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Adventure author Davide Bucci is back with what is for now the third and final instalment of his Emilia Bittorini trilogy, Silk Dust. Set three years after the events of The Queen's Footsteps, Emilia finds herself awakening in the magnificent Villa Briccorosso on the shores of Lake Como, in the two of Varenna. There she is the guest of Princess Lucilla Briccorosso who is currently preparing for the great Silk Road Rally, which spans 10,000km from Egypt to China.

As such, she is in Varenna to oversee the delivery of the Princess' new ITA car which she bought for use in the upcoming Rally.

This is where our four-part adventure game begins, with Emilia exploring the Villa and taking delivery of the new car. It's then up to you to find the necessary items required to get the car going, which involves interacting with several characters and exploring the local town and shops. Once the car is ready, it's time for a test drive where it's not long before the car breaks down and sabotage is uncovered!

This turn of events takes Emilia back to her home town of Turin and to the main factory of ITA, where some familiar and new characters await and where clues are given as to who may be responsible or linked to the sabotage. With the car troubles resolved, Emilia then finds herself on a ferry bound for Alexandria in Egypt, but just as romance begins to blossom, danger strikes and the ferry is taken over by mysterious marauders who imprison the crew and confine everyone else to their quarters. Will Emilia be able to save the crew, the princess and her new love? Well, that's all up to you!

As with Davide's previous titles, the game is chock full of exploration and colourful characters who are once again delightfully brought to life by the game's author. The in-game puzzles are all well thought out and very logical, in fact you'll struggle to become stuck but if you do, you'll find an in-built help system, which can be accessed by simply typing 'hint'.

Davide has also managed to incorporate a lot of factual historical content into Silk Dust by drawing inspiration from the actual 1907 Peking to Paris Rally won by Prince Scipione Borghese in his Italian race car. Davide even draws inspiration from his own experiences, for example the Villa Vriccorosso is styled on the famous Villa Monastero where he spent some time in 2011 while at summer school.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed playing through Silk Dust and felt Davide has once again delivered a fantastic and engaging text adventure. The story is well written and combined with its historical facts and highly detailed descriptions, I found myself hooked from start to finish. I love that he once again brought back familiar characters and I enjoyed the added inclusion of Emilia's new romance.

My only very minor gripe was that the fourth chapter felt a little short, but in no way did it detract from my overall experience. I guess I just wanted more, which hopefully we'll get as I can't help but feel Emilia and indeed Davide have many more adventures in them yet to be told.

To download the game or read up about more of the fascinating historical facts and inspirations behind the game's storyline then visit Davide's website at: https://bit.ly/3cO7uSv