimlessly before the video cuts to other recording files from the same session. (footsteps over grass) (sound stops abruptly) (footsteps over grass) (footsteps over grass) (sound stops abruptly) (footsteps over grass) Looking at this, it's clear that he has no idea what the hell he's doing, or is even supposed to for that matter. And

effectively, "Petscop" Generation 6 has soft blocked him. (intense eerie music) Rainer updates the game to Generation 7, and gives it back to Marvin. (intense eerie music) (footsteps over grass) This time, it's updated with a bit more guidance: (dialogue bubble pops) "Hi Marvin. Rainer here. You have to be careful this time. If you start running out there without a sense of purpose, you'll get lost. I'm writing this on July 10th, 1997, and Care is still missing. We are searching. Last weekend we almost got lost ourselves. Your search is harder. Beyond here, there are no landmarks. But

this model of a brick building, though crude, should still be familiar to you. Where is this building?" (eerie music) And again, as Marvin wanders, Rainer continues to pop in: (dialogue bubble pops) "From here, I want you to find a grave. You know the grave I'm talking about. It's definitely out here somewhere. It's unmarked, of course. That's the trouble. You're the only person who can find it." (eerie music) Unsurprisingly, Marvin doesn't ever find anything, and so, again... (intense eerie music) "Petscop" is retooled, giving us Generation 8. (eerie echo SFX) This time, Marvin's greeted with a door

leading under the Newmaker Plane. He opens it and heads inside, before stumbling upon an interesting discovery. (footsteps on tile) (curious in-game tone) (footsteps on tile) (curious in-game tone) "Caskets. When these are done, they will be great. Anyone who sees them is sure to become part of the family." Upon examining the first one, we can observe a chalk board with something written on it, with a description reading: "This one is called Casket 4. Five words, written on a chalkboard, in the dirty building you inhabit." The second is something we might recognize, Because it's from the room

within Marvin's house. These so-called "Caskets" are the censored objects originally teased in "Petscop 7," fully unveiled for the very first time. "This one is called Casket 3. After kicking you out of the house, your wife started painting the walls black, to cover the stencils. I helped. She made it feel urgent. That Saturday, busy with work, she pinned a note. It contained a list of objects." The third item is the censor from "Petscop 9." In here, we finally realize what that spinning pyramid was. It was Care's head. "This one is called Casket 2. As I painted,

I watched Care dance around the house. She liked to spin. She became a blur. But in that blur, somehow, as she spun around... From 45 degrees, to 90, to 180, to 360, to 720, 1080, 1440, 1800, 2160, winding, tightening, tightening... I was stunned by pure horror and disgust." And last but not least, item four. The censored object from Paul's bedroom. "This one is called Casket 1. You showed Care her red, blurry reflection in a vase. You said 'Do you see that? Look at how ugly you are now.' Care squinted her eyes. The reflection wasn't clear

at all, but as you began to describe her grisly deformities, she began to see them. 'Nobody wants to see you like this,' you said. But she soon escaped, and bravely returned home. In her bathroom mirror, she saw a clear picture." As we can recall, this was the one censor that unnerved Paul the most. It was the one that caused him to question what he was doing. That led him to doubt the purpose of the room he accidentally created. So, why did something as simple as a reflection in a flower vase bother him so badly? With

this last item behind him, Marvin then makes his way to the next room, labeled "Places". The first photo he analyzes Displays a park bench with a censor over it. The second, his green house. The third, the school. And the fourth, the Windmill. Now, going by where he came from, it appears that there indeed was a hallway where Marvin was running in "Petscop 8." Paul just couldn't see it because this Generation was custom made, tailored specifically for Marvin. Following this, Marvin makes his way to the yard and inspects Michael's gravestone. Oddly, though, it's description stays there.

No matter what he does, it persists front and center, almost like Rainer's rubbing salt in a wound. After this, he then makes his way to TOOL, and inquires about both Lina and the current date, both prompting the default response of "I don't know." At the very end, though, Marvin pauses "Petscop," accidentally revealing the single most vital piece of information within this video. Toneth is the only pet within Marvin's compendium, conveniently shown after the persistence of Mike's gravestone quote. As we can recall, we've made connections between Toneth and Mike already, so what is this implying? (upbeat

in-game music) "Petscop 21" is Care dancing to the rhythm of "The Sign" by Ace of Base for three minutes straight. (upbeat in-game music) "Petscop 22" hails the return of Paul. (bell tolls) (eerie music) Here, we can observe a demo recording from Generation 8, in which he asks TOOL, "Where was the Windmill?" Following this, we listen in on a phone call In which Paul explains to his friend that TOOL responded with what seem to be coordinates. - [Paul] Yeah, so I went up and I typed, "Where is the Windmill?" and that didn't work. And so, I

try, "Where was the Windmill?" And that's how I got the text in the picture. Yeah. Yeah, I looked them up. The top numbers, I looked them up. You're gonna wanna look them up yourself. Yeah, punch 'em in. I know. I know, me too. That was what- First thought. First thought. There's not a lot of detail, but... It looks like a stone, right? - [Nexpo] Paul then suggests that he and his friend head to the location in person, before they pivot their conversation to the Family. He explains that they intimidate him, before reassuring his friend that

they shouldn't worry about keeping in contact with him because they aren't related. They don't have a room, they aren't in the face system, and they are in no way connected with this game. Towards the end of their conversation, Paul goes forth to applaud their competence at solving puzzles, touting them as a "puzzle genius". Once he makes his way to the Quitter's Room, though, he realizes that... Someone's missing. - [Paul] But there's really nothing here. The last... Yeah. The Tiara character is gone, though. Yeah, completely. Like, you look over on the other side. There was. The

Tiara character was there. And then I left, and then the next time I came back they were gone. What do you mean "of course"? (Paul's mic rustling) What? Why would I be in a car? I'm playing "Petscop." Why would I be playing "Petscop" in a car? The fuck? - [Nexpo] So, out of nowhere, his friend inquires on whether he's playing "Petscop" in a car. Paul, of course, denies it, yet given the sound we heard at the end of "Petscop 13..." (car door shuts) It's possible that he could be lying. On the topic of dishonesty, the

"Petscop" channel is in a way doing this too, because what you may not have noticed, is that this video, "Petscop 22," is out of order. We have the green key, something we used in "Petscop 11" And found in "Petscop 9." And with that said, if we think back and cross reference this episode with the earlier game footage, we learn that this is a direct sequel. To "Petscop 10." (suspicious music) This realization implies two things: For one, the videos after "Petscop 10" may not be presented in order, and two, that after "Petscop 14," Paul may have

never returned. At all. (suspicious music) Paul becomes the Shadow Man, and makes his way to the road. While crossing it, though... (car tires on gravel) (in-game death tone) He gets hit by an orange car. (ominous music) To his dismay, Paul explains to his friend that he forgot to start the recording, unaware that the game has been watching him this entire time. And so, he fumbles with his equipment to figure it out, Before he's greeted with... This: - [Paul] I... Shit. No, I forgot to start recording. They won't like that. So I missed that, I was

not able to capture that. I wonder if I can get that to happen. Fuck. Oh. Hey. You there? Belle, you there? Hello? Shit. What are you doing there? Why are you just standing there? What the fuck? (soft thud) You want me to do something? What do you want? I know you're trying to say something to me. What do you want? What do you want? What? What? (eerie music) What? - [Nexpo] All this time, Paul's friend wasn't just a friend. It was Belle. The Quitter. Someone he's been interacting with since the very beginning. And most haunting

of all, right when their phone call disconnects, we're greeted with her in-game counterpart trying their absolute hardest to portray some sort of message. For the next minute, Belle continues to signal For Paul to head to the right. As she does this, he becomes more and more unnerved, until his gameplay cuts out. And Paul, from here, never speaks again. (eerie music) We're greeted with the clock DEMO, and are dropped back at the park bench. Instead of a regular DEMO, however, what we're observing is the Room Impulse mechanic we saw earlier, this time centering in on one

single AI as they make their way to the school. In here, they poke around a bit like normal, Before again encountering the GIRL wall. As they continue exploring, though, the game continuously throws them back in front of it. (in-game bouncing SFX) (in-game ticking SFX) (eerie music) After a few times, they eventually try walking through it, realizing that it's a fake wall, concealing an ominous office. A counselor greets the player. (in-game dialogue SFX) "Hi there. Sorry for pulling you out of class. I know you've been busy catching up. Don't worry, I just want to talk with

you. Hey, do you want to play a game? You can pick any game you want, and we can play it together." From here, they're shown a shelf with four games. Accident, Rotation, Checkers, and Graverobber. The player picks the latter, and they begin their game. (in-game shifting SFX) (in-game clicking SFX) (in-game shifting SFX) (eerie music) All things considered, Graverobber seems relatively ordinary. Where things really get interesting, though, is when the two begin to talk. (in-game dialogue SFX) "I called you several times and you didn't come. Do I have the wrong name here? Hmm. I notice you

named your file "Strange situation". Is that your name? Please confirm." And in response, the player inputs "Paul". (in-game dialogue SFX) (in-game clicking SFX) "Are you right handed or left handed? You don't know? Wait, really? Well, which hand do you write with? That one? That's your left hand. That means you're left handed. I'm right handed. I use this hand. My right is actually your left. Isn't that confusing? Anyway, your turn." (in-game clicking SFX) (incorrect tone plays) "Kids shouldn't say swear words. Do you know why? It just doesn't sound right. It's disturbing. You should choose cleaner words,

even when you're really angry. Your turn." (in-game clicking SFX) "That's a very big boo-boo on your face. We're going to help you, together. Everyone is. When you reach for your shoes, your shoes will be there. When you walk through a doorway, the door will be open. Wherever you go, the floor will continue under your feet. Every move you make will be made valid. Everything you see will become real. Everything you say will become the truth. Your turn." (eerie music) (in-game clicking SFX) (in-game dialogue SFX beeping) After playing this bizarre attempt at finding Lina veiled as

a board game, the player exits the counselor's office. They again explore some corridors, before encountering a staircase leading down. Down to the school's basement. (intense eerie music) (intense eerie music) All right, so with our knowledge of "Petscop 11" being a sequel to the beginning of this video, we can assume that, at least after encountering Belle, that Paul is, or was, okay. With the video's latter half, though, combined with what we know about AI and how the Room Impulse system works, we can assume that this gameplay isn't being done by the physical Paul, But rather his

in-game alternate. It is, above every other, the most sophisticated one available since it was the only one able to make it all the way to the school. This could explain Paul's prior apprehension about continuing the game, coinciding with the family's insistence on him doing so. This group wants to see what happens because they're infatuated with the mystery "Petscop" is feeding them. In this case, Paul is being used. He's being copied. He's a vessel. A tool to give them what they want. (eerie music) Speaking of infatuation, one specific incident may have sparked this within Daniel, explaining

why "Petscop" was transformed from a simple egg collector to this AI building behemoth. (in-game death tone) This orange car is found in Marvin's garage. This orange car hits the Shadow Man. Toneth's description references a dog being hit by a car And contains a stark reference to Mike. (intense ominous music) I'm not going to lie to you, I think Lina's gravestone was a red herring. It's throwing us off on purpose to prevent this connection from being too obvious. A dog was never hit, and I'm inclined to believe that Daniel never even had one. I think it

was Michael. This is why he died. This is why "Petscop" changed. And this is his motive for building This massive web of artificial intelligence. "Petscop" was created to track Marvin. To build another him, someone that would fess up and reveal the location of his Aunt Lina, someone he believes Marvin killed. In the beginning he didn't care about Carrie Mark, he didn't care about the abduction, he didn't care about his obsessions. That was all secondary. All he wanted was to find Lina. And given what Marvin did to his little brother... Nothing was going to stop him.

(ominous music) (ominous music) We are inside the school. The player finds their way upstairs before being shown a Garalina logo and discovering what appears to be some sort of monitoring room. On the TV are the words "Petscop Kids." And scattered around the room are various Tarnacop PCs, all displaying Garalina branding. Weirdly, right in the middle of everything is a massive holographic party hat With troves of smaller ones orbiting it. What it's doing is unknown, however after about a minute, the Green TOOL is used on it, rewarding 26 bits and capping us off at 500. (bit

increase SFX) (echoing footsteps) From here, the music is gone and everything is dark. A dead silence fills the air, broken by none other than our own footsteps. (echoing footsteps) (footsteps on tiles) (in-game swishing SFX) (in-game clicking SFX) (footsteps on tiles) (in-game swishing SFX) (in-game clicking SFX) Per his request, Paul examines eight unique ghost room layouts. Foolishly, he points out room one to Marvin, who, in response, claims this: (in-game swishing SFX) (in-game clicking SFX) (in-game dialogue SFX) (in-game clicking SFX) (in-game dialogue SFX) (in-game clicking SFX) (in-game dialogue SFX) (in-game clicking SFX) (in-game dialogue SFX) (in-game clicking

SFX) (in-game dialogue SFX) Paul sits like this for over two minutes. Marvin, in some capacity, was able to breach the ghost room Paul's alternate is being kept in. And whatever he did to him was so inhumane that all he could force himself to mutter was one word. (in-game clicking SFX) (in-game dialogue SFX) It's unclear what exactly Marvin did to Paul, and I think that's what makes this episode one of the most haunting in the entire series. Paul's alternate legitimately did not know what Marvin's intentions were, and thus gave away his location without hesitation. Thankfully, he

wasn't killed, though, as after interacting with Belle for a bit, she shares a padlock combination. (in-game swishing SFX) (in-game interact SFX) (in-game swishing SFX) And so, Paul gets back to it. (eerie music) Paul manages to open the locker, revealing a striped Easter egg, and the following note: (page rustles) "For Tiara Leskowitz. You're off to school today. I'll miss you. I love you so much. I will miss you so much when you are off to school for the first day. I will be waiting for you when you come home. I will be on a lawn chair

in the driveway Waiting for the bus to drop you off. Every day I am so happy to see you come home and tell me what you learned. I hope everybody treats you with love and respect. Love you forever NO MATTER WHAT. Mommy." Curiously, we learn that Tiara and Lina share the same surname, however the catch here is that this note is utilizing Belle's rebirthed name, the one Daniel gave her. This leaves us to wonder if this note Was written by her mother, or someone else with other intentions. After all, the wording here is a bit

forward. After this, Paul makes his way back to the school basement. While down there, he's greeted with a myriad of school supplies, and another note from Daniel: (in-game interact SFX) "You'll find the machine up ahead. This is the only entry or exit. You'll pass through this room again as you leave. Keep in mind: everything here, your baby will see." Paul pushes the toybox, the crayons, and the photo into the pit, in turn revealing a door. And upon heading inside of it, at last, at last... We find her. (footsteps echoing) (gleeful scream) (upbeat victory tune) (footsteps

echoing) (gentle instrumental music) - [Paul] But when I found that room, it made... Well, I was shocked at first, but it made sense. When you come home, and hopefully you're feeling A little more enthusiastic about that, though, we can investigate this together. - [Nexpo] "Care B is scared and pounding on the door. I open it. It's so dark that I can't see her. So I pull her out, and the light hits her face. And they won't even give me a picture of her now. They're all scattered in graves. And I'm a piece of shit. Here

I go." (intense ominous music) Paul heeds the sign he found earlier and heads to the back room. And while in here, he's greeted by Belle, Marvin, and a massive machine with an empty slot for Care. Marvin demands Paul to place Care into it, to which he blindly complies. And following this, he's instructed to play music on the Needles Piano. Initially, Paul plays to Marvin's specifications, however midway through it, the song changes to what the video subtitles refer to as "Paul's Melody". ("Paul's Melody" plays) As Paul plays it, it's clear that he's messing something up. Marvin

is pissed, the notes glow red, And expletives and demands to stop are thrown at him repeatedly. Paul doesn't, though. He keeps going, and so Marvin leaves. Never to be seen again. At the end of the ritual, the machine reveals another striped egg, and so he picks it up and reads the description. (in-game select SFX) (ominous music) "You should start thinking about that." Now, wait a minute, this sounds familiar. (ominous music) It's a reference to "Petscop 1." The last line for the description of Amber. Now, I'm not entirely sure of the significance here, however given what

we know about Amber's mannerisms, specifically how she likes to be locked away in safe places, it could imply that we should do the same for this egg. With this in mind, Paul heads out of the basement and back to the locker. He places the egg inside with the other, and after leaving and heading outside to the park bench, "Petscop" changes. The sun rises, the game cuts out, and we're simply left with this. For the very first time, it's dawn. And "Petscop" welcomes a new day. (lighthearted music) (eerie music) (in-game select SFX) (in-game SFX plays) (in-game

select SFX) (upbeat in-game music) It's almost poetic that this episode contains a credits sequence. Here, we're given 45 names with cryptic adjectives attached to them, from dummy to organized to nosy. Interestingly, Carrie's labeled as dizzy, which given her gameplay isn't surprising. (upbeat in-game music) (water pouring) But that's beside the point. Once we make it to Mike, we see a familiar term. Painter. Just like Toneth. Most of the video is just this, yet as the credits draw to an end, We're left with a parting message. It's for Mike, and reads this: "Hi Michael! Consider this your

BIRTHDAY card! Sorry I can't put money in it. When I heard how many kids were coming to your party I was impressed. Thank your big brother for letting you and your friend play games all day and making you so popular. Also thank your other Auntie for making this all possible. If you see her, I mean... Not everyone can. But anyway, HAPPY 7TH! I'm so so so sorry I couldn't be here. I hope my gift makes up for it... It's the one in the black box. Carrie helped pick it out, thank her! Opening gifts is so

fun. A lot of little mysteries, and all are solved. So 'cathartic.' Anyway, I hope you have fun! See you later! Love you, Auntie Anna. P.S. Whatever you do, please don't shake the box." With this context, it appears that the names shown are Mike's friends and were likely those who play-tested the game before his birthday party. Considering that Anna refers to the game as the "birthday card", it implies that it was accompanied by whatever was in the black box, and with her warning not to shake it, it's plausible that it could've been a pet. I mean,

come on "Petscop" with a pet? It's the only fitting explanation, right? Anyway, about that reference to the "other aunt," It seems to me that it may be another play on words. Anna tells Mike to thank Lina, if he can see her, implying that she's alive, and also that Anna knows it. Where she is at this point is and may always be unclear, yet that was probably her goal this entire time. Whatever happened back during the Windmill Incident must have been so bad, that it caused her to figuratively vanish from the face of the Earth. This

entire time we've assumed that her situation was the result of external circumstances, but with the context we've been given In the past twenty-four videos, I'm led to believe that Lina didn't die, but instead disappeared on her own volition. She's been metaphorically rebirthed and is leading a new life, yet Marvin, so caught up in the past, just can't accept the reality he's been given. (eerie rumbling) (rumbling stops abruptly) - [Distorted Voices] Uh-oh- (electronic static) (exciting tone) (exciting in-game music) - [Nexpo] Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention. There's one more thing. (video static) (electronic beeping) It's a

soundtrack video with a surprise hidden for us at the very end. (ominous whooshing) (sentimental music) The "Petscop Epilogue" drops us onto the Newmaker Plane in daylight. Immediately, Belle greets us, and claims: "There is Boss, waiting for her son. Paul, do you remember being born? Smuggled away, driving to your new house, Boss in driver seat, me in back. I could not wait to be your friend." (sentimental music) (in-game clicking SFX) (in-game dialogue SFX) And hearkening back to the beginning of this entire journey, she recites what Paul once told her. (in-game clicking SFX) (in-game dialogue SFX) Belle

then heads up to Lina, Who's sitting on a park bench, and awaits Paul. And under her wing, on the other side of the Party Room window, they unite at last, ultimately bringing "Petscop," this gargantuan, massively intricate behemoth, to an end. (sentimental music) (TV static) (gentle music playing) (static hissing) (interlude music plays) (music stops abruptly) (eerie music) Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit. We... We made it! We made it! We made it. An adventure through twenty-four and a half videos that began as but a simple collection of lets-plays. The story

we've been through has been haunting, complex, and multifaceted, leaving us with not only concern for the well-being of Paul, but questioning our overall perception Of how he fits into the narrative "Petscop" has been feeding us all along. The unique thing about "Petscop" is that it is not one linear story. And we have so many avenues to explore. The Windmill Incident, The AI Alternates, The Fate of Michael and it's ties to Daniel's Motives, The Family and their Involvement, The Paradox of Paul, "Petscop" and the theme of Perception, and The Misfortune of Care. As I hinted at

the very beginning, "Petscop" is a masterfully nuanced monster. There are immeasurable amounts of names, dates, events, riddles, disappearances, you name it, that formulating a definite narrative around everything presented is a task that's borderline impossible. With that said, you might have a timeline of events that differs from everyone else, and it would stand just as valid as every other out there. What we're about to get into is my personal interpretation of the underlying story, stemming from months of viewings and notetaking to give "Petscop" the explanation it deserves. This is a massively abstract series, and to understand

it, that is how you and I are gonna look at it. Grab a drink and buckle down, 'cause this is about to get deep. Ladies and gentlemen, to me, "Petscop" goes a little something like this. (ominous music) Throughout the series, one character has been far and above the most pivotal to unlocking "Petscop," and that's Lina. From the very beginning, she has been a wildcard. Someone who just up and vanished, And is the primary catalyst of Marvin's wild obsession with rebirthing. Had Lina never disappeared, Marvin likely wouldn't have spiraled into madness, wouldn't have taken Care, wouldn't

have had Rainer on his ass, and wouldn't have had a single thing to do with the original "Petscop" game at all. Given the wording from Rainer's note all the way back in "Petscop 9," we assume that Lina died, and it's even further supported with the gravestone later shown in "Petscop 17." Like I touched on earlier, though, I do not believe she was ever killed. This is and has always been merely assumed. We'll delve into specifics in a moment, but for now let's entertain something. "Petscop" is a video game. "Petscop" was developed by Daniel. Every single

thing, from the intimate knowledge of Marvin's thoughts about Carrie, to having awareness about her being locked up in the school, were all programmed in with purpose by him. Everything is from his perspective, Which is a notion that "Petscop" has entertained numerous times throughout the series. In "Petscop 14," Daniel presented a riddle. "There are two pictures of a door. In the first picture, the door is closed. In the second picture, taken later, the door is open. Nobody opened the door. The door did not open itself. The door, in fact, did not open at all. What happened?"

If we apply this thought process to the Windmill, this implies that it did not vanish. The picture of the door was merely taken from a different perspective, at quite literally a 90 degree angle, and so too was the Windmill. It was, and likely is still there, Daniel just couldn't find it. To me "Petscop" isn't about converging timelines or supernatural occurrences, it's a tale about the flaws of Daniel both literally and metaphorically seeing things from one angle. Nobody killed Lina. Lina did not kill herself. Lina, in fact, did not die at all. Here's what I think

happened: (ominous music) On an ordinary day in 1977, Lina Leskowitz, Anna Leskowitz, and Marvin Mark all visit an old, derelict windmill. While there, Anna takes a photo of Marvin and Lina in front of it before Marvin coerces Lina to head inside. At some point while in there, a freak accident occurs causing her to be knocked unconscious, And as a result, she never comes out. Marvin, guilt-ridden because it was his idea, a bad idea, and too afraid to find out the fate of his friend, runs out of there and makes up an excuse, explaining to Anna

that he witnessed her run away, though in reality this was never the case. Given that Lina was just nine years old at this point, it's safe to assume that the trio were merely kids, too afraid to face the realities of potential death, and even further, the repercussions that would come from it. Both the Windmill and Lina serve as Marvin's own case of Schrodinger's Cat, in a way, As in his mind, her fate was never determined. She could be either alive or dead, and until he opens that door to find out, both possibilities are equally real.

After he leads her away and pretends to search for her, Anna takes another photo. It's just Marvin. No friend, because she's unconscious. And no Windmill, because it's literally behind them. They never find her. And Lina... Is now missing. (curious music) Throughout his teenage years, Marvin is haunted by this. He sits on park benches with birthday cake trying to lure her home, because he legitimately does not know which reality is true. In his mind, she is concurrently alive and dead, and it's eating away at him. Nevertheless, he grows closer with her sister Anna, and by the

time they're adults, they get married and have a child named Carrie on November 12th, 1992. Sometime thereafter, they adopt another named Belle, But we'll circle back to her shortly. Carrie is just like you or me. She's ordinary. Her own person. To Marvin, however, there's a constant comparison plaguing him. His mind is stuck on Lina, constantly looping what took place when he was a kid, and so he repeatedly compares Carrie to her like some sort of replacement, something to fill the void he inflicted upon himself. Being nothing like her, though, Marvin becomes more and more frustrated,

And by the year 1995, he begins to tread the verge of insanity. This creates a massive rift within their marriage, ultimately setting the stage for a myriad of domestic issues to come. (ominous music) Late one night, a battered Marvin is antsy. He can't sit still anymore, his marriage is crumbling, his kids aren't what he wants, and his mind is still stuck in the past, looping the day he last saw Lina. He decides to finally put his demons to bed And find out the truth, and so he sneaks out, jumps into his orange car, and hauls

ass to where he remembers the Windmill to be. This venture would be far from mundane, though, because on his way, an unexpected surprise would await him. (in-game death tone) In the middle of the street is a kid named Michael Hammond, who's violently run over by Marvin's orange car. This doesn't kill him, yet it disfigures him enough to where he soon would be. This is supported by the claims in Toneth, Roneth, and Care A's descriptions, And even further when Mike is labeled as a "painter" in "Petscop 24," being a clear allusion to Toneth and their broken

leg. (crickets chirping) Marvin finds the Windmill, and subsequently looks inside. Lina is nowhere to be found. But what he doesn't realize, is that while she may be alive, the atrocity he committed on the way to find her... (ominous tone) Is conversely very real. (suspenseful music) Back home, Daniel realizes his sibling hasn't returned. Nobody has answers and nobody fesses up to it. Much like Lina, Michael A, the normal Mike, is never found and presumed dead, and this simple video game that Daniel was developing for his little brother now has no one to play it. Sometime that

year, Daniel visits his Aunt Anna and Uncle Marvin's home and snoops around. He finds a photo of his missing Aunt Lina, with Marvin, and accompanying it is another without her. Immediately, suspicion grows as this seemed to be one of the last photos She was ever seen in, and if Marvin were hiding something like this, what else was there? Daniel takes "Petscop" and completely reworks it from the ground up. What was previously an innocent game is now a tool that he believes can condition Marvin to reveal where he buried Lina, with his motives fueled by what

happened to his little brother Michael. What Daniel doesn't know, though, is that Marvin doesn't know where she is, either. Yet that doesn't stop him from staying on his ass. That year, Daniel develops a new "Petscop" on the Tarnacop PCs. He uses a PS1 dev kit, which interestingly, in the real world, our world, is known as the PS1 TOOL. He somehow gets 45 kids, including Belle, to beta test his game, and what they don't know is that their inputs are being recorded and fed into an AI. Each iteration of testing results in a new game generation

with a more sophisticated version, and eventually, the game reaches a point To where it can mimic a real player. Meanwhile back home, the rift in Marvin and Anna's relationship is at an all-time high, and given the Casket description from "Petscop 20," it's likely the two have physically split. Because of his obsession over wanting Carrie to look and act like Lina, Marvin has been ostracized, yet that doesn't stop him from sneaking around the home. At some point, it's possible that Daniel caught him in the act, yet instead of making a huge deal about it or reporting

him, He plays along with it in hopes of getting Marvin to play his game. Now, before we continue, we have to keep Daniel's motives in mind. He, above all else, wants to know what happened to his Aunt Lina, a point that serves as the foundation for the existence of "Petscop" as it came to be. Thinking back on the series, he's aware of Marvin's obsessions. He exhibits knowledge of where Care would soon be kept, he knows about rebirthing and its process, And all of this is supported by its existence in the game he created. With that

said, it's likely that he witnessed Marvin abduct Care and take her into the school, and if we think back to "Petscop 11's" calendar and really analyze it, we can observe an interesting pattern. The green dates go from every other day, to every weekend, to five months consistently. We know Carrie went missing on June 5th, and we also know she made it home on November 12th. And given the theory about the color green Being tied to Marvin, what this stands for is clear. These are the dates that Carrie was in custody of Marvin, and Daniel knew

of all of it. (ominous music) (eerie music) While holed up in the school with Carrie, Marvin begins playing "Petscop" Generation 6. With the disc is a fake note written by Rainer about the Shadow Monster Man, emulating the writing style of his dead brother as somewhat of a fuck you, and explicitly providing the code To unlock the Newmaker Plane. This vengeance is further supported by the prevalence of Mike's gravestone plastered in Marvin's face as he plays it, yet regardless, it doesn't stop him as he's carried forward by his own curiosity. What he's unaware of, though, is

that his movements are being tracked and fed into the game's AI. At this point, Daniel knows that Marvin won't feed him the exact location of Lina, but maybe an alternate will. (ominous music) "Care B is scared and pounding on the door. I open it. It's so dark that I can't see her. So I pull her out, and the light hits her face. And they won't even give me a picture of her now. They're all scattered in graves. And I'm a piece of shit. Here I go." "Happy birthday Belle! I'm calling you Belle because that's who

you are. You might be confused as to what happened. I was overeager before and started calling you Tiara prematurely. I created a space in the menu for you, still unused now. Then I put you inside the machine, and played the second movement of Stravinsky's Septet on the Needles. I played it wrong, but that would have been okay. If you hadn't given up halfway, you would still be Tiara. This is not what happened, and now I'm gone." Both of these messages come from Daniel, and drive home an inconvenient truth about him. It seems that, for an

unspecified amount of time, Marvin coerced him into helping with rebirthing and he went along with it. Because he was so focused on wanting Marvin to play "Petscop," it's possible that Marvin wanted him to return the favor, in a way, by playing a hand in rebirthing his adopted daughter, Belle. At some point in the process, though, it fails due to Daniel's mistake in playing the ritual's music. On top of this, Belle likely resisted the operation. She escaped, but in Daniel and Marvin's eyes, She was a failure, a quitter, who never became what they wanted her to

be. In a way, Daniel became stuck in a loop. He plays Marvin's game, so Marvin can play his, yet while on this mission, he became the very monster he's been targeting since the beginning. And so, at some point, he takes it upon himself to find Lina alone. He digs, and digs, and digs, yet because she's alive, he never finds her. And with the failure of his mission, Combined with the knowledge of Care's abduction and his abuse towards an innocent little girl, he breaks the cycle out of crushing guilt, and takes his own life. (ominous music)

Before Daniel's death, he made an interesting decision, providing his family with both the "Petscop" game and game recordings as a Christmas gift. Because of this, it's implied that the family watched them and tried to play it, yet were ultimately unsure of how exactly everything tied together. There were clear references to relatives, However something was missing. They were stuck, and things remained this way for over a decade. (eerie music) By the year 2017, the game is secretly planted within the home of Paul. He stumbles upon it, and completely confused, tells his friend Belle. Belle, knowing about

"Petscop" from her childhood years, doubts Paul's claims, because decades have gone by without it ever coming up. It's an old demon. It being reawakened. It's something she thought she'd be able to bury for the rest of her life, yet she's too afraid of retaliation of the family to admit this to Paul. Led by his own curiosity, Paul plays the game for the better part of a year and half, recording and uploading his gameplay to YouTube. At some point, the family catches wind of this, and to his dismay, strongly urges him to keep going to unlock

its secrets. To explore it, progress, And reveal the truth they so desperately crave. Why Paul was the one set to do this, specifically, we'll get to in a second, but just know that they have a suspicion about him. And they're just trying to verify it. (eerie music) Like we touched on, one of the most curious aspects of the "Petscop" series is the fact "Petscop 22" is a direct sequel to "Petscop 10." If we can recall, midway through this episode, Paul has a bizarre interaction with Belle on the phone, before they both stop talking For the

remainder of the series. With this in mind, we can assume that the majority of "Petscop" 11 through 24 are presented out of order. Most of these episodes are completely silent, yet they still reference Paul at various points. So how? If we take the first half of "Petscop 22" and place it between "Petscop" 10 and 11, we can establish that, chronologically, the very last time Paul ever spoke was at the end of "Petscop 14." We can recall that at the end of the episode before this, we could hear a car door slam. (car door slams shut)

And considering the landscape of what would follow within this series, it's likely that he simply left. He stopped playing, yet the game itself hadn't. By this point and much like SOMA, it crafted a him inside of it. A version of his mind that acts, thinks, and plays like him without his physical self ever needing to be there. What Paul didn't know, though, is that this AI would be trapped within "Petscop" forever. Like it explicitly stated, it's an ever-evolving organism, something constantly monitoring inputs, and keeping each and every single Petscop Kid, Marvin, Lina, and Belle, all

trapped within it's confines. Indefinitely. With that said, Paul's alternate is the one we observe from "Petscop 15" onward. He's the one that explores the school. That finds the counselor. That plays Graverobber. That is subjected to the everlasting torment of Marvin, and that finally unlocks the game's true ending From the "Petscop Epilogue." So, why did he leave? Why did the censors bother him so much? And how does Paul fit into this puzzle? (ominous rumbling) All right, I'm probably going to catch a ton of flack for what I'm about to say, and it may sound completely out

of left field, but please, please, please, please, please just hear me out. I do not think Care ever existed. (ominous music) Consider this. Right under our nose, there's been an everlasting theme of loops and time, most notably centering around one specific character; Marvin. Contrary to everyone else within "Petscop," he and everything pertaining to him has a strange affixation with moving in counterclockwise rotation. Stay with me here. As we've seen, "Petscop" contains a multitude of references to time. We have calendars, clocks, Events happening on two separate years, houses being frozen in three separate states, time seemingly

breaking and creating synchronicity, it's everywhere. One of the most prominent examples of this, though, came with "Petscop 11." If we can recall, we observe Marvin on a park bench circling us counterclockwise. And right before this, an enigmatic, unnumbered clock on a road that appears to operate normally, until we realize that our perspective is completely off. The hour and minute hands do not progress, But rather the dial itself heads counterclockwise. Progress is backwards. Right is left. "Petscop," as we experience it, is frozen in time. Thinking back to "Petscop 6," Marvin rotates the camera counterclockwise. The items

that spawn, counterclockwise. And when he manipulates the Windmill, once again, counterclockwise. Going even further, upon heading to "Petscop 9," we can recall a window looking out to a park bench harboring a pinwheel and a slice of cake. The pinwheel is spinning backwards, and so too is the green key and pyramid inside the same room. Now, of course, this could all be coincidence, but is it really? If we jump to the epilogue, we can recall that we found Lina and Belle on the other side of the party room window. Our perspective is reversed, because by this

point, Paul's alternate closed the loop. It's implied that he beat the game and was rewarded with the restoration of time, of progress, Of an ability to leave the past where it is, and always should've been in the first place. So where am I going with this? (ominous music) If we think back to Marvin as a person, he is someone that embodies the very idea of being stuck in the past. He was obsessed with finding Lina. He wanted his kid to be reborn as Lina. He, above all else, could not accept his present reality. Care was

born as Paul. And Carrie Mark was merely a hallucination of Marvin's mind. To me, Marvin was so fixated on having a girl that he could visualize Lina through that when this reality never happened, he tried to force it. Pretending nonexistent people existed. Pretending the floor continued under his feet. Pretending his life was completely okay. For years, he was already descending into madness, and by the time Paul was born, it was the final piece that broke him. If we think back through the series, we know that Paul couldn't recall anyone ever going missing. He never once

mentions a father. He becomes uneasy when he encounters the censored flower vase. He realizes that he and Care share the exact same birthday, and he understands that the two bear an incredibly strong resemblance. Oh, and also, considering that in the Child Library, the face for Paul's room is quite literally that of Care's, just with eyebrows, the correlations are clear. "Petscop" was given to Paul because of a hunch that Paul was Care, by the Family. This is why they wanted him to keep playing, this is why the game was planted in his home, And this is

why there's such a glaring paradox about where he fits in this puzzle. "Petscop," from start to finish, was unearthing childhood trauma he buried and forgot, yet he couldn't convince himself that this game was never about Care. (ominous music) It was about him. (ominous music) In "Petscop 23," when Marvin stated "Thanks Here I Come," Paul's alternate types out the following: This doesn't translate to "Not In Table", As that's an error message from the "Petscop" dialogue system. It, in actuality, translates to an incomplete word. "Dad". (gentle music) With new perspective on the other side of the window,

Paul's true history is finally unveiled. Time is moving forward, not back. Truth is emerging from secrecy. And his mother, who all along has been presumed dead, is revealed to be alive. All this time she's been in hiding, just out of reach To where Marvin could never find her. Belle asks Paul if he remembers his childhood. If he remembers being born. She explains how Boss smuggled the two away one night, and how they are all a family. Interestingly, though, if we once again analyze and translate the in-game language, the word "Boss" is actually never typed. "Lina"

is. With this context, we can imply that once the two escaped from the school when they were kids, Some sort of deal was made between Anna and Lina, where she'd hand over custody in exchange for her children's safety. To make this possible, she changes her and her kid's names into what they are now. In a way, rebirthing them through adoption. With this, Anna is finally granted solace, her children gain a new lease on life, and Lina becomes the parent Marvin never could be. Like the duality hinted at through the series, in-game AI Paul is him.

These are his movements, his speech, his behavior, and regardless of where he is physically, the in-game reflection of him accepts that Lina and Belle are not his aunt and friend, but his mother and sister. They are a family. Together. Reborn. (gentle music) (sentimental music) "Petscop" is far and above one of the most beautifully complex stories that I have ever had the pleasure Of attempting to piece together. Like I said, at the end of the day, this series is ultimately up to the interpretation of the viewer. There are so many alternative theories out there that stand

just as valid as any other, and I implore you to read into them on r/Petscop, through the troves of theory videos on YouTube, and most notably, through the comprehensive progress document linked down below. It was monumental in pointing out hints and clues, and I don't think this video would've been possible Without its guidance. With that said, though, there are still so many questions and loose ends that I wasn't quite able to piece together. For instance, how and when was the game planted in Paul's home? How did the Family find him? Why did Belle suddenly go

quiet in "Petscop 22?" Where even is Belle? What ever happened to Marvin and Anna in the long run? How the hell was "Petscop" amended with the Jill conversation? And what exactly was the arrangement Between Paul and the Family? Given that "Petscop" has been confirmed to be completed by its creator, Tony Domenico, it's safe to say that these questions will forever be up to our own imagination. With this, "Petscop" will carry an everlasting legacy of mystery, something that for a series like this, really ain't a bad thing at all. In a way, ambiguity is more horrifying

than clarity, as it allows our minds to fill the gaps "Petscop" leaves us with what we find personally disturbing. We never once see Paul. He is what you make of him, and so too with Belle, Marvin, Anna, Lina, Michael, Daniel, Jill, and everyone else involved. "Petscop" is a part of us facilitated through an ominous tale about childhood abuse, toxic family dynamics, and the escape from that life into one of self-discovery. I truly don't think there will ever be another series as finely tuned, intricate, and up for interpretation as "Petscop," and If I'm being completely honest,

I think that's what makes this one of the greatest works of media that I have ever seen. It's wild that this entire internet phenomenon all started with just one Reddit post of all things. But hey, when you craft something as alluring and ominous as "Petscop," sometimes... That's all it takes. (sentimental music) (music fades) (upbeat game music) (music fades)