You are one of the five finest scientific minds of their time: Isaac Newton, the prodigy. Galileo Galilei, the visionary. Johannes Kepler, the stargazer. Gottfried Leibniz, the polymath. Athanasius Kircher, the prolific. Your goal is to be recognized and remembered as the finest scientific mind of your time. To achieve this you will need to be the first to publish on important innovations, as well as hobnob with well-connected people. It's all about gaining prestige.

The New Science is a game of planning where five different branches of science are represented, but there are limited innovations available to publish. Each innovation has a requirement for its research, experimentation, and finally publishing. Additionally, in order to publish, you must meet a minimum level of influence with the government, clergy, free enterprisers, or the rest of the scientific community. Along the way you might get distracted by some exciting happenings that offer great benefits or worrying threats. Through it all you've got to figure out how you can be the first to publish and, in science, whoever publishes first, wins.