Black Cat: Back Light

Black Cat: Back Light is a first-person 3D role-playing puzzle game set in the former Taoyuan Air Force Base facilities. Using an antique film camera, you explore the site, take and collect specified photographs under the guidance of a mysterious black cat, and follow traces of Cold War history. The game takes about 15 to 30 minutes and has five main tasks. Along the way, you learn about the Black Cat Squadron and visit parts of the former base.

Story

During the Cold War, Taiwan and the United States worked together on the Quick Knife Project, sending Black Cat Squadron pilots on high-altitude reconnaissance missions over mainland China. They flew at 70,000 feet, each with a personal story; back on the ground, in military dependents’ villages, they were also fathers and sons in ordinary family lives.

In 2025, the former Taoyuan Air Force Base facilities, once the Black Cat Squadron’s headquarters, are a designated municipal historic site nearing public opening after restoration. The Taoyuan City Department of Cultural Affairs invites professional photographers to document the site, while university and college teachers and students can apply to visit for research.

You play as Ah Cheng, a professional photographer who grew up learning photography from his adoptive father, Old Zhang. Their relationship became strained as Ah Cheng came to see him as stubborn and difficult to talk to. After a fierce argument, Ah Cheng left home, and they never reconciled before Old Zhang died.

For a work assignment, Ah Cheng brings the Leica M3 camera his father gave him to the former base. There he meets Penny, a Taiwanese-American graduate student visiting the site. Guided by the black cat, he photographs the place and begins to uncover little-known history, including parts of his adoptive father’s past.

Explore and photograph

The game recreates real locations based on historical records, including a 3D model of the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft. Its puzzles are built around first-person exploration and photography, and its subject matter draws on local history.