Crave New World

Crave New World is a strategy game about developing a drink, expanding its distribution and managing the consequences of growing demand. You start with a base formula, an empty bench and one distribution route. As people try the drink, demand grows and the map becomes a picture of your customer base. You earn Thirst from the demand you create and reinvest it in the operation.

Develop the formula

Each reactor holds two compounds, which can react when paired. Combinations can improve Appeal, build Addiction, spread faster through Chaos or increase Toxicity. Some solve one problem while making another worse. Appeal draws people to try the drink, Addiction brings them back, Chaos helps the operation move, and Toxicity can make a promising formula unsafe.

You choose compounds from a Market catalogue that changes with each run. Its available compounds are shown before you buy, and both cheap Tier I options and stronger compounds can be useful, depending on the formula and the risks. You can publish with a simple formula, fill every reactor or rebuild the recipe partway through a run as circumstances change.

Expand distribution

You choose where to send the product next. The first route is easy to establish, but later expansion costs more, making each new country a consequential choice. Routes generate demand, while Logistics can also bring consequences. Countries fill with Consumers, Addicts and Dead, showing where the drink has caught on, spread quickly or caused troubling outcomes.

Manage the fallout

As the operation grows, distributors may demand better terms, someone may discover something in the product, or a local problem may turn into public pressure. You can pay for time, accept the consequences or keep pushing. Love gives the product some breathing room, while Heat does not let up; at Heat 10, the operation is shut down.

The current objective is to make 80% of the world addicted. Toxicity can help in the short term, but people who die do not count toward that target.

Runs and controls

The game runs in real time, with pause and speed controls. Each run has a different Market catalogue, a formula to discover and a map to manage.